New Star Wars MMO being considered for console - EA

Electronic Arts exec Frank Gibeau has confirmed that console versions of Star Wars: The Old Republic and Warhammer Online are "under consideration".

Speaking to our sister site Eurogamer.net at a press event announcing Star Wars: The Old Republic for PC, he said, "We're definitely looking at the opportunity to bring the MMO experience to console, without question.

"We've got this product, and we've got Warhammer at play," he continued, "So we're trying to look at the primary research required to understand how would you deploy it, what the client size looks like, how big is the back-end, what the play experience looks like... Once we've got some of those questions answered, we'll be able to decide which is the right play to go after."

When asked if he was specifically referring to SWTOR and Warhammer Online, Gibeau replied, "They're both under consideration." However, he added, "We're not really in a place to commit or announce anything specific with regards to those."

Gibeau is president of the EA Games label, which published Warhammer Online for PC in September. LucasArts is publishing SWTOR, but the game is being developed by BioWare - which is owned by EA. So what's in it for them?

"There is a set of business terms that have been worked out in terms of how the companies are going to relate, and so it's a typical, standard relationship from that standpoint," Gibeau stated. "This is a BioWare-Lucas-built product, and EA is a partner in that because we own BioWare."

The EA exec declined to discuss the financial terms of the deal or whether EA will have a profit share in SWTOR, simply stating, "I'm not going to go into that."

A release date for Star Wars: The Old Republic has yet to be announced. The game was unveild to the press officially in the US yesterday, after EA CEO John Riccitiello revealed the project was in the works last July.