Bioware’s greatest achievement with the Mass Effect series may be one of universe building. In a conversation I had with Casey Hudson before the release of Mass Effect 2, he insisted that the world of Mass Effect came first — before the art, before the assets, before the story. Now that we’re approaching the end of the Mass Effect trilogy, Bioware is suggesting there may be room for more stories within that universe.
“[W]e’ve spent a lot of time building the IP and building this amazing world,” said Producer Michael Gamble, in an interview with CVG. “We don’t have anything to announce, and ME3 is the end of Shepard’s story of course, but who knows? We may tell additional stories in the future.”
I find it interesting: the investment in creating such a well thought out universe must have been huge for Bioware, and it’s testament to its commitment as a studio that the team put so much time into universe building without really knowing just how much of a success the original game would be.
Interestingly enough, according to Casey Hudson, once a world is built in full detail, the stories almost write themselves. So I would not be surprised to see future games within the Mass Effect universe.
Mass Effect 3: ‘We’ve brought back a lot of what was missing in ME2′ [CVG]
That Teemo
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 9:33 AMIt was a given considering how successful Mass Effect is.
It’s kind of like Halo.
Zap
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 9:35 AMMEMMO coming 2014?
Si
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 9:45 AMI would totally play a Mass Effect MMO
Reign
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 10:25 AMA Mass Effect MMO with extensive space & planet exploration in a sandbox universe would make me hard.
Joshy206
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 2:19 PMIf that happened, I would be so happy. So happy. I would explode in happiness. So happy.
James
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 1:26 PMAs an expansion pack for their Star Wars MMO, maybe?
Mark
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 5:25 PMHell yeah, but please make it skill based, not stat based, ie closer to BF3 then TOR
Azza
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 9:46 AMThey built a great universe, so I’m looking forward to it.
Aidan
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 10:04 AMIt’d be a little hard to do something post-ME3 unless they made it tiny in scope, but I’d love a prequel. There are 30 years or so of stories to tell before the first game.
That Teemo
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 10:10 AMFirst contact war would be pretty awesome.
Shaoken
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 10:11 AMUm…this is news? Bioware’s said this several time before.
RobbyM
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 10:30 AMEA will keep pushing this cash cow until it’s dead.
El Kapitan
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 10:54 AMInteresting you didn’t use the quote that all the other journalists are using: “It wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep your Mass Effect 3 Saves..”
Darren
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 5:51 PMThey posted that one last week :)
Luke
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 11:24 AMI’d like to see another game set in the Mass Effect world that has nothing to do with the Reapers or existing Mass Effect story. An open world game that revolves around mega corporations, racial tensions, human expansion and inept governance would do more to flesh out the world than a prequel or sequel.
Aidan
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 12:33 PMI’d like this, yeah.
spanner
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 3:28 PMSome sort of trade federation perhaps? And a taxation subplot.
MrBS
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 12:17 PMGive Garrus his own game dammit!
STENDEC
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 1:07 PM“We may tell additional stories in the future.”
Translation: EA will force us to make another one of these.
Darren
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 5:55 PMI think that doing something on the Promethians would be interesting. Such as if there are any left running around after the events in ME3 and the council tries to help or hinder (depending on player choices) them. Hell, even something set waaaaaayyyy back during the Reaper V Promethian war.
I do like the idea of the First Contact War though (That Teemo suggested that one). I just do not want to see another bloody MMO. Just keep pumping out GOOD quality single player games with a great story and fun game play. I would be very happy with that.
Sam Timmins
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 8:56 PMNothing wrong with leaping ahead a thousand years! Think like KotOR, except in reverse!