Will the new Star Wars Battlefront harm SWTOR player numbers or not

JonBonJawa

One funny thing I noticed when people bring up reasons to play SWTOR:

they often say "because it´s STAR WARS!!!" (or they say "because lightsabers"...)

well for over a decade we didn´t get any good Star Wars games except SWTOR, maybe SW BF will be the first to change this,

so who is going to (temporarily) leave SWTOR to play SW BF? I have to admit I will most certainly play the heck out of this.

And I don´t see any new compelling SWTOR content on the horizon at the moment.

Tyggs

I consider Force Unleased a good game. Just the first one though.

Bossalinie

Different style of game. We've been gaming long enough to manage playing multiple games...

Distopia

SWTOR is for the most part a role playing game, while I may look forward to giving SWBF a spin, I don't see it filling the void of a star wars role-playing experience. Which TOR , KOTOR1-2 or a certain unauthorized emu, are the only options for that. Considering neither game requires a sub, nor a huge time commitment to get the best fill of each, I don't see why people wouldn't just play both for the different experiences they provide.

nolf

Originally posted by Tyggs

I consider Force Unleased a good game. Just the first one though.

Revolutionary physics engine for it's time, but a complete garbage game.

Took like 3 and a half hours to beat.

Essentially they charged a full game price to give you 1/10th of a game.

nolf

Originally posted by Bossalinie
Different style of game. We've been gaming long enough to manage playing multiple games...

^This.

I play SWTOR and KOTOR 1/2 for the RPG SW experience, the Battlefront series has never really ventured into that territory.

I believe the people you're thinking of as good candidates for abandoning SWTOR for BF are most likely long gone already.

Reklaw

I personaly do not think it will harm SWToR.

I think they both can be played perfectly next together as they both offer a total different game experiance unless

there are certain PVP only players who don't like the RPG part of MMORPG's might switch completely to Battlefront.

Looking forward to it regardless.

rodingo

I think they might actually cross pollinate players BECAUSE it's Star Wars.  Most video gamers don't live in a vacuum and only play one genre.  The first SW Battlefront didn't take me away from SWG.  I played both, as well as many of my friends.

JonBonJawa

Originally posted by Reklaw

there are certain PVP only players who don't like the RPG part of MMORPG's might switch completely to Battlefront.

Looking forward to it regardless.

true, the warzones are getting old and they haven´t added a new one for almost a year. PvP is on the back burner and SWBF could fill that gap.

Azaron_Nightblade

Won't change a thing for me. And contrary to proper hater propaganda, the majority of SWTOR players don't actually play the game just because it's Star Wars (the forum sections dedicated to lore and SW discussions would be much busier if that were the case!).

I'd be more worried about the Witcher 3 or other big RPG titles putting a temporary dent in the population than I'd be about Battlefront. Every big franchise title will do it to some extend. I imagine there's a bunch of people taking a break to play GTA V on PC right now, but they'll either return once they get bored of the game, or it was the catalyst that they needed to move on from a game that they were already bored with.

TL; DR: Nope, it won't do any more harm than other big titles.

JonBonJawa

Originally posted by Azaron_Nightblade

Won't change a thing for me. And contrary to proper hater propaganda, the majority of SWTOR players don't actually play the game just because it's Star Wars (the forum sections dedicated to lore and SW discussions would be much busier if that were the case!).

I'd be more worried about the Witcher 3 or other big RPG titles putting a temporary dent in the population than I'd be about Battlefront. Every big franchise title will do it to some extend. I imagine there's a bunch of people taking a break to play GTA V on PC right now, but they'll either return once they get bored of the game, or it was the catalyst that they needed to move on from a game that they were already bored with.

TL; DR: Nope, it won't do any more harm than other big titles.

rumors say there is also some type of Star Wars open world / RPG (?) in the pipleine by Visceral Games.

 

Anyway, competition is good and if BW feels pushed to get out content and new major features it can only be good.

But some people will certainly check out the other Star Wars games so I´m prepared to queue up even longer for a popping warzone... :-/ Or I´m doing trench runs with my X-Wing in SW BF and boarding the Death Star.

 

EA won´t care, they´ll get the Star Wars money anway, no matter which game you play

Chieftan

If EA's track record the past few years is anything to go by,  it's most likely going to be a mess at launch.   You can set your watch to the post-launch backlash toward their games.

