PCG: There’s a lot of concern among PC gamers about the state of PC gaming right now. We certainly feel like it’s pretty healthy, but there are a lot of developers and publishers saying, “We’re really concerned, we can’t do PC exclusives, there isn’t any money in it.” What do you think?
RM: I actually think PC gaming has actually never been healthier. I think it’s actually incredibly healthy right now, and there’s more people playing PC games and investing in PC games and their fan base than ever before. It’s just, they’re doing different things, they have a different perspective, like they might be doing online gaming more, they might be doing more post-release downloadable content, some studios are doing pretty innovative things with in-game advertising, as well, and microtransations. We’re doing post-release content as well, we have an MMO in development - there’s a lot of cool things that we’re doing that are definitely going to enrich the PC gaming landscape. Dragon Age - that’s another sweet spot for BioWare, the spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate. You know, our fans of those games, like the Baldur’s Gate series and Neverwinter Nights, they’re gonna eat it up, so we’re not in any way planning to not pursue PC gaming anything but really, really strongly. It’s an important market for us, and we see it as really important to BioWare, a lot of our fan base love our games on the PC.
PCG: So…you have some interest in the MMO space, yes?
RM: Oh yes, we have interest in the MMO space. In fact, we have one in development right now in Austin.
PCG: Well, can you tell us anything about it?
RM: No, I can’t say anything about it yet, but maybe soon. You can look for a BioWare spin on it - all of our games are going to have rich characters and story and depth. We have a lot of respect for the best-of-breed MMOs out there, we play ‘em and we love ‘em, and we’re combining those with a lot of things you love about BioWare games. So, put those two together, just imagine the possibilities.
May 13, 2008
