Just found out about this. An enhanced edition coming out this year, by Nightdive.
https://www.windowscentral.com/blade-runner-enhanced-edition-updates-1997-classic-coming-2020

Apparently it is exclusive to Steam according to the article. But that has to do with the publisher Alcon. Though why they would choose to release it on Steam only when they sold the scumm VM modernization here is beyond me. Maybe they are not that different. Both are enhanced just using different engines. Love NDS and moderate for them but I am a bit disappointed if it ends up being Steam only. But like I said that is on the publisher. And it could be that Alcon hired scumm VM developers to work on the GOG version exclusively. It is not the first game NDS have worked on for the IP holder and the version they support is only on Steam. The Wizardry games are a good example.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/classic-blade-runner-video-game-be-restored-consoles-steam-1283768

For the moment I can answer only on this with certainty, and that is to say, no one from the ScummVM developer team was hired by Alcon (or anyone else wrt to the Blade Runner engine project). Our work is open source and we worked on the project for no money and on our spare time. We still do.

All the publisher has to do is respect the open source license (GPLv2 in this case) and release the source code along with any changes to it if any. The situation is however different for console releases where they don't allow open source code distribution and in that case there should be further negotiations with the ScummVM team if they were using our code/ engine etc.

I would like to see what NDS will do with the license and what their remaster will end up being, before having an informed opinion about it specifically (...).

Thanks for clarifying that. I really was not sure. I knew that scumm VM is opensource though. I am looking forward to see what Nightdive has in store for Blade Runner. The Kex Engine does a good job at graphical upgrades. I have to confess since I bought the re release of Blade Runner I have not had the time to play it.

Kilgore Trout was just talking about it at the NDS Discord and that the scumm VM version has a lot of enhancements. :) And To be fair, this version at GOG is not on Steam so each store now has their exclusive version. For the time being I suppose.

It is nice to see Blade Runner get ported to console. It will reach a larger audience that never had the opportunity to play this game. :) Over all I am just happy Blade Runner is now available again.

I think the "exclusive" in the headline just refers to the fact that this is an exclusive news story, not that it will only come to Steam.

Can I just say thank you to everyone at ScummVM who worked on Blade Runner, it had been so long since I last played it and I began to give up hope of ever playing again. Everyone involved is a credit to the gaming community.

Interesting but I'm rather sceptical after experience with some Nightdive games like Strife: Veteran Edition or Blood: Fresh Supply - the mediocre products with missing basic features for modern versions like upscaled textures etc. and bad post-release support. Rather the rushed cash grabs than high quality remakes.

Let's keep in mind that there's no actual media as of yet to show anything of the remaster work, not even as a teaser, so to me this means there still lots of work to be done.

We also have very few vague (and marketing-speech) statements in the press release to make any real sense of what this remaster actually entails.

A lot more specific information is needed.

If it's really just "updated character models, animations and cutscenes, as well as widescreen resolution support, keyboard and controller customization" I don't see the appeal, let alone the advantage over the GoG/ScummVM release either.
It may look better (by how much exactly remains to be seen) but, as far as I can tell, the enhanced edition won't be getting those updates of gradually restored content the ScummVM team is working on.

From their per$pective, I think I $ee the appeal!

On GoG is Blade Runner in best condition, if you like it and you want to play it why to refund it? Moreover ScummVM team is working on restoring some content intended for original release.

So I guess nothing will happen with this game cause some of you refer it will be released on Steam but the game is nowhere to be found there.
Loved the original and was looking forward to the enhanced one... guess that won't happen...

It is still too early to tell what will happen, unless GOG has a definitive statement themselves.

Personally, I'm happy if GOG primarily distributes the original Blade Runner, but I'm too invested on it, since I've been working on the ScummVM Blade Runner engine, subtitles and restoration for a long time and for long hours, so I'm being very subjective here.

As far as I know, the enhanced edition is still being worked on by NDS, but it seems to me that it *might* not get a release within the year, considering no further work was shown (other than the intro cutscene) and a date of release has yet to be announced.

Thx for that interesting reply.
Does this have to do with getting the rights to enhance this one?
The deal isn't done yet and the enhanced edition was maybe annouced too early before deals were or are still to be closed?
Just asking and wondering.