After months of wild speculation, Bioware (Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect) have confirmed that famed superstar basketball player, Michael Jordan, will indeed make an appearance in their upcoming multi-platform RPG, Dragon Age: Origins, the so-called ‘spiritual successor’ to their earlier series of games, Baldur’s Gate.

General Manager and CEO at BioWare and General Manager and Vice President at EA, Dr. Ray Muzyka said in a recent interview; “Despite Dragon Age: Origins shaping up to be quite amazing in its level of quality and polish, and we really are quite proud of our team for achieving this level of quality, we’re not really sure that Dragon Age will be able to sell the kinds of numbers we need on its own merits.

“As a result, we started looking into how we could inject an element into the game that would become instantly popular and recognisable, so that anyone who saw the box would become excited enough to buy it on the spot.”

President and Co-Executive Producer at BioWare, Dr. Gregory P. Zeschuk interjected by saying; “Michael Jordan is one of the most famous sport stars in history – even people who have never watched a minute of basketball know who Michael Jordan is.

“There was no question over what element would enable us to ensure that Dragon Age: Origins achieves its potential level of popularity, and sell the highest number of copies possible. We could think of no-one, and nothing, better to help our potentially unsatisfactory sales than Michael Jordan.

“Well, maybe Tiger Woods!” laughs Zeschuk.

EA CEO, John Ricitiello, who was also present for the wide-ranging interview, commented on the historic use of a former basketball player in a fantasy-themed role-playing game, saying:

“While we fully understand that the videogame industry is a largely creatively driven business, it is a business, and in these tough economic times, we have to ask ourselves, ‘What’s going to sell?’ Clearly, Ray and Greg understand this business better than most, so their answer was immediate: Michael Jordan is going to sell.

“Besides, due to a loophole, I’m ashamed to say, that was manufactured back in what we call the ‘Evil EA’ days, our contract with Jordan has never technically expired since we worked with him on ‘Chaos in the Windy City’ in 1994, so the decision to use him in Dragon Age also made financial sense in that regard.”

The trio were tight-lipped on the role that Michael Jordan would play in Dragon Age: Origins, but Muzyka did offer the titbit that Jordan’s involvement is “fairly significant… he has quite a bit of dialogue, doesn’t he?” he says teasingly, smiling at Zeschuk.

More news as it arrives.

Read the full interview with Dr. Ray Muzyka, Dr. Gregory P. Zeschuk and John Ricitiello tomorrow, where they speak their thoughts on the future of EA and the role that Bioware will play, game development on the Wii, the skyrocketing costs of creating triple-A titles, and more.

Source: Computer Gaming World