If Bioware, instead of selling themselves to EA, would have done a Star Wars MMO themselves, I might still play that even today.
But alas, that was not to be.
P.s.: Ooops my mind wandered and I forgot to write what I actually wanted to write. My point was there is right now no developer out there that I trust to make a Star Wars MMO that would rock.
Bethesda just proved they are ... well ... pretty clueless about making games that run well and pretty clueless how to make an online game with longterm motivation.
Bioware, before they sold to EA, would have been such a developer, however their decision to make a MMO with massive story content kind of backfired big time.
I've enjoyed SWTOR when going into it looking at it as a solo KOTOR 3 thru 11, and I've had some random fun in their PvP also. The stories are pretty good for what they are.
I'm always up for someone new taking the the helm of an IP and making something fresh while being protective of the lore.
I'm also up for someone doing something totally new using a popular IP as a very small crumb of a reference, and not being locked into set-in-stone lore rules also.
I hope there's a new Star Wars MMORPG someday that I can play, like I hope there's a new Middle-Earth MMORPG.
SWG didn't fail it was murdered by EA when they decided it needed to be more like wow and dumbed down.
If my memory did not betray me, the game peaked at some point and then the population started dropping. EA tried to stem the exodus of players by introducing the seemingly more popular elements found in WoW at the time. It didn't work.
EA had fuck all to do with SWG. Sony Online Entertainment created, and then ruined SWG. The only way you could say EA had a hand in SWGs demise is after they got the license for SWTOR from Lucas Arts, LA either wouldn't extend the SW license for SWG, or wanted way more money than SOE could pay, so SWG was closed down.
Years ago a freelance asset artist who had worked on SWG and other games IMed me here and filled me in on what happened. Mostly because he had been part of a discussion we were having and noticed a few of us had the wrong impression on why SWG was failing, what happened with the NGE, the idea of SWG 2.
He wanted to set the record straight as far as to what he witnessed. I posted what he shared here, but he asked me to remove his name since he still worked in the industry at the time. He had shared a digital online portfolio with some of the work slatted for the game ( a couple versions of a Mon Calamari Star Cruiser is one I remember) , he also worked on one of the WoW expansion and had a few assets for that on his site.
Based on what he told me originally SOE had a deal to make believe it or not, SWG 2. You may remember if you used the official SWG forums the community maanger at one point named Thunderheart mentioned that they were indeed going to be moving the timeline forward within the game. Originally this was true, they were going to make SWG an expansion set within a different timeline, but latter the idea was that they would develop a new game entirely.
BioWare had been also developing SWTOR around this time. Lucas Arts at one point looked at what BioWare had been developing and didn't like the direction the game was going, mostly they didn't understand how the story elements played into the multiplayer aspects, and it looked like a single player game with multiplayer tacked on. So at one point they went back to SOE to see what they could do. Originally the NGE was developed to showcase what SOE could do with the Star Wars IP. After it became obvious that the NGE was failing, "lucas arts pulled one of their usual tricks" he said and went back to BioWare to throw their support behind their project. Lucas Arts became less interested in allowing two Star Wars MMOs to operate. In response SOE decided to end their relationship with Lucas Arts all together since their licensing rights were ending anyways, hence the shut down of SWG before the launch of SWTOR.
edit, I actually found the old post I made years ago about it.
Comments
I'm always up for someone new taking the the helm of an IP and making something fresh while being protective of the lore.
I'm also up for someone doing something totally new using a popular IP as a very small crumb of a reference, and not being locked into set-in-stone lore rules also.
I hope there's a new Star Wars MMORPG someday that I can play, like I hope there's a new Middle-Earth MMORPG.
Gut Out!
What, me worry?
Gut Out!
What, me worry?