14 DAY TRIAL // One of the big launches being prepared for the end of 2011 by developer BioWare and publisher Electronic Arts is the mix between role playing and action that is Mass Effect 3, but, with the development on the title still going strong, the two leaders of the team are apparently already working on creating a full second trilogy that is set in the same universe.
In an interview with IGN, during which Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk from BioWare talked about Mass Effect 3 and about how players shaped the vision for it, the two pretty much confirmed that they were also thinking about more games set in the same game universe.
Muzika said Mass Effect 3 was a part of the “initial three games” and then he talked about “moving on from there.”
It's not definitive proof that Mass Effect will exist beyond the third video game in the series, and no official announcement will probably arrive until well into 2012, but it's good to know that the main creative minds at BioWare are preparing ideas to push the franchise further.
Mass Effect is one of the few successful science fiction game universes released in the last few years, spawning two games already and a host of additional content like novels and comics, with a third game under development.
The setting is successful because it manages to combine familiar tropes, ranging from xenophobic and warlike aliens to humans that cannot yet fully integrate in the galactic order, with novel ideas, like that of a recurring culling of all-organic life in the galaxy and the concept of the mass effect.
BioWare is well known for its ability to take settings and then create experiences which show off various aspects and characters, but it's unclear if they can keep delivering games based on Commander Shepard or if another main protagonist needs to be put forward for another trilogy.