Mass Effect 3 Multi-Player Confirmed

Well, Andrew just got a boner.

Yesterday, it was confirmed, via the Australian game magazine PC Power, that Mass Effect 3 would have multiplayer, following months of speculation on the topic, fueled by cryptic phrases on foreign game ads. This was the exact verbage used, “That’s right – Mass Effect 3 is getting multiplayer! We travel to BioWare’s office in Edmonton for hands-on time with the series’ first foray into online gameplay, and chat with Mass Effect Series Producer and Mass Effect 3 Project Director Casey Hudson about the decision to go multiplayer in the epic battle for the galaxy.”

The blurb was later confirmed via Bioware’s Twitter feed and, while details are still shady, the company spoke up early this morning to address a few questions.

Opening the announcement, Bioware stated that the multi-player function of the very story-centric game will focus on a new, unique character, and have new progression options. Despite this, the options provided in multi-player are just that, optional, and in no way will it change the game’s ending; no new endings are provided by playing with a partner, though your decisions made while playing in multi-player still factor into the story.

The co-op mode has its own title, “Galaxy at War”, which allows you to create a new character and explore in groups. Turians, Asari, and more are at your disposal, not just humans. The missions in this multi-player mode will focus on liberating captured colonies, and will score you with a ‘Galactic Readiness’ mechanic.

“Being able to explore and fight alongside your friends in the Mass Effect universe has always been something we thought would be fun and compelling, and many players have asked for it for a long time as well. Mass Effect 3 is the best place for us to introduce multiplayer through co-op because of the premise of the game – all out galactic war…”

And speaking of multi-player, it was also divulged that the co-op play is being developed by a separate branch of Bioware, located in Montreal.

“Both studios work together as partners, lead by the core Mass Effect team, unified in a single vision. Under the direction of Casey Hudson and other team veterans, both studios make contributions to both the single player and multiplayer modes in Mass Effect 3. Rest assured that no compromises were made to either of these modes in the development of Mass Effect 3.”

The most interesting and curious aspect of the announcement, was that each platform would have a different version of Galaxy at War. It could be that if you want to see everything the Mass Effect universe has to offer, you’ll have to play it across several systems with different friends.

Only time will tell what else is in store, but we’ll be sure to tell you as more is revealed!