BioWare and LucasArts have announced an agreement to produce "an interactive entertainment product".
Exactly what that product is, well... they're not telling. It's not the first time the companies have worked together, with BioWare having developed
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. With
Mass Effect due in the next few weeks, could BioWare be getting ready for another
Star Wars RPG? Maybe this could be the unannounced MMO game that BioWare has been teasing us for a while now?
What Jim Ward, president of LucasArts,
would say is, "LucasArts has a deep commitment to developing compelling stories and characters for the unique medium of interactive entertainment, and we have been searching for a developer that shares this value. We found this in BioWare. Through our previous collaborations, we know that BioWare has an impressive ability to blend gripping stories with technological advancements, and we believe that our upcoming product will deliver an experience that will span the traditional boundaries of video game entertainment." Which, of course, is not a whole lot of help.
What's also curious is just how this deal will fit with
EA's recently announced acquisition of BioWare. The announcement states that the game "will be developed and published by BioWare and LucasArts". It may be that the agreement was made before the EA deal was pinned down, or LucasArts could be breaking its usual habit of distributing titles through Activision in favour of using EA.
Needless to say, SPOnG will keep you posted as more details emerge.