So EA owns SWTOR, what other MMOs does EA have?

[Qoojo]

The own the oldest running one, UO. EnB, which was killed off. Warhammer, which is limping along, and finally, SWTOR. I was surprised to see them attached to a funcom mmo.

[DiabloDoom]

Edit: Oh yeah, they own Mythic and Warhammer as well.

Only the fantasy online. 40k series is done by THQ. Anticipating DOW3.

 

EA haven't actually had much of a hand in our much favoured genre of game, MMORPG, but they are obviously going after the market, and hard. I guess their first biggest participated practice was the involvement of UO, in which they changed the game so much the overhaul was too overwhelming for most. Warhammer Online wasn't to much success, but their new Warhammer MOBA, Wrath of Heroes is quite fun (IMO feels a bit like SWTOR WZ but with only 5 abilities). And let's not forget that they developed SWG in Asia (funny how sony done the western dev) ... big flop.

 

EA must feel like they now have a team of fairly competent MMORPG programmers with all the confidence they have put into SWTOR, and I can't blame them, they've taken what was once a lonely dark corner of the internet and turned it all hollywood.

[Shingara]

Only the fantasy online. 40k series is done by THQ. Anticipating DOW3.

 

EA haven't actually had much of a hand in our much favoured genre of game, MMORPG, but they are obviously going after the market, and hard. I guess their first biggest participated practice was the involvement of UO, in which they changed the game so much the overhaul was too overwhelming for most. Warhammer Online wasn't to much success, but their new Warhammer MOBA, Wrath of Heroes is quite fun (IMO feels a bit like SWTOR WZ but with only 5 abilities). And let's not forget that they developed SWG in Asia (funny how sony done the western dev) ... big flop.

 

EA must feel like they now have a team of fairly competent MMORPG programmers with all the confidence they have put into SWTOR, and I can't blame them, they've taken what was once a lonely dark corner of the internet and turned it all hollywood.

 

40K is no longer going tobe an mmo.

[DiabloDoom]

40K is no longer going tobe an mmo.

 

Never was an MMO, but rather an RTS with an online lobby, and DOW III will still let you log online and play with other people, just less like DOW and more like COH online. Just hope they don't let gamespy host this one.

[Cooperal]

You need to research a bit more.

 

Yeah, shame on him for taking his questions to an active and relevant discussion board...

 

Anyways, on topic. EA have little to lose if both MMOs can turn over any profit. One MMO can't cater to all audiences. Two have a better chance, while stepping into other popular territories. One MMO might pull customers from the other MMO that's owned by the same publisher. In EAs case their profits arn't lost, only moved. In the grand scale, there are vastly more MMOs they can hope to pull subscribers from than just their own.

 

And as far as ownership of SWTOR goes, Bioware developed the game to EAs specifications. EA own the game in the sense of securing publishing and marketing rights and very flexible, creative freedom (which in turn is handed mostly down to Bioware) by the trust of LucasArts as the intellectual property owners of the Star Wars franchise. LucasArts part in the development stages are mostly supervising the writing elements to protect the established image of the franchise.

 

The creative freedom mentioned is given so freely due to a concious decision made by Bioware before EA bought them, when they opted to base the story of Knights of The Old Republic 4000 years prior to the events of the films and the majority of Star Wars media. With SWTOR being based 300 years after KoTOR and still roughly 3,700 years before the films, a very similar degree of freedom still applies.

Edited April 20, 2012 by Cooperal

[OddballEasyEight]

Man why the hell would you publish a game that directly competes with your flagship product for the year?

 

I mean competition is good but that's like Chevy helping Ford produce vehicles...

 

I dont see why they would want to do this when it clearly could affect their own game.

 

excellent analogy there: Chevrolet is owned by General Motors.

They also own Buick, Cadillac and GMC which are directly competing companies.

This is sort of the same thing.

EA Publishes (doesnt own) both the games, they get revenue from both the games and cant really loose even if one game dies, they still have the other.

[RudeRiot]

I really miss E&B. That game was excellent (Jenquai Explorer ftw.) Too bad the emulator never happened. EA develops mostly single and multiplayer games. For MMOs they pretty much buy partnership rights to a title (or just buy a dev house outright) and do the front end marketing and distribution. I think EA's last foray into MMOs was Sims Online. (There's your sandbox folks ... and you're welcome to it.) Otherwise most of EA's games are either console jobs or console ports. Stay away from TigerWoods Online for the PC lol.

