EA signs exclusive SW rights with Disney

[CosmicKat]

Sorry guys. I think it would be pretty safe to say that the former or current (at the time) SWG players SHOULD have been the target demographic for this game. Regular MMO players, hardcore players and simple fans that didn't play SWG could not sustain the game after those that either played SWG or were hardcore Star Wars fans jumped ship.

 

This game just did not appeal to mainstream MMO players. And it didn't seem to appeal to enough Star Wars fans either...safe to bet that SWG players were not generally fans. In the end it cost Bioware....big.

 

Take a look at the game now. It is becoming SWG. Or more accurately what SWG should have been. First step is personal customization and achievements...I would bet more "sandboxy" features such as this will follow.

 

I don't think that is a bad thing. In some ways SWG was absolutely horrible, but what SWG did right it did the best in the industry IMO.

 

SWG had some great features. The roleplay, social, crafting, and harvesting systems were all innovative and new. The PvE part of the game was barely there, and the PvP was terrible.

 

I would suggest the real failings of TOR were to make a solo MMO for reasons only they know, and to make a console game for the PC. SWG was a bomb, there were never enough players for anyone to bother going after them so it is totally understandable that they didn't. I also believe the popularity of Star Wars is grossly over exaggerated. Three terrible prequels nearly ruined the IP forever.

[Aelther]

Sorry guys. I think it would be pretty safe to say that the former or current (at the time) SWG players SHOULD have been the target demographic for this game.

 

No, this is not SWG 2 and IT SHOULD NOT BE. It's SWTOR so the target obviously must be KOTOR fans (and obviously wow fans, since it's a mix of kotor and wow). I couldn't care less about your SWG.

Edited May 7, 2013 by Aelther

[enderthane]

I think this is a bit of a mixed bag for me. I think EA makes some really great games, there is a reason they are one of the Big 2 in the industry. I know a guy who works at BioWare Edmonton, and the stuff they do is fantastic, even still. This could mean some really great games, like the aforementioned BF3 (drool) and others. Woot!

 

What I don't like is the EA business model. It is pure profit, but there is more to doing things than just making money. They don't have the best business ethics out there, on a morel scale, when it comes to players parting with money. What was the line again? Something along the lines of "If you are playing Battlefield and your clip runs out of ammo, and we say it will cost a dollar to reload, you will pay it because you are in the middle of a firefight and you are not thinking with your full reasoning at that moment", just to paraphrase. Kinda a jerk move, and one I'm not on board with. That was from EA CEO John Riccitiello.

 

Good? Bad? I hope it is good. You have some first rate studios working under the EA umbrella, and there will be the potential for awsomeness. That is what I am looking forward to. Also, this frees Disney up to just worry about what they do best, making the movies.

[WarbNull]

I think this is a bit of a mixed bag for me. I think EA makes some really great games, there is a reason they are one of the Big 2 in the industry. I know a guy who works at BioWare Edmonton, and the stuff they do is fantastic, even still. This could mean some really great games, like the aforementioned BF3 (drool) and others. Woot!

 

What I don't like is the EA business model. It is pure profit, but there is more to doing things than just making money. They don't have the best business ethics out there, on a morel scale, when it comes to players parting with money. What was the line again? Something along the lines of "If you are playing Battlefield and your clip runs out of ammo, and we say it will cost a dollar to reload, you will pay it because you are in the middle of a firefight and you are not thinking with your full reasoning at that moment", just to paraphrase. Kinda a jerk move, and one I'm not on board with. That was from EA CEO John Riccitiello.

 

Good? Bad? I hope it is good. You have some first rate studios working under the EA umbrella, and there will be the potential for awsomeness. That is what I am looking forward to. Also, this frees Disney up to just worry about what they do best, making the movies.

I remember what you are talking about. It is this isn't it?

Also... Read what the person wrote in the description under Show More. It is perfect for this subject as it mentions SWTOR.

Edited May 7, 2013 by WarbNull

[Aelther]

What was the line again? Something along the lines of "If you are playing Battlefield and your clip runs out of ammo, and we say it will cost a dollar to reload, you will pay it because you are in the middle of a firefight and you are not thinking with your full reasoning at that moment", just to paraphrase. Kinda a jerk move, and one I'm not on board with. That was from EA CEO John Riccitiello.

 

Well then it's a very good thing he resigned. Maybe they'll get a new CEO who cares AT LEAST a little bit about games and gamers, rather than only about money.

[WarGame]

Ahem... no actually you were posting how "WE" were wishing... yada yada.. negative things about the game licensing ending so that you could get back your SWG or a clone of it. Thing is.. theres emus of it... go play those if you needs your sandbox SW MMO fix man.

 

Apparently now... even you and your pocket of "we" will acknowledge that Disney is not pulling the license for SWTOR.

 

This is a big win for EA and for Disney. Since Disney has announced they are going to release a new SW movie every year beginning 2015.... game merchandizing with the movies (along with every other kind of merchandizing) is going to be moving at a regular pace.

