This sparked concerns about the future of triple-A single-player games. CEO Andrew Wilson denied
that the moves were made because it was a single-player game that
needed to become a live-service game. "It was more about, 'How do we get
to a point where the overall gameplay experience was right for
players?'" he said, adding that some of the assets and content Visceral
had created might still be used in the new iteration of the game.
Soderlund also denied single-player was to blame; like Wilson, he pointed to the issue of quality, which was seemingly reinforced by a Kotaku report
at the time. Subsequently, CFO Blake Jorgensen suggested the linear,
single-player nature was at least partially to blame, saying, "As we
kept reviewing the game, it continued to look like a much more linear
game [which] people don't like as much today as they did five years ago
or 10 years ago."
I'v read all of those articles including the Kotaku a̶r̶t̶i̶c̶l̶e̶ dissertation and my personal feeling from reading them is that the risk vs reward is simply to much for them. And that they, EA are simply just not as successful at making single player rpg's as they are at making multiplayer games that incorporate MTX mechanism.
And that going forward their business model would be changing to reflect that statment by claiming that "the linear, single-player nature was at least partially to blame, saying, "As we kept reviewing the game, it continued to look like a much more linear game [which] people don't like as much today as they did five years ago or 10 years ago."
The language that they are using is stricky from a salesmanship point of view. Whereby they double talk and say that single player isn't an issue ( but it is for them ) and that they are not trying to change the business model ( which they are ) to be more profitable by excluding the rpg aspect of it and only focusing on multiplayer with built in MTX mechanism because they are not as profitable ( lack the talent to make a successful ) single player rpg.
Could be good, could be bad. I'll save my optimism and pessimism until I hear the features list. That will be the best indicator of if they are trying to pioneer new MMO territory or are giving us another rehashing of WoW.
However one thing that makes me slightly optimistic is the fact SWTOR already so closely mirrors WoW. No point of making a new Star Wars MMO just like WoW when they already have one.
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However one thing that makes me slightly optimistic is the fact SWTOR already so closely mirrors WoW. No point of making a new Star Wars MMO just like WoW when they already have one.