 

Um, if you miss E&B you may find you are mistaken about the emulator never taking off...just saying...google is your friend.

[RickRedOne]

Rule of thumb...if it says Star Wars, Lucas owns it.

 

Not true... Lucas does own the License to Star Wars, which he lets companies build games on, write books on and other stuff, for a cut of the profits.

 

So does Lucas have a steak in SWToR doing well, sure he wants his money. And he doesn't get paid till the development costs are returned. Once the game starts turning a profit the Lucas gets his cut. Which could be anywhere from 5% to 30% of the profits.

[Bluerodian]

Not true... Lucas does own the License to Star Wars, which he lets companies build games on, write books on and other stuff, for a cut of the profits.

 

So does Lucas have a steak in SWToR doing well, sure he wants his money. And he doesn't get paid till the development costs are returned. Once the game starts turning a profit the Lucas gets his cut. Which could be anywhere from 5% to 30% of the profits.

 

I think the last reported amount of Lucas' cut off the top is somewhere between 30%-35%.

[DiabloDoom]

His profit will be dependent on one outcome ... who's greedier, EA or GL.

[Frostyforce]

Back to the topic at hand.

 

Having EA who is the primary investor in SWTOR publish another MMO, is this going to affect SWTORs development?

 

No, because it won't even become close to as popular. But more importantly, no, because more money = good.

[Aram_Darksun]

Different people want different things. Most companies release multiple products that do technically on some level compete. The analogy used on the first page about Chevies is very apt. Getting your money from one product at the expense of their other product still suits them more then them not appealing to your market segment and not getting your sale at all.

[unseenmaji]

Because they're being paid too. Essentially, EA is working hard at becoming a monopoly. They aren't there yet, and in fact have years to go before they get close, but if they own a piece of every game ever produced it won't matter how much competition they have.

And EA owns BW, which owns SWTOR. They pay LucasArts a licensing fee to use Star Wars.

 

Edit: Oh yeah, they own Mythic and Warhammer as well.

 

Are we going to let EA do that gamers should unite and boycotte every product that has name EA on it, cause the company to go bankrupt and then maybe games would begin to have better standards. Do people really want EA to become a monopoly it the most hated gaming company in world and voted the worst company if they get there hands on everything cause of stupidity of public in supporting them then game developed is ruined.

[notsocool]

Are we going to let EA do that gamers should unite and boycotte every product that has name EA on it, cause the company to go bankrupt and then maybe games would begin to have better standards. Do people really want EA to become a monopoly it the most hated gaming company in world and voted the worst company if they get there hands on everything cause of stupidity of public in supporting them then game developed is ruined.

 

Before I continue, I should qualify that I really really hate EA as a publisher. They are a bunch of money grubbers. But even I think that this tirade is idiotic.

[Cerion]

I would point out too that a game like TSW is a completely different setting than SWTOR. So if we're to use the ubiquitous automobile analogy, TSW is like a pick-up truck and SWTOR is a car. Both are vehicles, but cater to different needs and desires.

 

If one were to be concerned, I'd be more concerned about Turbine which has 3 fantasy MMOs. But even there, Turbine is able to make a go at it.

[Ricktur]

lets step back a second and look at something. lets look at how many things say star wars on it: toys, books, comics, replicas, costumes ,games etc.

 

Lucas gets a cut from every single one of those.

 

so why is he saying thats its too expensive to release his live action tv series that he has 50 hours filmed?

 

George Lucas is a peculiar man.

[MasterKayote]

Rule of thumb...if it says Star Wars, Lucas sold it.

 

Not really. Lucas licensed it. Thats it. They sell the property and maybe regulate it to make sure its not damaged. Aside from being able to deny/approve design decisions, there is really nothing else Lucasarts has on the game. They just sit back and collect the royalties.

 

Bioware is the one that owns the game ... and sadly, EA owns Bioware.

[Davirkid]

I think that lucas arts owns the rights to Star Wars. while BioWaye is udkikle to the game and EA is the publisher of the game

[Icysunx]

People Keep Confusing these issues.