 

Now... the one downside to all of this.. is you are going to see more and more dumbed down mobile games with the SW logo now. It fits the merchandizing tie-ins with movies, the short attention span of today's consumers, and the strategic direction that EA wants to grow revenue (mobile gaming). So.. there are going to be a lot of very disappointed SW lore fans, particularly older SW gamers I think in the coming years over how they have trivialized games about SWs for mobile phones for kids.

 

 

I agree, definitely with the part that there are going to be many disappointed lore fans going forward. But I think that was going to be the case the day disney made their purchase, the unfortunate downside of getting movies made regularly now in the mobile device age.

 

To the swg guy: I played swg for a long time, I had multiple accounts and it's the only reason I even know what an mmo is. But that game is gone because it wasn't that popular, they overhauled the game twice for a reason (you could write a novel about this). Most people aren't interested in a sand box game, if they were there would already be a wildly popular one with more on the way.

[WarGame]

lol people still use this as a legit argument?

When was the last time any company made anything that wasn't promoted as life-altering, Second Coming-important?

What should they have said they were gunning for, if not the leader in this market? SWG and its few thousand players?

 

 

I think a major difference between this and other releases since wow is that this one actually had a shot at wow. The rumors about it's immense budget also added to that. Saying this game didn't meet expectations isn't really a stretch though, even though it's doing better now than it was 6 months ago.

[RaiderMid]

KOTOR 3. Make it happen Bioware.

 

Screw this game.

[Vitas]

The game's population has stabilized with a steady increase and content is still being produced, although slowly. It may not be the messiah but it's still a decent title. This game should last for a long time, hopefully much longer than SWG's lifespan, and if EA did want to encourage more people to play then they could improve the game's advertising, maybe use some of the marketing content which they already have ready but are strangely withholding from using it. Edited May 7, 2013 by Vitas

[Dark_Hazard]

You guys are all dumb. DICE is on board along with bioware and Visceral. They are going to revitalize the star war franchise , they are all great developers.

[MajikMyst]

It is nice to know that there will be future Star Wars games.. Edited May 7, 2013 by MajikMyst

[deltadt]

i can imagine what a dice star wars game would be like in single player you are chasing enemys and you pass a point and a enemy knocks away your gun and you have to do the melee bs of press this key and this key. it's annoying to me and something that is not good for the fingers. of all the game companys disney had to give the star wars rights to EA. disney could have gone with rebellion they made aliens vs predator and sniper elite v2 both are fun games to play.

[Callaron]

Doesn't sound like bad news to me!

[discbox]

Doesn't sound like bad news to me!

 

So, you are corrupted by the dark side.

[tgokovenant]

At least with dice joining bioware on the next project, we'll finally get an engine that WORKS! lol. I'm just going to wait and see what happens. If they spit out a SW themed battlefield copy, then I'll be upset, but you never know. Lots of devs are huge star wars fans. They might really try to make something great. The glass is half full until I see otherwise.

[LordArtemis]

No, this is not SWG 2 and IT SHOULD NOT BE. It's SWTOR so the target obviously must be KOTOR fans (and obviously wow fans, since it's a mix of kotor and wow). I couldn't care less about your SWG.

 

No, its not and it should be. The fact that it wasnt is one of the reasons it fell flat on its face. WoW fans play Wow. This game is a pale comparison to that game and probably always will be. Not the games fault, WoW has a 10 year head start.

 

And if you read the post you would see that its not "my" SWG as you so quaintly put it with disdain. I understand you don't like the game, or at least glean so by your tone. You might want to get a hold of your emotions however.

 

I have an opinion, you have yours. No need to get snippy over it.

Edited May 7, 2013 by LordArtemis

[MorgothPl]

Well, not like LucasArts made a quality SW game. All the good stuff like Tie Fighter and Jedi Academy was done by external studios, LA only made crap. Besides.... You can't make game worse than Force Unleashed 1/2

[Dext]

Maybe EA well get Dice to make a Battle Front 3 game.

[Dext]

No, its not and it should be. The fact that it wasnt is one of the reasons it fell flat on its face. WoW fans play Wow. This game is a pale comparison to that game and probably always will be. Not the games fault, WoW has a 10 year head start.

 

And if you read the post you would see that its not "my" SWG as you so quaintly put it with disdain. I understand you don't like the game, or at least glean so by your tone. You might want to get a hold of your emotions however.

 

I have an opinion, you have yours. No need to get snippy over it.

 

MMO player now days could not do what SWG did. Like talking to people for buffs needing Doctors, needing to find a good crafters or needing to get new armor when you kill off a set.

[Genitor]

I'm actually happy about the news. Putting star wars in the hands of the likes of Dice and Bioware does not make me freak out at all.

 

I can see Dice making battlefront 3 and bioware possibly making a decent star wars rpg maybe even a new kotor game.

 

And enough with the Madden stuff. Those are sports games, they are all the same. What more is there to do every year than to update the stats, players, rosters, etc? Theres no story, the gameplay hasn't changed, what do you expect? If any other company other than EA had the Madden license, they would be doing the same exact thing.

