Mass Effect Galaxy was BioWare’s entry into the iPhone game market, but it didn’t do nearly as well as the company hoped. Based on the enormously popular RPG franchise created by the minds behind other hits like NeverWinter Nights and Baldur’s Gate would have seemed to have guaranteed success, but the game fizzled out. Why? It simply wasn’t very good. Looking back on it, BioWare’s Dr. Greg Zeschuk admitted that it was a mistake to assume that the Mass Effect storyline alone could carry the tepid gameplay.

He immediately corrected himself, saying that it might not have been a mistake, but “as much as we took a guess, our guess was wrong, and we learned something in the process. Unless your game is utterly designed about tactile gameplay, you shouldn’t release it. That was good information for us to have.”

Its experience with Mass Effect Galaxy notwithstanding, BioWare is still eyeing the iPhone’s potential as a game platform, according to Zeschuk.

Mass Effect Galaxy ‘A Big Mistake,’ says BioWare [Industry Gamers]