Mass Effect 3 to have four-player co-op?

Mass Effect 3 co-op with YOU

Various rumours have emerged suggesting that Mass Effect 3 could have a co-operative multiplayer mode. Eurogamer report that the co-op mode will be a "standalone" section with "competitive elements," and could take the form of a survival mode that will have players fending off waves of enemies.

CVG say they've heard from "a reliable development source" that the multiplayer mode will feature "original missions made for online." There will be a small number of missions designed to be played over and over again.

CVG's source says "Mainstream penetration is a major goal for Mass Effect 3 and those high up feel online co-op is the answer they're looking for. EA's keen to push the multiplayer side of the game to help spread word of mouth - so it's not just going to rehash stuff from the campaign. It's going all out."

Bioware haven't yet commented on the rumours, but at E3, BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka told Eurogamer "we haven't talked at all about multiplayer in the Mass Effect franchise, but we're exploring multiplayer in all of our games and all of our franchises," admitting that "It's always an idea we're interested in."

Mass Effect 3 is coming out March 2012. Check out our hands-on from E3 to find out how the game's shaping up.

Tom Senior

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.