How Safe is SWTOR from Disney?

[macumba]

actually I am just hating disney for canceling clone wars and tron uprising.

also a few months ago when disney took over I hoped they'd take over swtor and hand it over to warren spector, since they also kicked him in the but that's not going to happen either.

 

star wars 1313 ? I think it looked nice, why is it that angry birds star wars is allowed to live ? (well cash of course)

 

seems our beloved IP is already going down the drain.

[kevlarto]

The license probably requires renewal at some point. There may even be an early termination clause.

 

But since Disney has to do nothing besides deposit a check to keep the money coming in, it seems unlikely they would arbitrarily decide to terminate. The only reason they might do so is if they thought somehow the game were damaging to their reputation of the reputation of the SW franchise.

 

I thought about that as well, lets face it, Disney might not want anything to do with EA, since it was voted worst company in the USA.. and the bad reputation EA has, and if you have ever worked around Disney like I have, how they are viewed is very important to them, at least that is the perception they like to leave.

 

I am looking at what happens after Makeb, if I don't see them start to talk about the future of this game, and start to see some big plans, I have to conclude that EA already knows Disney is not going to renew the license, so EA will just try to suck as much money out of everyone they can, with small short term items and projects. I doubt much of the profit that is being made is getting poured back into further development, most of the profits is going to feed the fat rats in board room, gota get those bonus checks..

Edited March 15, 2013 by kevlarto

[Etheric]

How safe is SWTOR from Disney ?

 

Thats a tough question. Currently i believe SWTOR is but a blip on their radar when viewing the LA property. Depending on future events this blip may turn into a blob.

 

I think many can agree that Disney prides itself on being a family friendly organization and will go to GREAT lengths to protect that reputation. I also believe that Disney will go to those same lenghts to protect what it considers its property. According to George Lucas it was that protectiveness that made him choose Disney for the sale, i'm sure 4.6 billion dollars didn't hurt much either.

 

With that in mind lets consider one of the upcomming features in SWTOR, SGR's. ( That is IF it's still comming, last offical word i read was in Hickman's State of the game #2, has anyone heard from Hickman since ? )

 

Whether your ok with this addition or against or like me just don't care, take a moment and put yourself in Disney's shoes.

 

1) Considering the MOVIES and only the MOVIES, there is NO sexuality in Star Wars. Yes there was a budding romance between a man and a woman ( Han and Leia ) in the first trilogy. There was the romance between Anakin and padme in the second ( although that was just a vehicle for the fall of Anakin and birth of Luke and Leia or the worst written love story ever, you choose ) Other than those 4 people everyone else is asexual. SEXUALITY is not a Star Wars theme. Again put yourself in Disney's shoes, are you OK with others redefining YOUR property.

 

2) The backlash over SGR's. We've already witnessed one article about the new planet. Once the planet goes live, there will be more. Count on it. Your Disney, are you OK with having to deal with this, considering it was someone elses decision to implement it in the first place. What place do SGR's have in Star Wars.

 

Thats just one topic, there are others currently in game that question the Starwarsiness of this game and i don't feel like writting a book on the subject and i consider them minor ( although what might be minor to me may mean alot to Disney )

 

For future reference when asking, How Safe is SWTOR from Disney. You should actually view it as How Safe Is Disney from SWTOR, i think that will get you closer to answering your question

Edited March 15, 2013 by Etheric

[Wekisan]

How about you show the numbers first?

All you have done is say that they are bigger... with no numbers to back it up...

 

oookay ... press release by CCP celebrating the 500k mark ... http://www.ccpgames.com/en/public-relations/press-releases/article/74405/eve-online-surpasses-500-000-subscribers-worldwide

 

TSW : http://theentitty.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/the-success-of-the-secret-worlds-b2p-conversion-a-back-of-the-napkin-calculation/

 

SWTOR????

 

Time to ante up or get off the pot.

[Wekisan]

SW:TOR takes place more than 3000 years before the new movies... they dont have to "mesh" whatsoever... this game is ancient history...

And Disney ARE planning an MMO that ties in with the movies... but it takes time do develop an MMO. And most likely it wont be released until all three movies are out to make sure it doesnt conflict with the movies.

So we are looking at 2018-2021 timeframe here...

 

Also, your bitterness and resentment over the shutting down of SWG needs to be pulled back a bit... its dripping down all over your shirt...

 

And your fanboiism is distoring any understanding of the real world.

