BioWare Is Starting an Army of Its Own

Dragon Age: Origins may be a story-driven, single-player, role-playing game, but that doesn't mean that it didn't take steps towards online entertainment. The title's social network was provided by the developers to allow players to boast their achievements and share their own alternate decisions and the way they chose to develop its story. Bragging about how they let the village of Radcliffe be massacred at the hands of the undead forces or how they never got Wynne as a companion because they let Morrigan shoot off her mouth encourages players to try different solutions and assures a fair amount of replayability incentive.

It may not account for even half of the subscribers of World of Warcraft, but BioWare's community has a pretty impressive five million registered users. Since Social.BioWare.com was set up, 500,000 people signed up, and the newly redesigned MassEffect.com will bring even more fans. BioWare is known for peaking the interest of its fans and having them huddle together in a single place, like we've seen with Star Wars The Old Republic. When the beta test subscriptions for the game were opened up, the site went down from the sheer amount of attention it received.

Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder, BioWare and group general manager of the RPG/MMO Group of EA noticed the fans' behavior and wanted to present the company's appreciation. "We want to thank our fans for their enthusiasm and ongoing support. The passion within the community is not only helping drive momentum for Dragon Age referrals but our actively engaged fan base is eager for future content releases, which we are committed to deliver," he said.

Muzyka further added that, "We could not be more excited about the outstanding community growth. The connection we are fostering with our fans is direct and personal. This tremendous community will help set the stage for an incredible Mass Effect 2 launch on January 26th."