Mass Effect Going Multiplayer

The next Mass Effect might not be a solely single-player experience. A new job posting on LinkedIn suggests that the series is taking a turn toward multiplayer.

Maybe "suggests" is too weak a verb - the BioWare Montreal opening (picture below) is for a "Multiplayer Programmer (Mass Effect Franchise)." Not much room for interpretation, there. The ideal candidate will have to come up with "solutions to deal with network latency, de-synchronization of data between networked machines/players, packet compression, cheating, and interrupted connections." They'll also have to "work with databases that allow for chat rooms, client/server games, player matching, player stats, etc."

One other tidbit, from the position summary: "[Multiplayer Programmers] work with both the front and back ends to take existing single player user experiences and make them multiplayer safe." I guess you could argue that means co-op. However, in a way all online play is just a translation of the single-player experience; both have the same basic mechanics, after all.

Back in February, EA chief operating officer John Schappert said something "far-reaching" would be coming for Mass Effect. Maybe this is what they meant?

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