BioWare Community Passes The 1.5 Million Mark

Straight from my inbox:

BioWare fan community soars to new heights

Recent success drives community membership to more than 1.5 million users

EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada January 9, 2004 BioWare Corp. today released new growth statistics for the official BioWare Community, driven in part by the remarkable success of Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republicâ„¢ (published by LucasArts) and the Neverwinter Nightsâ„¢ franchise (published by Atari), as well as the recent announcement of BioWare’s upcoming martial arts action-RPG, Jade Empireâ„¢ (www.jade-empire.com, to be published by Microsoft in late 2004).
2003 saw tremendous growth of the BioWare community, with membership numbers more than doubling during the year to over 1.5 million user accounts as of December 2003. BioWare had one of its most productive years ever, finishing development on four titles in 2003: Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republicâ„¢ for Microsoft’s Xbox, Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentideâ„¢ for PC, Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republicâ„¢ for PC, and Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdarkâ„¢ for PC. All four titles were outstanding critical and commercial successes, with Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republicâ„¢ already winning numerous Game of the Year and RPG of the Year awards. Fans of these games flocked to the BioWare Community Site (www.bioware.com) to learn more about the titles, receive technical support, and interact with like-minded fans on the official message boards.

(We are extremely pleased with the fan community’s growth. The BioWare Live Team has done a magnificent job in promoting the BioWare Community and supporting it with new growth initiatives. BioWare prides itself on having an excellent relationship with its fans, and we feel that is reflected in the success of our community,) said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Joint CEO of BioWare Corp.

(Both Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™ and the Neverwinter Nights™ franchise benefit from fantastic fan support, and we aim to satisfy the needs of both communities with the BioWare Community Site, while also promoting future titles,) added Dr. Greg Zeschuk, Joint CEO of BioWare Corp. (In 2004, we have a number of initiatives planned to support our fan communities, including the possibility exciting online digital distribution plans for new game content. We will continue to sustain community activity as we move towards the release of the action-RPG Jade Empire™ for Xbox in late 2004.)

About BioWare

BioWare Corp. is an electronic entertainment company that develops computer and console games. BioWare’s developers are currently hard at work on the action-RPG Jade Empireâ„¢, a BioWare-created intellectual property to be published by Microsoft for the Xbox (www.jade-empire.com). Two other untitled projects, both featuring original BioWare intellectual properties, are also in development for PC and console. Star Wars:® Knights of the Old Republic,â„¢ published by LucasArts and released July 18, 2003 for the Xbox and November 18, 2003 for PC, is currently enjoying critical praise and great commercial success with its opening weekend launch ending with Microsoft proclaiming the title as the fastest selling Xbox game in history. Neverwinter Nightsâ„¢: Hordes of the Underdarkâ„¢, the second official expansion for the critically acclaimed PC role-playing game Neverwinter Nights, published by Atari, was released on December 2, 2003, and has enjoyed critical success. Previously published projects include: the award-winning Neverwinter Nights,â„¢ the genre-defining Baldur’s Gateâ„¢ role playing game series for the PC, MDKâ„¢2 for Dreamcast and PC, MDKâ„¢2: Armageddon for PlayStation®2 and Shattered Steelâ„¢. BioWare information can be found online at www.bioware.com