 

SWG WAS a movie tie in (Clone Wars) an in the modern age it does not take 5 years to produce a MMO (unless you are Funcom). The movies will be out iside a 2 year timescale and it is more than possible to produce a quality product in that time, and in Disney's interests to do so.

[jedi_AC]

SWTOR is safe enough to live out its life until the contract expires. Disney doesn't own SWTOR just the IP. As we all know SWG was cancelled when SWTOR went live. So SWTOR still rather has a long life but I think we will not see a new Star Wars MMO until 7-12 years when the new Disney Star Wars movies come out and the marketing craze happens again. Until then enjoy SWTOR. Its not a bad game and I think has been pretty successful. F2P is not the end all to end all.

[Devlonir]

And your fanboiism is distoring any understanding of the real world.

 

SWG WAS a movie tie in (Clone Wars) an in the modern age it does not take 5 years to produce a MMO (unless you are Funcom). The movies will be out iside a 2 year timescale and it is more than possible to produce a quality product in that time, and in Disney's interests to do so.

 

Ah yes.. SWG was such a clear Attack of the Clones tie in. I mean, look at all the Clone Troopers instead of Stormtroopers! And the Jedi Order still being completely intact! And no sign of the Galactic Empire yet! And.. oh wait.

 

Sorry, but you pulled that one pretty far out of your ...

 

I do agree a quality game could be developed between the 1st and 2nd movie of the new trilogy though. This would also be around the time this IP contract comes up (which was probably a 3-5 year contract because of amount of investment cost from EA). Not sure if that'll be the timing for an MMO with a full tie-in with the new trilogy though. As some said, and I agree with, it is probably better for the creative teams to wait until the movies are underway so they can work with the style and themes of the new movies (which are far from set in stone at this time I'm sure)

Edited March 15, 2013 by Devlonir

[Etheric]

Ah yes.. SWG was such a clear Attack of the Clones tie in. I mean, look at all the Clone Troopers instead of Stormtroopers! And the Jedi Order still being completely intact! And no sign of the Galactic Empire yet! And.. oh wait.

 

Sorry, but you pulled that one pretty far out of your ...

 

I do agree a quality game could be developed between the 1st and 2nd movie of the new trilogy though. This would also be around the time this IP contract comes up (which was probably a 3-5 year contract because of amount of investment cost from EA). Not sure if that'll be the timing for an MMO with a full tie-in with the new trilogy though. As some said, and I agree with, it is probably better for the creative teams to wait until the movies are underway so they can work with the style and themes of the new movies (which are far from set in stone at this time I'm sure)

 

From what i've read EA bought Bioware 1 year AFTER Bioware signed the contract with LA to produce this game. At that time no publisher for the game had been determined and EA had not invested 1 penny into development costs. So i don't believe that would have any bearing on length of contract.

[Wekisan]

Ah yes.. SWG was such a clear Attack of the Clones tie in. I mean, look at all the Clone Troopers instead of Stormtroopers! And the Jedi Order still being completely intact! And no sign of the Galactic Empire yet! And.. oh wait.

 

Sorry, but you pulled that one pretty far out of your ...

 

I do agree a quality game could be developed between the 1st and 2nd movie of the new trilogy though. This would also be around the time this IP contract comes up (which was probably a 3-5 year contract because of amount of investment cost from EA). Not sure if that'll be the timing for an MMO with a full tie-in with the new trilogy though. As some said, and I agree with, it is probably better for the creative teams to wait until the movies are underway so they can work with the style and themes of the new movies (which are far from set in stone at this time I'm sure)

 

I suggest you go back and look at the history of the game before bad posting and making a fool of yourself. The original game was timed for release at the same time as Phantom Menace, a major storyline was introduced using Greivous, fighters such as the Bellabub and JSF/Delta4 were added. Clone Trooper armour became a reward for a .. .wait for it .. mission starting with a clone trooper in a cantina. Yet another XBG who has little knowledge of anything prior to 2008.

[Etheric]

I suggest you go back and look at the history of the game before bad posting and making a fool of yourself. The original game was timed for release at the same time as Phantom Menace, a major storyline was introduced using Greivous, fighters such as the Bellabub and JSF/Delta4 were added. Clone Trooper armour became a reward for a .. .wait for it .. mission starting with a clone trooper in a cantina. Yet another XBG who has little knowledge of anything prior to 2008.

 

I do believe the time frame set for SWG was between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and while my memory is a bit hazy and it was almost 10 years ago the items you mentioned where introduced with either the Rage of the Wookies exp. or Mustafar Exp.

