Pachter insists Mass Effect coming to PS3

by Ross Miller { Dec 18th 2007 at 7:45PM }

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter is all but certain the Mass Effect trilogy is going multiplatform. In the latest episode of GameTrailers' Bonus Round (start about three-fourths of the way into the video), Pachter notes that, given the financial expectations Electronic Arts has with its recently-acquired developer, Mass Effect 2 "has to, has to" come to the PlayStation 3 in addition to the Xbox 360.

More interesting is what Pachter says after his ME2 assertion. "I wouldn't be shocked if Mass Effect One came to the PS3," he said. We aren't sure the exact details of EA's acquisition, but we do know the original Mass Effect was published by Microsoft Games Studio, leading us to assume it was a safely exclusive title. Could EA port and publish the game on Sony's console? We doubt Microsoft would be willing to let that platinum-selling title go without a fight.

Tags: bioware, ea, electronic-arts, mass-effect, masseffect, michael-pachter, multiplatform, pachter, wedbush-morgan

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Synner @ Dec 18th 2007 7:49PM

Wow, like that flaming bag of douche has ever been right before?

Plus, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't MS own the Mass Effect name?

Cabcru @ Dec 18th 2007 8:05PM

Surely a site constantly reporting anything and everything he says should be able to give us a clue regarding his hit/miss ratio, right? *pointed look*

LaughingTarget @ Dec 18th 2007 8:50PM

BioWare owns Mass Effect, but the latest EGM has a BioWare article in which BioWare stated the are contractually tied down with Microsoft as the publisher for the next two. If this is true, Mass Effect will never show up on the PS3.

gonk @ Dec 18th 2007 9:06PM

i'd trade ps3 multiplatformness of mass effect in return for the ratchet games

Nate @ Dec 18th 2007 9:54PM

Mass Effect is pretty much the only game I want a 360 for. I'm not expecting it to come out on PS3 any time soon if at all. Too bad, given how good it sounds. I'll buy a 360 as soon as they stop dying every three months.

Synner @ Dec 18th 2007 10:03PM

@nate:

All 360's have a new MoBo now and the Halo edition at tghe very least has the smaller chips. I haven't heard of any of the newer ones RRODing

gonk @ Dec 18th 2007 10:18PM

nate, my 360's worked fine for 2 years straight now

i just turn it off every night when i go to bed, not sure if that helps or not, but at least it saves electricity

elmersglue @ Dec 19th 2007 12:43AM

I'm with gonk, i'd take Ratchet for Mass Effect any day (I know it's not as simple as that) just saying. Mass Effect just ain't my cup of tea.

gonk @ Dec 19th 2007 1:52AM

you misunderstood me. i want both, even if ps3 has to get both too, to even it out

of course I know we'll never get ratchet, so f sony, lets keep mass effect

Jake11 @ Dec 18th 2007 7:50PM

I think, for the first time, Pachter may be wrong

gonk @ Dec 18th 2007 9:06PM

lol, i think he's batting about .100 so far this year

upz @ Dec 19th 2007 1:49AM

Remember when about a year ago Pachter said Activision stock would go through the roof? Of course you don't, but my bank account sure does.

Give the man some credit. He probably does his job a lot better than you do yours.

B1gC72 @ Dec 19th 2007 2:40AM

i wouldnt mind seeing this on PS3 myself if not only for the curiosity all the buzz is evoking in me. but at the same time, Pachter doesnt know jack shit and his predictions almost never come true (seriously, who is paying this guy?). we already know for a fact that at least the first one is Microsoft published so i would assume it aint going anywhere. the other two im not so sure about but i am sure Microsoft would do a great deal to try and stop them from going multiplat. so yea, as a PS3 owner, it would be nice but im not holding my breathe on it.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Dec 19th 2007 9:22AM

Yeah, I'm pretty sure anybody could do their job better when their job is guessing.

josh @ Dec 19th 2007 11:49AM

I don't think Activision stock going through the roof was really a crazy prediction... Guitar Hero III and CoD were both slated to come out this year.

It's alot easier to make predictions like that than specific predictions about publishing decisions on a certain game.

Joe Smith @ Dec 18th 2007 7:52PM

MS paid fo rthe development and believe me, they would not put up a dime if they didn't own the IP. They might license it to EA in exchange for a big pile of $$ and/or other favors, but no way Bioware has much to say about it.

If somehow they did a deal where Bioware could go to anothe rconsole with the IP, then whoever did the deal should be looking for work.

Poisoned Al @ Dec 18th 2007 7:55PM

Even if it does come to the PS3, it will be after a long court battle with Microsoft and development time.

But PS3 owners are used to waiting.

