DawnAskham Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 Interesting news: https://www.ign.com/articles/star-wars-the-old-republic-development-third-party-bioware 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlBuzzard Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 (edited) If this is accurate ... that certainly explains a number of things including the recent exodus of key personnel! Only time will tell just exactly how this plays out for the consumer! Edited June 6, 2023 by OlBuzzard 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juanmf Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 (edited) Can't tell if this is good news or bad news. Depending on how much freedom EA gives these new guys we might see some... stuff. Honestly, I'm leaning on bad. 7.0 left me absolutely bitter about the game and it really pains me. Edited June 6, 2023 by juanmf 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnAskham Posted June 6, 2023 Author Share Posted June 6, 2023 21 minutes ago, OlBuzzard said: If this is accurate ... that certainly explains a number of things including the recent exodus of key personnel! Only time will tell just exactly how this plays out for the consumer! Assuming one just wants the game to continue and not get shut down, it may be a good thing. Assuming one has held out hope for some sort of resurgence in the game with significant updates or expansions, probably not. The games Broadsword has (Ultima Online / Dark Age of Camelot) are really old and as far as I can tell, mostly run in maintenance mode. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casirabit Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 It might been the perfect time for me and my boyfriend to have moved to FFX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThanderSnB Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 This makes sense because their exclusive license ended recently. That probably gave them more freedom to make changes like this. Doing it beforehand, may have given Lucasfilm/Disney the impression they weren't putting in their best effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casirabit Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 An update on the development of SWTOR - General Discussion - SWTOR | Forums 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vandicus Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 This is actually good news regarding the longevity of the game. DDO did something similar. 10 years is a long time for an MMO so we were getting to the point where licensing might've threatened things. This indicates the game is viewed as having value, instead of potentially just being a maintenance mode training ground for employees. Ironically Disney's mismanagement of the Star Wars franchise may make it considerably cheaper to maintain the license. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arunav Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, juanmf said: Can't tell if this is good news or bad news. Depending on how much freedom EA gives these new guys we might see some... stuff. Honestly, I'm leaning on bad. 7.0 left me absolutely bitter about the game and it really pains me. I think it's pretty reasonable to see the move as the beginning of EA sunsetting the game. The good news for people that enjoy playing alts/the leveling story is SWTOR will be around for some years to come still. For folks who prefer multiplayer content you can't just sleep through, there may be fewer players in the future to group or queue with, depending on how many folks decide to move on to other games. As for the team working on the game and new updates, it's hard to interpret this, at least based on the article, as anything but SWTOR's already small team likely getting smaller. If you had hopes the game would somehow get better updates, this makes it even less likely. The news also makes sense of some of what happened behind the scenes before and since 7.0 that players weren't privy to. No wonder people like Charles Boyd seemed to not give a crap about the quality of Legacy of the Sith and then subsequently left. In any case, all MMOs eventually get to a point like this, and it's hard to argue SWTOR hasn't been barely alive for quite some time now. The last era I recall the game getting any real support from EA was pre-KotFE/leading into 4.0. When the new chapter model didn't work out in 4.x, it's been less and less playable content each year since, less frequent and buggier releases, fewer game modes getting substantive updates, etc. I still think it's sad EA determined SWTOR to be 'a miss' so early in its life, determining its fate by mid-2012. They never truly supported the project after that, and mostly siphoned its profits into other games. Edited June 6, 2023 by arunav 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimasterjac Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 Very sad news. Kinda devastated - this game’s been a huge part of my life for more than a decade. It will be missed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erictlewis Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 They said they want the game to grow, but selling it to a company who just lets the games they do have languish without updates. It is never good when things like this happen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vandicus Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 On another note, it seems like Bioware Austin is basically being shuttered. So while this means SWTOR will live longer than one might've expected, Bioware is getting a lot less leeway from EA in terms of performance. They would've rolled those employees into Bioware's current projects if they had high expectations and it just an issue of SWTOR being a poor use of resources. This means they thought the studio itself was not a winner. "Those remaining with EA would have an opportunity to look for roles elsewhere within the company, but may otherwise face layoffs." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Char_Ell Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 I have to think the BioWare Austin folks are none too pleased about this news. I hope they did not learn of it from the media reports first. Trying to figure out if your position has a future or not is never fun. As far as I'm concerned this does not bode well for SWTOR's future in terms of development and new content. At least SWTOR is not shutting down in the near term. I'll just wait and see what future brings with Broadsword but I certainly don't expect SWTOR will get more development resources with Broadsword than what the game currently gets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xordevoreaux Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 (edited) This thread will wind up being nothing but conjecture as to the future of the game, so here's mine. Caveat to my points below, if the game survives after this transfer for more than a few months in the near term (September-December), and after the supposed final Bioware-ish update of 7.4 (as Keith alluded to), the conversation for where the game goes at that point will be strictly between The House of Mouse and Broadsword, which, in my mind, portends two things: One, door's wide open as to what Broadsword will do within the confines of the Star Wars franchise agreement with Disney. Two, and I highly doubt it would be the case, unless Broadword's agreement with Bioware has a lot of thou-shalt-nots in the fine print as to the direction, content and overall structure of the game, with that door wide open, Broadsword will be free to transform the game however it likes, let it stew as is, kill it, etc., as Bioware at that point will be out of the picture. Meaning, how Broadsword updates the game in terms of communication to us might prove more interesting than the updates themselves. And, as an eventuality, we'll all wind up on Broadsword's forums to continue this conversation as Bioware then will