Microsoft’s Shane Kim told MTV’s Multiplayer blog during the DICE Summit last week that EA’s recent acquisition of BioWare shouldn’t change the Mass Effect series, and reiterated the importance of the franchise: “It will be and has been and will continue to be a very important exclusive piece of content for Xbox 360.”

As to whether or not the game would appear on a competitors machine, he admitted there might be some scenario where that could happen: “The future is an awful long time. I suppose there’s some scenario. You never know how things are going to go.”

“We really care about our relationship with EA. BioWare’s been a good partner for us. We’re very happy with the success of “Mass Effect” and we want that to continue. From a platform perspective, is it the most important that Microsoft Games Studios publishes it or [rather] that it’s exclusive to the platform? That’s the way we have to think about it,” Kim said, adding: “As far as we’re concerned, absolutely,” when asked if the entire trilogy is still slated for the 360.

Earlier last month, BioWare’s Chris Priestly said the company could, but currently is not developing Mass Effect for any other system.

[See also: Mass Effect gallery]