2K To Publish Jade Empire PC News

When it arrived in Spring 2005 for Xbox, Bioware's Jade Empire was surrounded with high scores and praise, leading to rather the sensible speculation that a sequel wouldn't be too far off.

So far however, only an updated Special Edition PC version of the game has been announced by the studio, which is set for release later in 2006. Amongst the various little touches added to the computer-based version however, comes news that Jade Empire Xbox publishers Microsoft Game Studios won't be bringing the game.

Instead, publishing duties will be the responsibility of 2K Games, whose President, Christoph Hartmann, commented " With Jade Empire's extensive list of accolades and BioWare's industry-wide respect as a developer, 2K is delighted to bring the beloved Jade Empire franchise to the PC."

"We are thrilled to be partnering with 2K to deliver the immersive story and exciting world of Jade Empire to PC gamers," said Ray Muzyka, CEO of BioWare.

"BioWare has a large and loyal fan base of PC RPG gamers and we have heard their many requests for a PC version of Jade Empire," said Greg Zeschuk, President of BioWare. "We are happy to work with 2K on our latest product."

With the game expected to be released during January 2007, one question does have to be asked: Why isn't Microsoft publishing Jade Empire: Special Edition given their renewed focus on Windows-based gaming?

We'll have more news shortly...