BioWare Licenses MMO Engine

[Graham Templeton]

BioWare Licenses MMO Engine

BioWare has licensed the MMOG-specific game engine "HeroEngine" for its upcoming MMORPG.

Two months ago, Bioware announced [http://www.bioware.com/bioware_info/press_releases/2006_03_15_Austin/] the opening of its newest studio, BioWare Austin, and their first project - a Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game. Yesterday BioWare made the next announcement [http://www.play.net/corporate/release.asp?release=30] about this project - their purchase of Simutronics' HeroEngine. HeroEngine is currently being used in the development of the upcoming MMORPG Hero's Journey [http://www.play.net/hj/], from which the engine takes its name. Simutronics has this to say:

"We are thrilled to have BioWare Austin using HeroEngine," said David Whatley, founder and CEO of Simutronics. "As game developers ourselves, we put careful thought into the features other MMO developers needed. To have an industry leader like BioWare as our first licensee is an honor and strong validation of our team's hard work and great design."

BioWare's project has been speculated to be the next MMOG to be based on the Star Wars license, due to the company's success with Lucasarts' property in 2003's Knights of the Old Republic. Bioware Austin is headed by Gordon Walton, former Executive Producer on The Sims Online.

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[Demiurge [deprecated]]

That's a pretty engine. While I'm thrilled that a branch of Bioware is developing an MMOG without a fantasy theme, does it HAVE to be Star Wars? I'm pretty burnt out on the franchise, personal, so I'm holding out hope that it's something else.