EA owns Mass Effect ... so, what now?

i hope they don't have to put a shitty EA logo every time i load the game, you can never skip past those

"what now?"

easy, don't buy it. rent it instead. send a message.

if we do nothing EA will continue to buy American & European third-party devs leaving only the Japanese to develop original, quality-driven games. if you care about this industry's future, now is the time to do something to preserve it. This is why I have a Gamefly account.

As much as I hate EA I think this is great news this means we will see more games from BioWare and Pandemic.

Plus this most likely means now that Dragons Age will also come out on the 360 and PS3.

Plus not that long ago BioWare said the first game of Mass Effect would only be on the 360 but the second may also come out on the PS3. So now this means that it for sure will.

I can't wait to see what BioWare & Pandemic can make next.

LOL Mass Effect on the PS3 in 08? Sony can't even get the next installment of Gran Turismo out. They been working on it since what 2004 or am I wrong and it was released and tanked. Sony fans have to wait until spring 08 for everything and in spring of 08 they will be told Xmas of 08 and they'll all still sing the praises of Sony.

microsoft must own or have some contractual clause regarding the other two games in the mass effect trilogy

the way its worded here etc, it would be conceivable that if bioware stayed independent, microsoft would publish the first game and have no control over where the 2 sequels appear.

sure, microsoft dont own the IP but i cant see how they wouldnt have a contractual agreement regarding the sequels.

just look at the microsoft / epic / gears of war.

epic owns the IP, microsoft published the first game but microsoft have the right to the first 3 games (2 sequels)

surely its a similar scenario here

i'm all for great games coming out on more systems via QUALITY ports.

personally, I think it'd be great if there were no exclusives...

i originally assumed this would eventually land on pc, but now i'm not quite so sure.

will EA bring mass effect to the pc and ps3? i was positive microsoft would at least go pc with it.

umm, mass effect 1, 2, and 3... all on one blu-ray disc... yeah, that sounds about right.

A PS3 sequel?

I'm wondering will PS3 even last for there to become a sequel for it.

PS3 is on thin ice, if those 40GB PS3 units don't push numbers this upcoming holiday season it will be critical blow to Sony financially. They've already tanked 2 billion on PS3 development and price reducment for the first revision models, then they had to price reduce the 60GB to increase more sales pushing their money back strategy into the deep negatives, now they've releasing even more reduced price consoles to get more buyers, each PS3 selling at a big cost to them. From readers complaints of PS3 40GB and White lacking backward compatibility or being too feature reduced, oh and the lack of games for the system. Don't be surprised when Sony makes that announcment that they halting PS3 production.

I remember when Sega did it (twice)
I remember when the 3DO Company raised their cap in the air for the last time.
and I remember Atari announcing their merger with JTS and Atari hardware went rock bottom in clearance prices.

Oh man
Be prepared for a new title every 6 months.
I didn't really care at first, but then I remembered they made Kotor and Jade Empire. This is bullshit!

I'm thinking about the bigger picture. Short term, we know that Mass Effect will be released by Microsoft, and that if successful, it's likely to spawn sequels, which I'm sure Microsoft already has under contract if published.

What I'm most concerned about...

Microsoft Game Studios seems to be losing studio after studio.

FASA Studios? Closed down after the release of Shadowrun.

Bungie? Microsoft has released the company they owned, oddly enough, and Bungie is once again an independant publisher.

Bizarre Creations? Acquired by Activision.

BioWare? Acquired by Electronic Arts.

Rare? Rumored to be porting a 360 game to the Nintendo DS. At the beginning of the year, the founders of Rare left the company.

What is going on? Does Microsoft have any first parties left?

Also this year... Epic publically announced their displeasure with Microsoft over Gears of War DLC. And since then Epic has ONLY been talking about the PS3.

Even Peter Moore, one of Microsoft's most visable executives left Microsoft and joined EA.

Am I the only one that sees a pattern?