So its actually possible that players will wind up playing SWTOR by default to get their fix.  I'm really interested to see what Bioware does with the next expansion.

JonBonJawa

Originally posted by Chieftan

If EA's track record the past few years is anything to go by,  it's most likely going to be a mess at launch.   You can set your watch to the post-launch backlash toward their games.

So its actually possible that players will wind up playing SWTOR by default to get their fix.  I'm really interested to see what Bioware does with the next expansion.

they are already running playtests, it won't be that bad.

There sure will be some small fixes in the first few weeks as usual, there will be millions of players jumping onto Battlefront multiplayer so better be prepared for some bumps in the road

nolf

Originally posted by MoreOfTheSame

Originally posted by Chieftan

If EA's track record the past few years is anything to go by,  it's most likely going to be a mess at launch.   You can set your watch to the post-launch backlash toward their games.

So its actually possible that players will wind up playing SWTOR by default to get their fix.  I'm really interested to see what Bioware does with the next expansion.

they are already running playtests, it won't be that bad.

There sure will be some small fixes in the first few weeks as usual, there will be millions of players jumping onto Battlefront multiplayer so better be prepared for some bumps in the road

lmfao

cylon8

battlefront isnt an mmo why would it hurt tors numbers thats just illogical.

Ikeda

To be fair, that's part of the joy in F2P.. you don't have to give up one to play another.

gervaise1

Originally posted by cylon8
battlefront isnt an mmo why would it hurt tors numbers thats just illogical.

If the rumours are true then it will have up to 64 a side multi-player.

Add in that it looks stunning - first promo picture is out - has space to ground warfare; lots of races, vehicles, characters; pod riding / chases; role play coupled with a "hero" system - characters gaining points and advancing to become more powerful (a hero) .... enough said I think.

The reality however is that SW BF has already "hurt" SWTOR.

Some time ago EA publically stated that they planned to reduce development and game engine costs. The result is Frostbite. In a recent discussion they said that over 2,000 people were using / working on the engine. And as teams / Studios need new stuff they are adding in new bits to the engine. SO DA:I was delayed a little, for example, whilst Bioware added 4 legged creatures to Frostbite. Even the new EA Golf game is in Frostbite! Consequently anything that doesn't use Frostbite and has to support its own engine will have a bigger overhead and comparatively will be "more expensive". So getting funding signed off is going to be that much harder.

And did I mention that the game will be on console as well as PC?

If you were EA senior management which one are you going to push hardest. The new stunning, uses the company wide engine, that will be available on all platforms, game that will tie in to all the films old and new or the old game whose revenue last quarter was some chunk of $62M less than 12 months ago ?

 

Edit: and EA DICE have already said - in advance - that it is (will be) actual game footage.  

gervaise1

Originally posted by Ikeda
To be fair, that's part of the joy in F2P.. you don't have to give up one to play another.

Less people though = an even emptier world. And less people, probably, means less revenue = less profit = even less reason to spend money on the game.

JonBonJawa

Originally posted by cylon8
battlefront isnt an mmo why would it hurt tors numbers thats just illogical.

any shovelware with 32 player multiplayer is "MMO" nowadays, so count that in.

And I´m pretty sure Battlefront muliplayer will be around 100+ players per area

 

So yeah, Battlefront is an MMO by popular definition

gervaise1

Originally posted by MoreOfTheSame

Originally posted by cylon8
battlefront isnt an mmo why would it hurt tors numbers thats just illogical.

any shovelware with 32 player multiplayer is "MMO" nowadays, so count that in.

And I´m pretty sure Battlefront muliplayer will be around 100+ players per area

So yeah, Battlefront is an MMO by popular definition

The "rumour" is that it is up to 64 a side - so 128.

And back in the day any game that offered 100+ people slideshows was considered a "proper" mmo. 

Chieftan

Originally posted by MoreOfTheSame

Originally posted by Chieftan

If EA's track record the past few years is anything to go by,  it's most likely going to be a mess at launch.   You can set your watch to the post-launch backlash toward their games.

So its actually possible that players will wind up playing SWTOR by default to get their fix.  I'm really interested to see what Bioware does with the next expansion.

they are already running playtests, it won't be that bad.

