Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer component has been criticized by many, but in an interview with Nowgamer, Bioware’s Casey Hudson mentions why they went ahead with it.
“There are obvious benefits to having a multiplayer aspect to a game,” he said. “It extends the playability, adds value to the offering, and lets you share something you enjoy with your friends.
“Even when we started working on ME1 it was clear that games were moving towards various forms of integrated multiplayer but we just weren’t able to find a way to implement it that made sense with the storyline and properly complemented the single-player experience.
“But with Mass Effect 3, we realized that it finally made sense. With the entire galaxy in a war for survival, it’s not just Shepard’s exploits that are interesting – there are battles all over the galaxy that would be cool to experience.”
Mass Effect 3 will release next year on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.