2007 will be remembered as the year when everyone left Microsoft.

What is going on behind the scenes? Is Microsoft getting out of the first party publishing business?

I'd say it's unlikely you'll see Mass Effect go Multiplatform. But I'd say their is a good chance the next two games in the series will unless MS buys EA off.

anything aside from a categorical denial from microsoft means fucking great news for PS3 owners .. done!

MS owns the publishing rights to the first game they have part funded the whole thing just like gears of war was done as soon as it sell well an agreement will be some to to keep developing it for 360

The way the US market is going anyway the PS3 will be irrelevant by the time any sequel comes out anyway

GAMERS UNITE STOP THIS MADNESS. ONLY YOU CAN SAVE THE GAMING WORLD. HACKERS OF THE WORLD WE MUST JOIN TOGETHER
AND CRASH EA SERVERS AND WEBSITE...... WE... MUST..... STOP..... THE EVIL.....EMPIRE......... GO TO HELL EA......

Please tell me it ain't so. Even if Bioware is developing EA will find some way to ruin this game.

Yet another company that MS should have bought. Bioware supported the hell out of XBOX/Windows, much like Bizarre Creations. With MS selling off Bungie, and letting Bizarre and Bioware get gobbled up by Activison and EA, I am curious exactly what they are going to offer in the way of first party content following 2008. MS should have bought both these studios to turn MS Game Studios in a powerhouse. Can you imagine? Bungie, Rare, Bioware AND Bizarre Creations all in MS' pocket? Now all they have it Rare.

Mass Effect was ultimately the only reason that made me remotely interested in buying an Xbox 360. IF this title is released on the PS3 or the PC I will have absolutely no reason to get the overheating console and will be a happy gamer.

Great...there goes all my dreams about Mass Effect being pretty much bug free....Another IP hit's the dust. Thanks EA. *Sigh*

Being in software development, and working for a Microsoft partner company, Microsoft has a long tradition of trying to encourage 3rd parties rather than develop applications in house - certainly there are some assets it's deemed worthwhile for strategic reasons, but they've always been about just providing the platform.

This, Bizarre, FASA, the Bungie deal, all point to MS reaching a point where they feel the platform is sustainable by primarily 3rd parties and as such is reducing it's first party involvement.

However, this isn't windows. It'll be interesting to see how it pans out for them.

Well, Bioware is now officially dead.

Every company that EA has gobbled up has died a terrible terrible death. Origin Systems, Bullfrog, countless others.

The only survivor is Maxis, and that's because Will Wright doesn't know WHERE HE IS at any given time. He hasn't yet been told that EA owns his ass.

I hope for a PC port, thats all I want.

MS: Hey EA how Mass Effect 2 and 3 coming along? Really your thinking about going multi-platform huh? Well, here take this $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Oh you decided to make it just for us why thank you.

That's the only way to keep it from going multi. Even if they did put it on the PS3 (possible) or the Wii (doubtful). With the Blue-ray they might be able to fit the 1st 2 games on one disc and just release a Special Edition. The Wii I guess you could release a 2-3 disc set. I can see it going both ways.

WARNING TO EA: If you F*&k this up....then...Well damn I would boycott you, but you own too many companies to make a difference. I'll probably end up buying something from you without even knowing. ASS.

Wow how slow could be! first off Microsoft, NEVER OWN MASS EFFECT, when they first showed Mass Effect, Bioware stated it was NOT A Microsoft IP, it was OWNED BY them, After the whole KOTOR2 mess, they said they would never sell an IP to M$! EA NOW OWNS THE IP, Microsoft was just publishing it! they did not own any rights to it! Face it the 360 just lost one of its Biggest Exclusives EVER!! Heres an Example for you, Nintendo Publishes Banjo, Rare OWNS Banjo IP, Microsoft Buys Rare, Banjo Exclusive to the 360! Tell me how this is not any diffrent from that!