There sure will be some small fixes in the first few weeks as usual, there will be millions of players jumping onto Battlefront multiplayer so better be prepared for some bumps in the road

"I can absolutely say that we lost [player] trust in the game's launch and the early parts of the year," Sirland said. "We still probably have a lot of players who won't trust us to deliver a stable launch or a stable game."

DICE LA producer David Sirland, October 7, 2014

The issues Battelfield 4 faced at launch were numerous and significant. Some gamers could not play at all for extended periods of time, and EA was even sued over the bugs. This was somewhat of a "curveball" for EA, Sirland said, in part because the beta went quite well and was very stable.

 

"We were stoked to release the game and we thought it would be a great launch," he said. "Sure, there would be issues; there's always issues. But we didn't think there would be issues to this degree."

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/battlefield-4s-rocky-launch-absolutely-damaged-pla/1100-6422805/

 

Entris38

Perhaps I'm wrong, but what I'm seeing is a more advanced Battlefield 4 in the Star Wars universe. If that's the case, it won't touch SWTOR, 2 completely different genres. I think most of us probably that play SWTOR, will play both. I dabble in SWTOR, but doubt I will by the end of the year anyway unless they start pushing some amazing content.

gervaise1

Originally posted by Chieftan

Originally posted by MoreOfTheSame

Originally posted by Chieftan

If EA's track record the past few years is anything to go by,  it's most likely going to be a mess at launch.   You can set your watch to the post-launch backlash toward their games.

So its actually possible that players will wind up playing SWTOR by default to get their fix.  I'm really interested to see what Bioware does with the next expansion.

they are already running playtests, it won't be that bad.

There sure will be some small fixes in the first few weeks as usual, there will be millions of players jumping onto Battlefront multiplayer so better be prepared for some bumps in the road

"I can absolutely say that we lost [player] trust in the game's launch and the early parts of the year," Sirland said. "We still probably have a lot of players who won't trust us to deliver a stable launch or a stable game."

DICE LA producer David Sirland, October 7, 2014

The issues Battelfield 4 faced at launch were numerous and significant. Some gamers could not play at all for extended periods of time, and EA was even sued over the bugs. This was somewhat of a "curveball" for EA, Sirland said, in part because the beta went quite well and was very stable.

"We were stoked to release the game and we thought it would be a great launch," he said. "Sure, there would be issues; there's always issues. But we didn't think there would be issues to this degree."

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/battlefield-4s-rocky-launch-absolutely-damaged-pla/1100-6422805/

Yep. Lessons are learnt however and what the recent launch of DA:I, for example, showed is that the issues surrounding the move to the new iteration of Frostbite - the source of many of the issues - have been resolved. (EA being sued had nothing to do with the game directly by the way, it was shareholders claiming that poor management had resulted in lower profits and so a lower dividend.)

However it is something to bear in mind. For any game released by any company. Which is why I usually suggest that people don't pre-order for example; there is always a risk. At the very least you need to weight the reward you get for pre-ordering against the risk of something not going right.

EA of late however has been pretty good imo.   

Chieftan

Originally posted by gervaise1

Yep. Lessons are learnt however and what the recent launch of DA:I, for example, showed is that the issues surrounding the move to the new iteration of Frostbite - the source of many of the issues - have been resolved. (EA being sued had nothing to do with the game directly by the way, it was shareholders claiming that poor management had resulted in lower profits and so a lower dividend.)

However it is something to bear in mind. For any game released by any company. Which is why I usually suggest that people don't pre-order for example; there is always a risk. At the very least you need to weight the reward you get for pre-ordering against the risk of something not going right.

EA of late however has been pretty good imo.   

Actually one of the several lawsuits pertained to EA execs selling thousands of company shares ahead of Bf4's launch.  EA stock then dropped in value when the game launched with tech issues.  It then dropped further when EA announced that all future game development was discontinued until they fixed Bf4.

Now they're trying to cram Battlefront's launch ahead of the movie release in December.  Hardline was supposed to launch in October of last year and was delayed until March of this year.  That's 6 months late.  They've already scrapped the single player campaign for Battlefront so multiplayer will be the only game mode available for the millions who buy it.

After the huge backlash over Sim City I thought EA surely wouldn't repeat that mistake but they went ahead and did it with Bf4.  Maybe Battlefront will have a good launch but I don't see that happening if they release it anytime before Spring of 2016.

Slapshot1188

Is releasing The Force Awakens going to hurt sales of the original trilogy?