BioWare: "We're Not Done" With Mass Effect

[Andy Chalk]

BioWare: "We're Not Done" With Mass Effect

BioWare is working on more single-player DLC for Mass Effect 3 and has plans for a brand-new game in the franchise.

There's a silver lining to today's sad news that BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk are leaving the company [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119650-BioWare-Co-Founders-Retire] and retiring from the business of making videogames. In his tribute to the good doctors and their monumental contribution to the videogame industry, BioWare Edmonton General Manager Aaryn Flynn said the company is ready to "carry on their legacy" with some big plans for the Mass Effect universe.

"We are releasing more multiplayer content and we have more single-player stories coming throughout the next six months, including Omega which is coming in the fall," Flynn wrote. "But the Mass Effect universe is vast, and Casey [Hudson] and our teams have plans for another full game. 'Where to go next?' with such a project has been a question a lot of us have been asking, and we'd all love to hear your ideas."

Flynn also revealed (without actually revealing anything) that BioWare is laying the groundwork for "an all-new game set in a fictional universe, built from the bottom up with all-new gaming technology."

"Where to go next?" is certainly a loaded question. Regardless of how you felt about the way Mass Effect 3 [http://www.amazon.com/Mass-Effect-3-Xbox-360/dp/B004FYEZMQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348000997&sr=8-1&keywords=Mass+Effect+3] ended, there was such finality to it that any kind of follow-up is almost doomed to be anti-climactic. There's plenty of room for new stories, sure, but how do you come up with something that compares to the end of the frikkin' galaxy as we know it? That's a mighty tough act to follow.

Source: BioWare Blog [http://blog.bioware.com/2012/09/18/from-aaryn-flynn/]


Permalink

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

I'm not surprised. And no one else should be, after the message at the end of the credits post-EC. And all I can say is, good luck, Bioware. It will be a tough act to follow, but I still have faith that Bioware can do it. It would have to be set some time in the future, though, to allow for mass relay travel.

 

[Oirish_Martin]

I have the best timing ever.

I literally just finished playing the trilogy.

FUCKING SWEEEEEEEET

I'm already excited!

 

[Gabanuka]

The only way to beat ME3 is scale is to go smaller. Make it a much more personal story rather than "hurdur now its the UNIVERSE!"

 

[mad825]

ME3 to be retconned...Come on, we all know that is going to happen.

 

[GAunderrated]

Well good for you Bioware, I mean I am personally done with ME but if you arn't more power to you.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

The only way to beat ME3 is scale is to go smaller. Mae its a much more personal story rather than "hurdur now its the UNIVERSE!"

I have to agree with this. Maybe some kind of threat to the Citadel that a Spectre is sent to investigate. And only the Citadel. Smaller scale, but still serious enough to warrant a game around.

 

[teebeeohh]

oh dear god they are going to make the destruction ending canon, what with all the not mentioning of genocide post EC. or maybe the geth and edi had anti-magic cast on them by Irenicus and the spell travelled through time and space?

 

[Gearhead mk2]

NO.
NO.
I know this is you, EA. I know you're just hiding behind Bioware's name. Please, dont do this. Bioware still has juice in them, the Extended Cut proved that, but don't you dare misuse the strength they have left. Mass Effect is done. It's finished. The Reapers are gone. Apart from updating the multiplayer, an MMO set before the events of the main trilogy, and a base for some great fanfic, it has nothing left to offer. Don't you dare pull a George Lucas on it. Don't you dare use what's left of Bioware to milk this. Just leave Mass Effect be, and either let Bioware go, or mercy kill them now. Or you could just grow a brain, while pigs are breaking air speed records and Lucifer is ice skating his way to work.

 

[vrbtny]

And not a single fuck was given by me.

You're more than welcome to give one, I just.... can't be asked.

I'll do what i did for the ME trilogy....

Buy it for £1.99 on Amazon about 2 years after they were released.

Captcha = blah blah blah blah

Well.... appropriate.

Spoiler

I really like ME1, then I played 2 and all interest in the series was lost.

I only played ME3 because..... Garrus

 

[Gizmo1990]

I will keep an eye on Bioware. I have hope that Dragin Age 3 will be good, and while my faith in them is at an all time low due to DA2, ME3 ending and ST:TOR being mediocre I do not hate Bioware. I have been disapointed, alot, over the last few years but I have not become a hater.

That being said it is highly unlikly I will buy anything from them without checking it out first if Casey Hudson has anything to do with the writing. Do yourselvs a favor Bioware and keep him away from the writing room.

 

[chiefohara]

Im happy to read this, I Love the ME series, and the EC stuff brought me back into the fold.

Im more than happy to see what they do next

 

[Sis]

Actually, Mass Effect will turn out to be nothing more than an alternate timeline. You see, this is all part of the timeline where Biff used the almenac to make himself rich. The new Mass Effect will be after Marty has fixed the timeline and Biff's decendant doesn't start Cerberus. I'm just saying.

 

[Ryan Hughes]

Wow. The same day that two of the co-founders announced they are leaving, this happens.

I want to say that BioWare announced this to cover up the news of the departures, but I do not think that they are actually that smart. This is likely a battle that the co-founders were fighting, to keep Mass Effect a trilogy and to move onto other projects. But, they gave in and left the company, leaving EA and NeoBioWare to milk the franchises into extinction.

 

[tmande2nd]

Who is really going to buy anything ME3 related?

After the last poor showing we all know what its going to be.
A generic shooter, with a generic white male lead, with chest high walls, and bad DLC and DRM.

 

[chiefohara]

oh dear god they are going to make the destruction ending canon, what with all the not mentioning of genocide post EC. or maybe the geth and edi had anti-magic cast on them by Irenicus and the spell travelled through time and space?

Are you sure its the destruction ending? The left hand side ending is just as plausible as well and Edi and the Geth would have survived that one.

 

[kommando367]

I was wondering when they would do something with Omega. I liked Leviathan, so I'll be looking forward to this.

 

[Blachman201_v1legacy]

I just wonder, where can they actually go with Mass Effect?

Spoiler: Mass Effect 3 stuff

They can't really do anything that is set after 3. I don't want to play in a universe without the Geth, and a world where everyone runs around with green glowing eyes and circuits while sharing a hive-mind, and husks (and presumable certain objects) are fully sentient, is, quite frankly, disturbing as all hell. The least universe-changing ending I could imagine them go with is Control, but the implications of that would be kind of creepy as well. It would pretty much require Shepard to be the antagonist.

 

[Krantos]

Are we surprised? No.

Are we Skeptical? Hell, yeah.

Prove you're still a good developer with Dragon Age 3, and we'll take a good look at Mass Effect Spin offs. Otherwise? Good luck to ye.

 

[Coreless]

Wow. The same day that two of the co-founders announced they are leaving, this happens.

I want to say that BioWare announced this to cover up the news of the departures, but I do not think that they are actually that smart. This is likely a battle that the co-founders were fighting, to keep Mass Effect a trilogy and to move onto other projects. But, they gave in and left the company, leaving EA and NeoBioWare to milk the franchises into extinction.

I agree completely, I love the Mass Effect franchise about as much as I love Star Wars and Star Trek and I hate to let it go but it needs to go. At this point anything they bring will just be milking and diluting what made the original series so good.