Hamza @ Dec 18th 2007 7:58PM

I don't mind so much. I'm not getting a next-gen console until at least next year. If this rumor has legs, this might seriously affect my decision on what console to get.

Right now I'm torn between FF and Mass Effect, two games that I must play. If by some freak accident, ME comes to PS3...holy shit.

Synner @ Dec 18th 2007 7:59PM

Buy the 360, ME is incredible

SoulBlade @ Dec 18th 2007 8:06PM

Hamza - how's your PC? ME will probably hit it before it hits the PS3 ;)

Cyro @ Dec 19th 2007 9:01AM

I just finished Mass Effect. This game is Awsome. GOTY in my book. I am a shooter Fan, but this RPG, had me hooked. This game is an incredible achievement. I am very impressed with Bioware.

You have to play this game. It's just the level of detail and work put into this game, its amazing.

arrrgh @ Dec 19th 2007 11:07AM

+1

mass effect is more than cinematic. You become immersed in a completely different world and truely take on the role of Shepard. AMAZING GAME. Completely engrossing

finnith @ Dec 18th 2007 8:01PM

I can't believe he makes money by making flawed predictions.

I just hope I wont have to eat my words in a few months or so.

J.Goodwin @ Dec 18th 2007 10:45PM

He makes money by collecting information and giving advice to paying clients. He increases the brand recognition of his firm by talking to gaming websites :D

And he has publicly acknowledged that it doesn't particularly matter whether his advice to his clients is right or wrong, since they can as easily decide to just do the opposite of whatever he tells them and still prosper by it, because chances are good that they are also paying one or more of his competitors for advice that may or may not corroborate his opinion.

There's a really good interview with him in the Gamasutra podcast archives.

===

If EA is willing to pony up the cash, then I'm sure a deal could Get Done. Mass Effect has so far proven to be something less than a major impact game. It's not doing the same kind of numbers that Oblivion or Fable did. As long as there's a nice six month exclusivity window, I bet that Microsoft would be happy to take the money and look the other way.

Jeff @ Dec 18th 2007 8:01PM

Well, Epic has UE3 working amazingly with the Ps3 at this point, so this might not be so far-fetched. In fact, it might be downright stupid not too.

cxm @ Dec 18th 2007 9:23PM

The fact that UE3 works on PS3 is completely irrelevant. MS published Mass Effect which means they likely gave Bioware funding for its development (publishers usually pay most, if not all, of the development costs for most of the games released nowadays). Unless EA is willing to pay Microsoft a rediculous amount of money to tear up the contract (and recoup MS's financial investment in the IP), Mass Effect on the PS3 is a pipe dream.

upz @ Dec 19th 2007 2:32AM

Speaking of UE3, N'Gai says at the end of the episode that Gears of War 3 is pretty much guaranteed to show up on PS3. Why isn't that getting any attention? Or the fact that at the end of the previous episode, Pachter insinuated that MGS4 is only a 6 month exclusive? I would almost say that with this post, Joystiq is just baiting the "Pachter is always wrong" comments for extra traffic, but of course, they'd never do such a thing.

tmacairjordan87 @ Dec 18th 2007 8:04PM

Microsoft doesn't own the mass effect IP, bioware/EA does. However microsoft did publish the first mass effect and good luck trying to convince them to let it go to the ps3.

Wouldn't make sense anyway to put ME 2 and 3 on ps3 without 1 being on there because the sequels will use people's data from the first.

KingMe @ Dec 18th 2007 11:02PM

Same can be said about DMC4 on the 360. Xbox owners don't have the first 3, so why 4?

I don't think previous games matter, otherwise Saints' Row 2 wouldn't be on PS3

Taco_Hell @ Dec 18th 2007 11:48PM

The reason why it does matter with ME 2-3 is because it's a continuous story that happen right after each other with the things you do before actually add up unlike the two titles you mention.

tmacairjordan87 @ Dec 18th 2007 11:52PM

as i said above "Wouldn't make sense anyway to put ME 2 and 3 on ps3 without 1 being on there because the sequels will use people's data from the first"

Tom @ Dec 18th 2007 8:07PM

There's also the outside chance that Bioware develops a different (but oddly familar) space saga RPG.

chris @ Dec 20th 2007 12:13AM

Do you know for a fact that it they will use the old data? And what would keep them from starting fresh on the ps3. Although I don't believe Playstation will see the first one it may very well receive the sequels.

JJ @ Dec 18th 2007 8:15PM

Chances are MS will pay big bucks to keep ME exclusive.

But at the same time bringing 2 and 3 to multiplatform makes sense. ME is a great game. and it deserves to sell more than the half a million or so it's moved in the states so far.