[Lium]

These threads always bring out the incredibly ignorant people that think this game is "safe" because EA somehow owns everything including the license and Disney can't touch it.

 

Sometimes, I honestly just think these guys are trolling.

 

It's already been (thankfully) pointed out by others in this thread, but just to reiterate:

 

DISNEY OWNS LUCASARTS. DISNEY IS THE PARENT COMPANY OF ALL OF LUCAS' COMPANIES. This even includes companies like Skywalker Sound and Industrial Lights & Magic.

 

The Mouse.

Owns.

Everything.

Period.

 

When you say Disney only owns the IP (which is a very dumb thing to say and isn't true) what do you think that means? Think about it before answering.

 

Now, it's true the current contract is with EA and Disney probably couldn't do anything legally until the contract is up for renewal. However, it's also true that there's probably language in the contract that says LucasArts could put a hold on it at anytime.

 

I said this before in a different thread and I'll say it here. I can honestly see Disney shutting this game down. They don't have any interest in the MMO space and I don't think this game turns enough profit for Disney to justify keeping it around in the long term.

[Wekisan]

I do believe the time frame set for SWG was between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and while my memory is a bit hazy and it was almost 10 years ago the items you mentioned where introduced with either the Rage of the Wookies exp. or Mustafar Exp.

 

It was actually originally dated post Yavin. With the introduction of heroics they added the Hoth instance but the actual "world" clock was never advnaced into ESB. You are also correct that some of the content I highlighted was introduced with the expansions, which also happened to coincide with ... Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. They also introduced fauna and flora that was specific to the new films as they were released (Nexu anyone ) plus planets that had no place in the original trilogy, Theed for example. The original game also used the score from Phantom heavily, to the extent that many of the load screen elevator music was Phantom related.

 

SWTOR on the other hand has nothing in common with that time period, in fact it has little to do with the Star Wars IP outside of Kotor content that was adopted (incorrectly in mine and many opinions) as canon.

[Severith]

It's only a matter of time before Huey, Dewey and Louie use their allowance from Uncle Scrooge to buy some cartel packs, trying to get the skiff. They won't get it. They'll spend more, and still won't get it, and will have no money left, 2/3 's of a rep bar still to go, and not enough certificates anyways to buy something to show for their efforts.

 

The final season of Duck Tales: Revenge of the Fleeced

 

No, SW:ToR is not safe from Disney.

 

But I'm pretty sure Scrooge came up with the whole Cartel Market Rep thing.

[CelCawdro]

I said this before in a different thread and I'll say it here. I can honestly see Disney shutting this game down. They don't have any interest in the MMO space and I don't think this game turns enough profit for Disney to justify keeping it around in the long term.

 

Disney (through LucasArts) gets the same amount of cash no matter what. SW:TOR could have two subscribers or two million, and they'd be receiving the same licencing fee cheque.

 

And as for The Clone Wars being "killed," did people really expect the series to continue ad infinitum? Its ending was known before the first episode - it was all about seeing the events play out. And they did. Ahsoka's fate was revealed. And most importantly, there are still a dozen or so episodes coming.

Edited March 16, 2013 by CelCawdro

[Doctoglethorpe]

These threads always bring out the incredibly ignorant people that think this game is "safe" because EA somehow owns everything including the license and Disney can't touch it.

 

Sometimes, I honestly just think these guys are trolling.

 

It's already been (thankfully) pointed out by others in this thread, but just to reiterate:

 

DISNEY OWNS LUCASARTS. DISNEY IS THE PARENT COMPANY OF ALL OF LUCAS' COMPANIES. This even includes companies like Skywalker Sound and Industrial Lights & Magic.

 

The Mouse.

Owns.

Everything.

Period.

 

When you say Disney only owns the IP (which is a very dumb thing to say and isn't true) what do you think that means? Think about it before answering.

 

Now, it's true the current contract is with EA and Disney probably couldn't do anything legally until the contract is up for renewal. However, it's also true that there's probably language in the contract that says LucasArts could put a hold on it at anytime.

 

I said this before in a different thread and I'll say it here. I can honestly see Disney shutting this game down. They don't have any interest in the MMO space and I don't think this game turns enough profit for Disney to justify keeping it around in the long term.

 

Your entire post can be edited down to one sentence: "I think theres probably language in the contract that says LucasArts could put a hold on it at anytime, and Disney can use it"

 

Thats really big "probably" that you have no way of knowing really exists.