 

Obviously it's something to be a little guarded about, but the people saying RIP star wars are pretty ridiculous.

 

I for one am happy about this relatively recent spark in interest in star wars, and I think I'm willing to give EA's/Bioware's/Dice's Star Wars try. I liked SWTOR well enough.

[LordArtemis]

MMO player now days could not do what SWG did. Like talking to people for buffs needing Doctors, needing to find a good crafters or needing to get new armor when you kill off a set.

 

If I were to say that it should have been more like SWG and lend my opinion on the matter (it varies among those that hold that opinion) I would have suggested the game launched with the following.....

 

Aside from the obvious, like a working GTN, less servers and LFG in place, I would have added:

 

- Decoration mechanic for Starships, inside and out, similar to SWGs housing system.

- More dependence on other players with crew skills/crafting.

- Dual spec and the ability to change your advanced class if desired. LFG would have had a bolster for classes needed when groups are not forming quick enough.

- Dyes and barber shops in the game at launch.

- Bolster for companion free play in PVE, Sidekick system to allow high level players to run flashpoints with lower level players without penalties.

- All armor would have been Orange adaptive armor with locked mods that could be unlocked to make it moddable if desired.

- Sith and Jedi would have fallen under one class each, with the advanced classes defined as the individual classes are now. Every class would have had a direct mirror. I would have added an Underworld faction where bounty hunters and smugglers would have started. Total amount of missions would have been reduced with more XP to defray cost (not as many side quests/VO work on side quests). Classes would not have been weapon locked, though a bonus would exist if you chose a traditional weapon setup.

- Animal and droid companions as alternate choices with the ability to be trained or programmed, animal mounts.

- All trees would be clear roles...tank, healer, dps with the option to create your own hybrid, and enough points to do so (a 1.25 spec system).

- Crafting would have been enhanced like the suggestions in my sig.

- The current space combat system would have had multiplayer, both turret play and the ability for others to join you in the pipe in their ships, and I would have added a single space battleground with 3d play, PVP and PVE, Battlefront 2 style with both fighter and personal starship play.

- Minigames, like swoop racing and the like.

- Group summon, Guild summon and the like would have been in place.

- Planets would have been bigger and less linear, buildings and interiors would have been smaller on average.

- If the engine failed to support chat bubbles for all, chat bubbles would have been in place for group use.

- Text based mission generator in place like the one suggested in my sig.

- Specials would have been simplified, streamlined, with certain ones altering how they worked as you leveled up (added features, effects, etc) to simplify rotations and make it easier on the engine to smooth out gameplay.

- 4 of the current planets (most likely Taris, Balmorra, Quesh and Voss) would have been shelved for a future expansion. Also you would have spent much more time on the starter planets of Hutta, Korriban, Ord Mantell and Tython, not leaving until around level 15 to 20. Home planets of Dromund Koss and Coruscant would have held players another 10 to 15 levels or so, with the remaining planets comprising the remaining levels.

- Level cap would have been 40 to start.

 

Just a few of the things I would have done differently to make the game much more social and casual friendly like SWG was. That is what the game did right, and the only thing this game should have emulated from that game...customization, personalization, ease to group, social dependence on one another, flexible class system.

[JackPipsam]

I am okay with this.

[MilesTeg_cy]

A new level in license issues with Disney.

 

EA lands near-exclusive Star Wars licence

 

This part is a little bit shady tough:

 

The deal will see EA-owned BioWare allowed to continue producing role-playing games set in the Star Wars universe, as follow-ups to its existing Knights of the Old Republic titles. Where the exclusion of 'online-category' games leaves BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO, however, is unknown - it's perfectly possible that the title will be allowed to wind down in favour of a reborn MMO under Disney's direction. The deal will also allow EA to produce new first-person shooters, spiritual succesors to the Dark Forces series previously created by Lucasfilm's gaming subsidiary LucasArts.

[xxIncubixx]

its funny people say EA is garbage and yet, EA makes money out of everyones pockets... hypocrite much?

[Shingara]

A new level in license issues with Disney.

 

EA lands near-exclusive Star Wars licence

 

This part is a little bit shady tough:

 

The deal will see EA-owned BioWare allowed to continue producing role-playing games set in the Star Wars universe, as follow-ups to its existing Knights of the Old Republic titles. Where the exclusion of 'online-category' games leaves BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO, however, is unknown - it's perfectly possible that the title will be allowed to wind down in favour of a reborn MMO under Disney's direction. The deal will also allow EA to produce new first-person shooters, spiritual succesors to the Dark Forces series previously created by Lucasfilm's gaming subsidiary LucasArts.

 

There just blowing smoke as normal, only thing disney left out are web browser type games so could prob see a redo web based monkey island or something from disney. This game now has the full green light and not have to worry about loosing its license, EA defo arnt taking it away.

 

Disney retains the rights to make casual and social games in the Star Wars universe on mobile devices, tablets and the web.

Edited May 7, 2013 by Shingara