have no reason to maintain a forum for a game it's no longer developing. Edited June 6, 2023 by xordevoreaux Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlBuzzard Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 42 minutes ago, arunav said: I think it's pretty reasonable to see the move as the beginning of EA sunsetting the game. The good news for people that enjoy playing alts/the leveling story is SWTOR will be around for some years to come still. For folks who prefer multiplayer content you can't just sleep through, there may be fewer players in the future to group or queue with, depending on how many folks decide to move on to other games. As for the team working on the game and new updates, it's hard to interpret this, at least based on the article, as anything but SWTOR's already small team likely getting smaller. If you had hopes the game would somehow get better updates, this makes it even less likely. The news also makes sense of some of what happened behind the scenes before and since 7.0 that players weren't privy to. No wonder people like Charles Boyd seemed to not give a crap about the quality of Legacy of the Sith and then subsequently left. In any case, all MMOs eventually get to a point like this, and it's hard to argue SWTOR hasn't been barely alive for quite some time now. The last era I recall the game getting any real support from EA was pre-KotFE/leading into 4.0. When the new chapter model didn't work out in 4.x, it's been less and less playable content each year since, less frequent and buggier releases, fewer game modes getting substantive updates, etc. I still think it's sad EA determined SWTOR to be 'a miss' so early in its life, determining its fate by mid-2012. They never truly supported the project after that, and mostly siphoned its profits into other games. If I see anything with EA's label on it ... I will probably stay as far away as possible. Some smug overpaid fat cat is no doubt laughing all the way to the bank ... BUT IMO it's going to hurt them right in the seat of the pants before it's over with. I agree ... EA (not the employees of BW) ... stripped the insides out of this game and left the remaining staff to make bricks without straw. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HobbesToo Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 This is going to be like the NGE "update" Sony pushed out for Star Wars Galaxies. I give this game two years in a pseudo-maintenance mode before it's shut down. Hopefully Ubisoft can pull a rabbit out of a hat and make the future bright again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnAskham Posted June 6, 2023 Author Share Posted June 6, 2023 (edited) 9 minutes ago, OlBuzzard said: If I see anything with EA's label on it ... I will probably stay as far away as possible. Some smug overpaid fat cat is no doubt laughing all the way to the bank ... BUT IMO it's going to hurt them right in the seat of the pants before it's over with. I agree ... EA (not the employees of BW) ... stripped the insides out of this game and left the remaining staff to make bricks without straw. Andrew Wilson (EA CEO) obviously needs another home, his $28 million dollar estate in Atherton, CA, and multi-million dollar homes in Pebble Beach, Menlo Park, and San Carlos, clearly aren't enough. Edited June 6, 2023 by DawnAskham 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlBuzzard Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 4 minutes ago, HobbesToo said: This is going to be like the NGE "update" Sony pushed out for Star Wars Galaxies. I give this game two years in a pseudo-maintenance mode before it's shut down. Hopefully Ubisoft can pull a rabbit out of a hat and make the future bright again. Maybe we all get lucky and Disney steps in ... assigns a task force to fix what has been broken! It's amazing what can happen when you set your mind to it and give the right people the support that they need to get things done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimasterjac Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 1 minute ago, OlBuzzard said: Maybe we all get lucky and Disney steps in ... assigns a task force to fix what has been broken! It's amazing what can happen when you set your mind to it and give the right people the support that they need to get things done! Disney doesn’t factor in here, man. They do not care about this game, and EA is dumping it off to a small study that doesn’t do anything beyond bare-bones maintenance mode for the two MMOs it owns. Don’t be delusional. The game’s dying; 7.4 is the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlBuzzard Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 6 minutes ago, jedimasterjac said: Disney doesn’t factor in here, man. They do not care about this game, and EA is dumping it off to a small study that doesn’t do anything beyond bare-bones maintenance mode for the two MMOs it owns. Don’t be delusional. The game’s dying; 7.4 is the end. Maybe ... maybe not! (as far as Disney is concerned). A realistic view would be that another company that refuses to have anything to do with EA can pick things up and develop an entirely new game! I do believe that we're seeing the end of things. I am having my model stuff taken down ASAP! SWTOR has been fun! And (for whatever it's worth) the Mando story has been well done! BUT ... all things end! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimasterjac Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 15 minutes ago, OlBuzzard said: Maybe ... maybe not! (as far as Disney is concerned). A realistic view would be that another company that refuses to have anything to do with EA can pick things up and develop an entirely new game! I do believe that we're seeing the end of things. I am having my model stuff taken down ASAP! SWTOR has been fun! And (for whatever it's worth) the Mando story has been well done! BUT ... all things end! It’s a shame we’ll probably never get private servers for posterity’s sake. Alas, farewell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlBuzzard Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 8 minutes ago, jedimasterjac said: It’s a shame we’ll probably never get private servers for posterity’s sake. Alas, farewell. I leave this thought: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XechCNr0iwg 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlBuzzard Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 1 hour ago, casirabit said: It might been the perfect time for me and my boyfriend to have moved to FFX. Looks like I'll be spending more time at WoW than originally planned. Been good chatting with you and soooo many others here! Would the last person to leave SWTOR please remember to turn the lights out (please). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casirabit Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 2 hours ago, OlBuzzard said: Looks like I'll be spending more time at WoW than originally planned. Been good chatting with you and soooo many others here! Would the last person to leave SWTOR please remember to turn the lights out (please). You have been a great friend on the forums. Good luck to you. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eabevella Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 4 hours ago, OlBuzzard said: Maybe ... maybe not! (as far as Disney is concerned). A realistic view would be that another company that refuses to have anything to do with EA can pick things up and develop an entirely new game! I do believe that we're seeing the end of things. I am having my model stuff taken down ASAP! SWTOR has been fun! And (for whatever it's worth) the Mando story has been well done! BUT ... all things end! What tool do you use to take the character model down? I'd like to do the same in case they don't release a single player version of SWTOR to rip $$$ off me for one last time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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