 

I again make the point that EA is no less money grubby then LucasArts or Disney, why the **** would they agree to something that at any moment could just be terminated and they are out those fabled millions of dollars?

 

This thread is so full of stupid.

Edited March 16, 2013 by Doctoglethorpe

[MJDINOS]

No.

 

Disney wants Star Wars to have a good name and think TOR is giving Star Wars a good name? Lets face it even if BioWare some how could fix this it's still the biggest mmo failure of all time. Really I'm more shocked people haven't been pushing Disney into having this go away and reopening SWG as that's what everyone wants outside a couple of fanbois.

 

Your metric for MMO failure is a little awkward, at best. What about Tera, AoC, Dark and Light, Hellgate: London, Tabula Rasa, Vanguard, CoH, DC Universe, Aion, DDO, LotRO, Lineage.....

[Doctoglethorpe]

Hahahahahah love that argument. Yeah SWTOR is only the second most successful MMO of the current generation, but obviously if it doesn't achieve WoW success and be #1, then it must be a failure. Just like how any band that isn't as popular as Justin Beiber is also a failure. Logical the the maximum.

[CaptRavenous]

Clone Wars: Canceled

Detours: On Hold

1313: On Hold

First Assault: On Hold

 

Apparently Disney has no problem breaching contracts and forking over some cash to make up for it.

Considering this "cleaning house" attitude going on how safe is SWTOR against the Disney broom?

 

Could this new push for the CM Packs be a last desperate effort to milk this cow for as much as they can before they are forced to pull the plug? Could the end be so near?

 

I must admit the storm clouds surrounding us look gloomy.

 

Any comment, CMs?

 

Correction: 1313 is currently On Hold but according to starwarsunderworld it may soon be canceled.

 

 

The sky is falling. Disney will kill us all for not giving them all our money. Its the end of the world. The Mayans were right, etc., etc................

[TheBBP]

The sky is falling. Disney will kill us all for not giving them all our money. Its the end of the world. The Mayans were right, etc., etc................

 

Ino rite?

[Izorii]

I suspect SWTOR is safe. I guess the biggest thing would be money. EA would have insanly high penalty fee if Disney pulled the licence they may even look at how much the game is making and decide if they would make more money if they let Disney pull the licence. Have to wait and see,

[ElitehunterDS]

The reason why Clone wars was cancelled was due to running on Cartoon network, owned by Disney primary rival Time warner. They still will release their episodes on for season 6 in the form of movies, just put 4 episode together and you get a movie right?

 

1313, First Assault and others were put on hold months before by Lucas himself while planning to sell the company, not by Disney.

 

Lucasarts have been near bankrupcy since 2008 due to a few bad luck on a few projects (Battlefront 3 being one, long story short, Free radical Design was cutting too much stuff out of the game without approval from Lucasarts), Force unleased 2 being the crap we got and those other games (demigod, which changed publisher i think), another Indiana Jones game, etc. They survived due to the Lego game and their parent company making money off their own IP.

 

SWTOR is safe enough to live out its life until the contract expires. Disney doesn't own SWTOR just the IP. As we all know SWG was cancelled when SWTOR went live. So SWTOR still rather has a long life but I think we will not see a new Star Wars MMO until 7-12 years when the new Disney Star Wars movies come out and the marketing craze happens again. Until then enjoy SWTOR. Its not a bad game and I think has been pretty successful. F2P is not the end all to end all.

SWG was cancelled due to the game not being worth it economically by Lucasarts to still have SoE operate it for them, a month before they announced the closure of the game it was down to under 20k subs.

Edited March 16, 2013 by ElitehunterDS

[Altheran]

Clone Wars: Canceled

Detours: On Hold

1313: On Hold

First Assault: On Hold

 

Apparently Disney has no problem breaching contracts and forking over some cash to make up for it.

Considering this "cleaning house" attitude going on how safe is SWTOR against the Disney broom?

 

If I'm not mistking, all of these (maybe excluding Detours) are made exclusively by Lucas Arts, or studios they own.

So I wouldn't say they have no problem breaching contracts... but that they do what they want with what they own.

 

It makes SWTOR a completely different matter if they wished to put a stop on it.

[MGriffith]

If the new overlords decide to make a new mmo in say the post episode 6 setting absolutely. Otherwise I'd imagine the only way would be if they weren't making money off of it and as another poster said if they found it damaging to their brand.

