BioWare Softworks, the development studio famous for titles such as Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect, haven't been very forthcoming with information about the new MMO.
That's a little bit of an understatement. They haven't told anyone anything which means that the lid is well and truly closed on this one for the time being.
That didn't stop GameSpy from getting straight to the nitty gritty at GDC this week, when the gaming websites went right out there and asked the questions that almost all MMO developers get asked.
GameSpy: Following Microsoft's cancellation of Marvel Universe Online, it's easy to be cynical about big publishers' willingness to invest in the MMO space. Are you afraid that EA will be hesitant to support BioWare's MMO if it doesn't reach WoW's critical mass?
Dr. Ray Muzyka: No. We have brought ambitious goals, but we're competing with ourselves as much as anybody. That's how we're looking at it. It's a good thing that World of Warcraft has such great quality standards for that kind of game. It is the highest-rated MMO that's been launched to date. There are others that are very innovative, but it's the one whose [Metacritic rating] is the highest. It's grown the audience, and that's a good thing. It's a really good thing for the industry. We're ambitious and cautious and humble at the same time, so we're not afraid on taking on that challenge. But we're not going to make an assumption that we're going to get every person that's played WoW. But we're going to get people that didn't, because we'll have things they don't have, and that's a good thing for the industry. Our goal is to [continue to] grow that industry that they've grown, and we're going in a new direction.
Dr. Greg Zeschuk: We want to make something that is first and foremost great. It's a great business to be in, but we also have to be moderately successful. We're very confident that we have a great team in Austin that really knows what they're doing. We have a lot of faith in the kind of stuff that they're thinking of for the genre.
Perhaps BioWare may present the challenge that we have all been waiting for. After all, this is a company that has extensive and award-winning knowledge of the RPG genre spanning multiple rulesets. BioWare haven't just hit it off in one genre of RPG either with titles spanning from fantasy to sci-fi. Perhaps we are all just a little too hopeful?
BioWare really are promising us gamers a lot to look forward to with this MMO and that doesn't include the potential for Mass Effect 2, Knights of the Old Republic 3, a new Sonic title as well as the debut of Mass Effect on the PC in May.
