Shacknews Interview With BioWare Heads

A couple of days ago (not sure how I missed it) Shacknews posted an interview with Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka talking about Dragon Age, Mass Effect 2 and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Here's the bit on SW:TOR:

Shack: Jumping quickly to The Old Republic.

Greg Zeschuk: That one's pretty good I hear.

Shack: [laughs] There was some noise about microtransactions a few months ago. Is that something you're still considering for inclusion in the game?

Ray Muzyka: Yeah, I mean it'd be intriguing. It'd have to be congruent with the game world. We haven't talked about the business models of TOR yet, so we're not confirming or denying anything on that front.

But you know, subscription models are something that the vast majority of fans in that space in North America and Europe prefer, and it's certainly something we see as an important business model. But you know, microtransactions, other forms of business models are intriguing too. We're looking at a variety of things, but we're not ready to confirm or deny any specifics yet.

Shack: It seems like certain types of microtransactions might fit well with the sort of single-player approach to an MMO that you're going for.

Ray Muzyka: We want something different from play sessions, where people can play through a story and feel like it's their own journey and story arc. But yeah, I mean, there are certainly ways to accommodate that within a subscription model too. And microtransactions don't always have to be game-changing elements. They can be things that add value, but are optional. So there's a variety of ways to pursue it.

Shack: There was also some noise about a console release, but all you've confirmed is PC right now. Are you ruling that out at this point?

Greg Zeschuk: We rule nothing out, but there's no comment. [laughs]

Ray Muzyka: The only version we've talked about is PC, and that's our focus.

Shack: Thanks guys.

As you can see they're talking a bit about micro-transactions, which seems to be causing some panic for a few people (who seem to be ignoring that they're clearly saying that they haven't decided anything yet). Personally I'm quite happy that they're willing to look at all possibilities to come to the hopefully best possible model in the end. If that includes micro-transactions of some kind then I have no problem with that.