 

*shrugs* I guess we can all wail "The sky is falling!"

But realistically the licensing agreement will have a time limit, termination clauses (along the line of don't mess with the IP you are leasing and pass anything past our lawyers) and either a fixed annual sum or a fixed annual percentage. In the later case there will be no garantuee how much the annual income will make and it will not be part of the licensing agreement (or the Bioware/EA lawyers are a lot more inept than I would give them credit for).

 

So Lucas, now Disney, either got a fixed amount or a fixed percentage but has no other source of revenue from the game. Pulling the game early will see them duke it out in court over the question whatever reason Disney came up with to call EA in breach of contract legally is so. They could overpower Bioware (that company can't afford the stable of lawyers and the lengthy legal battle), but EA has a corpse of lawyers just as big and vicious as Disney. And considering that Disney breaking their contract will lose them all the money they are making from the game now until the end of the license period they will simply claim Disney pay them that much if they want to can the game.

Disney already paid a couple of billion for the intellectual property, is making a tidy amount of money from allowing the game running and is not going to make more money from cancelling SW:TOR because they have nothing to replace it with nor will they for the next five years even if they started up a development project today. By that time the license will be up for renewal anyway so .. why would they bother?

The only unknown is how profitable SW:TOR is today. If they have a stable player base and a stable income stream in the range of the 1million players they projected (spending on average about 15 dollars a month) then they will keep the game running. Even if it is less as long as the number is stable EA will simply force Bioware to further cut down on their staff to make expenses match income. They have no particular reason to close the game either (especially since they will be required to continue paying Disney royalties for the intellectual property license) as long as it is profitable enough.

While press releases are always relentlessly positive they can not be (too) factually wrong. If EA says that SW:TOR is doing well financially then it will at the very least not be making a loss, and if they say (as they did) that it is among their top 3 earners for games then it pretty much has to be doing reasonably well. Of course it takes a year to gauge how well a game is doing, retention wise, and the game effectively relauched in autumn 2012, so in about half a year we can know with better certainty if the playerbase and income is stable. For now it seems to be according a very quick and very unscientific gauge at the player numbers on the various planets. Servers are doing well enough that they frequently hit 'heavy' load at prime time and on accasionally edge into 'full' territory.

[MGriffith]

And your fanboiism is distoring any understanding of the real world.

 

SWG WAS a movie tie in (Clone Wars) an in the modern age it does not take 5 years to produce a MMO (unless you are Funcom). The movies will be out iside a 2 year timescale and it is more than possible to produce a quality product in that time, and in Disney's interests to do so.

 

I am sure others said it already, but SWG was released before Clone Wars AND it took please between the 2nd and 3rd movie (or 1st and 2nd not entirely certain about that).

 

Claiming that it does not take 5 years to create a triple A MMO from scratch mostly shows that you do not really know what you are talking about. Funcom is no more, nor less, competent than others when it comes to the very few studios that can create a large scale MMO (and no, Farmville doesn't count). Not to mention, we are talking about Bioware nor Funcom here. Lead in times for MMOs have been steadily INcreasing, not decreasing, the past decenium. Remember how long Blizzard is talking about the successor to WoW? And that game is nowhere near release yet. How long did it take to release AION, GW2 (and they had an existing game to lean on), Rift, DCUO, STO? All of them were at least in the five year mark when it came to production times. No, if anything five years from now for a new Star Wars MMO is optimisitic, not a sign of ineptitude.

 

Finally the first movie, singular, will be out in about two years if nothing goes wrong. Unless Disney decides to pull a Jackson and shoot all three movies back to back, but in that case preproduction alone will take over two years, over a year for shooting and at least a year for each movie to be edited and given the special effects. Only Weta Digital is used to work like that but Disney will be all but required to use ILM who most assuredly don't have the organisation in place to handle the peak workload it takes to finish three special effects movies near simultaneously (while they are also still being edited and even in part designed).

[TheNahash]

Really I'm more shocked people haven't been pushing Disney into having this go away and reopening SWG as that's what everyone wants outside a couple of fanbois.

 

lolwut?

Who is everyone?

I'm always surprised when people make such bold statements, with absolutely no evidence to back their claims, even more so when everything points to the contrary.

 

You need a reality check.

SWG might have been a good game (at some point) that had a healthy number of subscribers (at first), but it's over and done.

You can go support SWGemu if you want, but please stop making false assumptions about what "everyone" wants.

Edited March 16, 2013 by TheNahash