It seems that the future of BioWare’s scifi franchise Mass Effect may not be just multiplayer, but massively multiplayer. Casey Hudson, executive producer for the series, told GameInformer that BioWare has yet to figure out a working multiplayer take on the franchise, but an MMO could be in the cards.
“We’ve been trying to think of a way that makes sense for people to experience Mass Effect with their friends,” he explained. “We haven’t yet come up with a way to do that, so we don’t have anything to announce at this time. But, obviously, multiplayer is something we want to do more of in the future as a company.”
Hudson did agree that an MMO could be a great fit for the intellectual property.
“A lot of people say that they want to see an MMO, I think that kind of makes sense for this universe,” he said. “Part of what you’re trying to do is save the universe so you can live in it. That’s part of the promise, I think, for any great IP. It has to be a world worth saving.”
“I think Mass Effect has that quality to it. If you get rid of the Reapers and win that, wouldn’t it be amazing to just live on the Citadel or just take a ship to Omega? That makes sense.”
Mass Effect 3 will be released sometime in 2011 on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.
[Via VG247]
3 Comments
April 11, 2011
Hmm. I could see enjoying that for a month or two, love the standalone RPGs, but I just have a hard time picturing myself playing an ME MMO for months and months on end, particularly with a monthly sub. There's just not a ton of gameplay there, it's more story than anything, and the typical "grind to build your character" aspect would be difficult with ME's limited and samey skill-paths. Of all Bioware's potential properties, I would think Dragon Age would be their best bet for an MMO, and probably Jade Empire after that, before ME, name recognition aside.
April 11, 2011
They would prob make more money if they could find a way to develop a 2 to 4 player co-op RPG experience over a full on MMO. I have my MMOs that I play when my friends want to do MMO type stuff. So do most other gamers. WOW has proven gamers might leave to try another game for a short time but they will come back to where their friends are, which in MMOs is a bigger draw then the game play itself.
April 11, 2011
Yeah, straight co-op would be best. Anyone remember Brute Force for the Xbox? It was very similar in gameplay to Mass Effect, actually, but just the action stuff, none of the RPG. It'd be interesting to have a Mass Effect that worked along the lines of that game or Halo co-op, where you can play it solo, OR up to 3-4 friends can drop in and control your team mates. The only trick would be that, because this isn't 100% action, what would your team mates be doing while you're wandering stations talking to NPCs? Do they just watch you play? Do they have their own dialog options so that there's "co-op storytelling?" Do they split up and each have a portion of the screen in which each is pursuing a different agenda on the station, and then meet back up to run missions? It would be a bit complicated, but might be worth it. But only for like a few week-ends of fun with good friends, not months and months of paid subscription with hundreds of people.