BioWare Will Consider Mass Effect MMO

BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk said in a new interview that it's possible Mass Effect could become an MMO. They said that they'll consider it, and other ideas, once Star Wars: The Old Republic launches.

"You never know,” Zeschuk told IndustryGamers. “I think once The Old Republic is done, we’ll take a fresh look at the market. And we’ll have learned a lot. While making it, you learn an enormous amount."

"It’s one of the nice things about having these properties in our back pocket… If we want to use something we own as a source for a game, it’s easy to do. So yeah, you never know. We’ve got this giant product to launch, but once that’s done we’ll consider next steps."

Zeschuk's point about the owning Mass Effect is worth highlighting. BioWare really caught everyone's attention through Baldur's Gate and Knights of the Old Republic, games based on existing licenses. It felt like they were reinventing the wheel by making their own medieval fantasy (Dragon Age) and space opera (Mass Effect) franchises but there was a point to it: control. They can do whatever they damn well please in Dragon Age and Mass Effect universes.

Even if BioWare decides to do a Mass Effect MMO, it'd take awhile. They've got a lot on their plate right now.

"We’re focused very much on The Old Republic, Mass Effect 3 and [Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes, and all the other things we’ve announced, and haven’t announced, but we also have the opportunity to look at our franchises in a way we haven’t ever before," said Muzyka in the same IG interview. "There are lots of new platforms and lots of new business models.”

Zeschuk and Muzyka's comments mirror those of Mass Effect 3 game director Casey Hudson. He said in an interview in April that a Mass Effect MMO would make a lot of sense.