Something Social This Way Comes: Bioware Acquires Leading Social RPG Dev

Recent comments made by EA/Bioware seem to confirm that there is something “mass”ive coming our way in the form of a new Bioware flavored social experience (and that flavor is Pop Chips).  While we have no concrete evidence of what they’re planning, we did give you some of our very well educated guesses last month . All we can say is that we’re keeping our fingers crossed for something truly spectacular.

EXHIBIT A (statement from Casey Hudson):  “This is a concept that has never been done before in games, ever,” states Hudson. “Not simply a story device, it’s fundamental to the game. For the first time, wherever you go – online, mobile, on social networks – you’ll be able to follow your progress. You’ll never have to leave the Mass Effect experience.”

EXHIBIT B (Bioware/EA acquires Click Nation):  and according to today’s press release “KlickNation’s expertise in building innovative and compelling RPGs for social platforms makes them a seamless tuck-in with the BioWare team at EA,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Senior Vice President and General Manager of EA’s BioWare label. “We share the same creative values. The new BioWare Social unit will bring BioWare and EA franchises to the growing audience of core gamers who are looking for high quality, rich gameplay experiences on social platforms.”

We couldn’t be more excited to see what Bioware and KlickNation have in store for us in the near future.  Just give me my mobile mining experience damn it!

PRESS RELEASE:

Leading Social RPG Developer Joins EA’s BioWare Label to Lead Growth in Core Social Gaming

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced the acquisition of KlickNation, a developer of free-to-play social role-playing games (RPGs). The acquisition further strengthens EA’s position as a leader in social games, increasing the company’s expertise and technological resources in the fast-growing core social games genre. KlickNation is now BioWare Sacramento, part of EA’s BioWare™ label. The team joins BioWare’s existing social gaming team at BioWare San Francisco to form a new business unit, BioWare Social, focused on the development of RPG experiences for social networks and led by former KlickNation CEO Mark Otero.

“KlickNation’s expertise in building innovative and compelling RPGs for social platforms makes them a seamless tuck-in with the BioWare team at EA,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Senior Vice President and General Manager of EA’s BioWare label. “We share the same creative values. The new BioWare Social unit will bring BioWare and EA franchises to the growing audience of core gamers who are looking for high quality, rich gameplay experiences on social platforms.”

“While developing social RPG experiences, we held BioWare as a role model for storytelling and game design,” said Mark Otero, General Manager, BioWare Social and co-founder of KlickNation. “Joining with BioWare and EA is an opportunity to realize our vision for bringing high-quality RPG titles to the fast-growing, highly-engaged core gamers looking for deeper experiences on social platforms.”

KlickNation develops and publishes games for social platforms including Facebook®. Known for combining in-depth storylines with high-quality graphics, KlickNation has consistently delivered repeated breakthroughs in the social RPG genre since the release of its first game in 2009. SuperHero City was the first social game to feature animated battles; Age of Champions introduced the first mass combat battle system in a social game; and Six Gun Galaxy uses a newly-developed engine to deliver a completely flash-based isometric game experience.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.