Rumor Control: BioWare Denies Mass Effect Xbox Exclusivity (PC)

An Australian Xbox 360 mag claims BioWare boss Ray Muzyka has committed to making Mass Effect a 360 exclusive trilogy. BioWare tells us it's hogwash.

by James Brightman on Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Ever since Electronic Arts picked up BioWare and Pandemic, the fate of RPG trilogy Mass Effect's exclusivity on Microsoft's Xbox 360 has been up in the air. Although both Microsoft and BioWare continue to speak with each other, it's still not clear if Mass Effect will be making its way to Sony's PlayStation 3. As a major third-party publisher, however, it would seem to make sense for EA to bring its top properties to as many platforms as possible.

Earlier today, a report supposedly from the just released September issue of Australian 360 (via XboxOZ360) quotes BioWare CEO Ray Muzyka during a European EA press event as saying that the developer is still committed "to bring the Mass Effect trilogy exclusively to the Xbox 360."

It quickly turned into one of the hottest stories on N4G, and it would be great news for Microsoft and the Xbox 360... if it were true. GameDaily BIZ got in touch with a BioWare representative who seemed stunned as anyone to see this report. "This site is incorrect; Ray did NOT make any such statement regarding any exclusivity plans for the Mass Effect trilogy," the rep insisted.

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Latest Article Comments (2)

  • brightmanjames on 7/23/2008 12:04 pm

    netbodyblis, we're well aware that you got the quote from the magazine and we clearly state that in our article. However, you cannot take anything at face value. You apparently did not check with BioWare before posting a story. We did. It's called "reporting." But thanks for "clarifying things" mate.

  • netbodyblis on 7/23/2008 2:53 am

    Thanks for the item mention, but in actual fact, we simply reported what a MAGAZINE had PRINTED, we made no claims that the game was exclusive, we simply ran with what was printed in X360 - Australia. It would be great if you actually published what was written so that your readers could see it wasn't us who made a mistake, but the magazine who mis-quoted Mr Muzyka's comments, we simply reported them. When we were contacted by Bioware’s Erik Einsiedel, we gladly retracted an assertion WE may have made, but stayed true to what the magazine had in fact PRINTED in its September issue, on page 14 for all to see. We hope this sheds some light on the REAL matter at hand . . ------ Here's what we wrote : Update: At the request of Bioware’s Erik Einsiedel, we would like to publicly retract the comment that Ray Muzyka supposedly made re Mass Effect being “Exclusive” to the Xbox360. His actual “comment” (seen above) did not include the word “exclusive” and thus we gladly retract that statement. We’d like to point out however, we simply commented on an article that appeared in the printed media (X360 Magazine Australia which is a sister publication to the UK parent Company under license with Derwent Howard here in Australia) and did not fabricate the comments. And while his comment is clearly seen as supporting the trilogy on the Xbox 360 for its entirety and beyond, the word “exclusive” was not used, all be it inferred. So we appologize for that. And just to “Clarify things”, we only reported what was PRINTED in a publication: here is what that publication wrote in it’s latest Issue #4, page 14 which appears in it’s very first paragraph: and I quote: “Speaking exclusively to 360 at EA’s European Showcase. BioWare CEO Ray Muzyka restated his company’s commitment to bring the Mass Effect trilogy exclusively to the Xbox 360, despite having been brought up by Electronic Arts and analysts claiming it would go multiplatform.” Note THEIR use of the word “Exclusively” - NOT ours. We simply reported the fact. It’s a bit like shooting the horse because YOU rode it into something. It wasn’t the horse’s fault, but the rider, and in this case, the magazines. Here is what THEY wrote. (not us)

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Mass Effect

Mass Effect
  • GenreAction RPG
  • Release Date05/01/2008
  • PublisherEA Games
  • DeveloperBioWare
  • ESRBRP - Rating Pending
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