According to Gamasutra's interview with EA's chief financial officer, Eric Brown, the Bioware MMO is a serious investment. EA is clearly going to try and give Blizzard the some real competition for the space -- and they would need to. When it comes to subscription-based gaming, I can't imagine many gamers would be willing to hold multiple credit card charges monthly let alone put in the required time into both titles. The biggest question I have is whether EA is going for a poach attack or try to primarily sign customers who are new to the MMO genre. Bioware and Star Wars certainly have a pull for the latter. If it does take off, it could be the first schism in the space which Blizzard has utterly owned.
Regardless, owners of other MMOs such as Guild Wars should be on the lookout for these two super powers engaging in proxy wars.
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