Zeschuk: BioWare working on small MMO, console is in "the past"

Greg Zeschuk has told attendees at Develop that BioWare is working on a "small-scale MMO."

The studio's co-founder wouldn't get into specifics on it, telling EG it could "be almost anything," but admitted the team was also working on iPhone, Flash and Browser-based titles.

"We're obviously working on Star Wars: The Old Republic, a big MMO,said Zeschuk, but we're working on smaller MMO type game games across the group - things all over the space.

"We explored lots of different kinds of games. We did some Facebook stuff. We did an iPhone game for Mass Effect [Mass Effect Galaxy].

"It wasn’t the best one – people point that out to us. We learned the hard way. The learning there was you have to iterate. The team went back and made some more games that we never released that were way better. Large scale MMOs. Small scale MMOs."

He continued: "We're going to continue to do triple-A console, but we're also going to be exploring pretty aggressively."

Sayonara to you, Mr. Console?

Zeschuk had said previously in the panel, console hardware is now "the past."

"The future isn't necessarily on console," said Zeschuk. "That's the past.

"It's going to be a strong thing going forward, but the future is in all of these new businesses that are starting up.

"There will be some stuff you'll see down the road, within the next year, that shows what we're doing in that regard."

Zeschuk's comments echo those made by Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima during the Japanese launch party of MGS: Peace Walker in April, the console will be dead "in the near future."

"In the near future, we’ll have games that don’t depend on any platform," he said.

"Gamers should be able to take the experience with them in their living rooms, on the go, when they travel — wherever they are and whenever they want to play. It should be the same software and the same experience."

BioWare announced Dragon Age II last week for PS3, 360 and PC for March next year, with Mass Effect 3 also in development, although not formally announced.

The developer's "big MMO", Star Wars: The Old Republic, is due by spring next year.

Joe's spoken to Greg Zeschuk at Develop this evening. Stay tuned for that soon.