 

Lucas Arts Corporation Owns the Rights to the Star Wars Universe

 

George Lucas is not the same as Lucas Arts Corporation, they are separate persons.

 

EA pays Lucas Arts a LIcensing fee for the ability to use the Star Wars Franchise in the same manner that an owner of a Franchise McDonalds pays McDonald corporation for the right to use its name and operate under the good will of the company. McDonald corporation does not own individual franchises, they can only control the extent that the franchise matches the image they want to portray.

 

Bioware is a division of EA, meaning that for corporation purposes they essentially are EA

 

 

In Essence, EA owns and made SWTOR, and to use the characters from the Star Wars universe they pay Lucas Arts a franchise fee. EA also pays licensing fees for the hero engine etc.

Edited April 20, 2012 by Icysunx

[Keta]

EA owns Warhammer and UO, but both are basically dead games.

 

TSW is a new MMO, and I'm curious how a publisher would want to support two possibly competing products.

 

 

Dead is a relative term. EA is a business and has shown no reluctance to shut down a money losing mmo (earth and beyond for example) if either of those franchises were losing money they'd be gone -- fast. The Mythic division also operates DAOC which is still going after all these years. Truthfully though, not all mmo players go chasing after every new title. Some do and some will only play 1 game at a time. Personally I won't even go look at another mmo for a long time (until this one bores me).

[Ricktur]

People Keep Confusing these issues.

 

Lucas Arts Corporation Owns the Rights to the Star Wars Universe

 

George Lucas is not the same as Lucas Arts Corporation, they are separate persons.

 

EA pays Lucas Arts a LIcensing fee for the ability to use the Star Wars Franchise in the same manner that an owner of a Franchise McDonalds pays McDonald corporation for the right to use its name and operate under the good will of the company. McDonald corporation does not own individual franchises, they can only control the extent that the franchise matches the image they want to portray.

 

Bioware is a division of EA, meaning that for corporation purposes they essentially are EA

 

 

In Essence, EA owns and made SWTOR, and to use the characters from the Star Wars universe they pay Lucas Arts a franchise fee. EA also pays licensing fees for the hero engine etc.

 

this ^ - ill be honest, im not sure why this thread has gone on as long as it has. its really simple.

[Blackavaar]

Man why the hell would you publish a game that directly competes with your flagship product for the year?

 

I mean competition is good but that's like Chevy helping Ford produce vehicles...

 

I dont see why they would want to do this when it clearly could affect their own game.

 

Why buy Park Place when you already own Boardwalk? I think the answer is simple.

 

[JaxonLuxor]

Man why the hell would you publish a game that directly competes with your flagship product for the year?

 

I mean competition is good but that's like Chevy helping Ford produce vehicles...

 

I dont see why they would want to do this when it clearly could affect their own game.

 

The only commonality between SWTOR and TSW is that they are both MMOs (currently playing in TSW beta)

[Sirsri]

Dead is a relative term. EA is a business and has shown no reluctance to shut down a money losing mmo (earth and beyond for example) if either of those franchises were losing money they'd be gone -- fast. The Mythic division also operates DAOC which is still going after all these years. Truthfully though, not all mmo players go chasing after every new title. Some do and some will only play 1 game at a time. Personally I won't even go look at another mmo for a long time (until this one bores me).

 

The costs for those are also a lot lower at this point. They don't have to pay anyone a fee to licence the IP, and UO and DAOC are both sort of their own playstyles. SWTOR is very much a wow clone, and that risks losing a fight with blizzard for paying subs.

 

But EA should be investing in multiple MMO properties. SWTOR, even if it was the greatest game ever wouldn't be for everyone. There's a big market there and there's no reason to not be hitting multiple markets. Lots of people hate star wars after all. Republic sympathizers I'm sure.

[illy]

I agree with Jaxon, I don't even know why the OP is worry or asking the question.

TSW and SWTOR are different and appeal to a different audiences, such as people who don't care about Lucas Universe. Some people just like fantastic, and won't like TSW anymore than SWTOR in term of lore. Then it comes down to the mechanics, and again 2 different games. It's basically like any other of the 12-20 game published by EA at any given year. SimCity will be competing SWTOR and TSW...