But then i thought the same thing for HS and Uncharted. So *shrug*

Zsavior @ Dec 18th 2007 8:15PM

Ok here we go, so if ME2 has to go multiplatform to make money right, to EAs expectations. That manes Squares Final fantasy games, and MGS4 is definitely going to Xbox360 because of their high production cost and revenue needs aren't they?

And this is what I don't get about these Analyst, if they aren't paid by certain parties something is definitely wrong. Mass effect is on a console with 13 million world wide units out there. MGS4 and FF XIII is going on a system with barely 7 million people owning it and you are telling me that is a good thing for those companies cause PS3 will need them to be a system seller, but Mass effect NEEDS to go to PS3 to make the most revenue?

I am not trying to flamebait here, I would really like people to come in and explain this to me because that makes no sense to me at all.

tmacairjordan87 @ Dec 18th 2007 8:18PM

i think people are only even bringing this up because of EA's reputation of having every one of their games go multiplatform. I personally think they're going to continue changing their evil ways by keeping ME a microsoft exclusive.

SoulBlade @ Dec 18th 2007 8:38PM

Pachter's a tard. Nuff said.

ExMcloud @ Dec 18th 2007 10:51PM

Your completely right man...And honestly M$ has never let a Microsoft Studio game go multiconsole...Mass Effect will stay on the 360 cuz I doubt Bioware will shit on the Sony fans by not giving them the first game in the series...Its not their style...Point Blank...Patcher just talks without thinking

KingMe @ Dec 18th 2007 11:02PM

actually the userbase for PS3 is about 7.5 million.....NOW, and has been selling on par, if not slighlty better than the 360 over the past couple of weeks. It's not like MGS and FF are releasing now. When they release, the userbase will be MUCH higher.

Cyro @ Dec 19th 2007 9:10AM

@Kingme:

What planet are you from?? WTF are saying? That the PS3 is selling slightly better than the 360? Do you live under a rock or something? Last month alone the 360 almost sold 2:1 over the PS3.

Stop pulling that info out of your ass man and Start reading a little more please.....

JJ @ Dec 18th 2007 8:46PM

I doubt ME1 will be on PS3. but i wouldnt be surprised to see its sequels go multiplat... I mean has anything EA put out NOT been multiplatform in thel ast dozen of years or so?

ymmv @ Dec 19th 2007 2:11AM

Pachter has a point. It wouldn't make much sense for EA to pay really big bucks to acquire Bioware when their biggest current IP is still tied to Microsoft Game Studios for the next two sequels. EA makes its profits by publishing for all platforms, that's more lucrative than sticking to only one. They'd only have bought Bioware if there was the assurance they'd own everything Bioware would publish after the first Mass Effect game and all further games would go multi-platform to maximize profits.

FM @ Dec 18th 2007 8:50PM

What about the whole Mass Effect for PC thing?

whatever @ Dec 18th 2007 9:00PM

I think ME1 will make to the PC sometime next year. It's a great game, everyone should to play it, - PC, 360 and PS3 owners should pick it up when it's available on your system.

This game is so underrated, yes it has flaws, but overall it's an awesome game if you're into RPG. The voice acting is very good and sci-fi dialogs that isn't corny.

ExMcloud @ Dec 19th 2007 12:32AM

I love Metal Gear as much as the next person but since when has it been a system seller in the states? I thought Metal Gear was only loved by te hardcore fans? I guess that game sells more than I thought?

Sesur @ Dec 18th 2007 8:56PM

This would be huge for PS3 owners; it's a shame for them that this is likely a steamy load of bullshit.

Melchezidek @ Dec 18th 2007 9:08PM

Someone please let me know if Pachter has ever been right about anything significant or anything that went against common sense. The guy's job is to provide financial analysis for investment purposes. The fact that he thinks Mass Effect one CAN go multi-platform is a testament to his ignorance. That is like saying that Bungie could chose to port Halo 3 to PS3 now that they are independent. Guess what. They can't. MSG publishes that game and why in the hell would they publish their game on a competitor's box? Same case with Mass Effect. MS owns the publishing rights.

Though the future of the franchise has not been specifically commented on yet by MS or Bioware, despite the EGM interview comment, I personally believe that the publishing deal MS signed with Bioware was for the trilogy. Bioware owns the Mass Effect property and EA owns Bioware, but publishing deals remain in place. Of course EA could buy the rights from MS, but I doubt MS would be up for it. They don't need more money, they need market share and mind share. Mass Effect exclusivity gives them both. Mass Effect was conceived as a trilogy from the get go, leading me to believe that the MS/Bioware publishing deal was for the trilogy, just like the Too Human deal.