Star Wars: The Old Republic Going Third-Party as BioWare Focuses on Mass Effect and Dragon Age

[bahramnima]

with 80 devs working on swtor we were getting one content update PER/YEAR, now it is down to 40 and bioware is not in charge anymore, if we still going to get that one content update per/year,with same quality i would be very surprised but i really do not think so, its going to be half maintenance mode, we will get even smaller content update but that is about it, basically swtor will slowly die, i would say 5 years and shut down, such super disappointing news, i am really sad now.

[WayOfTheWarriorx]

8 hours ago, OlBuzzard said:

Would the last person to leave SWTOR please remember to turn the lights out (please).

Will do.

[OlBuzzard]

17 hours ago, eabevella said:

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.

My son owns the server that hosts all of my work!  He flips the switch ... done!

[OlBuzzard]

12 hours ago, WayOfTheWarriorx said:

Will do.

I'm certain that a lot of folks have wondered what happened to the old man. Sooo  I'll try to explain!

I can be (and I think within reason) have been as supportive to SWTOR AND the development team as possible (even to the point of taking flak for it).  I do NOT regret that support. ON THE other hand ... there is something to be said for taking advantage of and leading us on as a community.  IMO this sort of transaction does not just happen overnight!  It's been coming for a while now.  I would dare say that by the time JUS was released that the staffing had been cut back a bit!  By the time SoV was released it was obvious from the number of outrageous bugs what were included that there was difficulties to the point that the material being released was less than quality.  

I can be... and have been as reasonable and understanding as possible!  BUT .. IMO those that are at the top of the food chain between the assorted companies involved have taken that "trust" ...  my support and pretty much completely ignored/ trampled it underfoot and carelessly ignored our input (as well as that of the overwhelming majority of the community).

Now then ... It's someone else's turn ... It's now up to EA / BW to set things right!  I can be reasoned with.  (I think I have demonstrated that over the years).  Here is where the old man draws the line.  If they want my CONTINUED support there WILL BE some apologies and changes in the direction / communication and genuinely reliable specific information released that I CAN TRUST !

Game over!

[eabevella]

5 hours ago, OlBuzzard said:

My son owns the server that hosts all of my work!  He flips the switch ... done!

Can I have your son? /jk

PS: most of the posts about getting SWTOR models are years old ><

[Mubark]

On 6/6/2023 at 4:40 PM, 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!

This is clearly the death of this game... Both of the games that "Broadsword" runs look like crap. I hope that Broadsword isn't expecting me to pay a subscription to a game that's never updated, the bugs are never fixed, and no new content is developed.

What it looks like to me is that Bioware is polishing an old beat up car just so they can "flip it"...

In other words, they're turning it into the best product possible, to get the most money out of it, just to sell it to a company that won't do anything with it in the long term. So, enjoy the next two updates, those will likely be the last ones.

1. Key personnel left.

2. The Devs don't interact with the players.

3. They placed a terrible Community Manager in-charge.

4. They nerfed the player economy.

5. They're nerfing the player economy, again...

6. And now, they're selling the game to a sub-par gaming company that keeps really old games in "maintenance mode"....

Everyone should prepare for the mass exodus and empty servers...

This is just like what happened with Star Wars Galaxies.

The only difference is that instead of gamers creating an emulator, Bioware has turned this game into one.

[Stradlin]

28 minutes ago, Mubark said:

 

In other words, they're turning it into the best product possible, to get the most money out of it, just to sell it to a company that 

6. And now, they're selling the game to a sub-par gaming company that keeps really old games in "maintenance mode"....

Nobody is selling or buying anything. EA owns SWTOR and pays bills& salaries..Bioware Austin used to run it for EA. In future  Broadsword runs it for EA.

Bioware Austin has no game to run now that Anthem is dead and ToR is moving away. This isn't the end of ToR,but I suppose it is the end of Bioware Austin.

 

Most of the cash Bioware has made for EA through last..8 years or something came from SWTOR/BW Austin. No other Bioware studio has managed anything half decent since DA:I. 

 

 

 

Edited June 8, 2023 by Stradlin

[Mubark]

30 minutes ago, Stradlin said:

Nobody is selling or buying anything. EA owns SWTOR and pays bills& salaries..Bioware Austin used to run it for EA. In future  Broadsword runs it for EA.

Bioware Austin has no game to run now that Anthem is dead and ToR is moving away. This isn't the end of ToR,but I suppose it is the end of Bioware Austin.

 

Most of the cash Bioware has made for EA through last..8 years or something came from SWTOR/BW Austin. No other Bioware studio has managed anything half decent since DA:I. 

 

 

 

It doesn't really matter if EA owns Broadsword or not... They're still sending this game there to die.

[Stradlin]

8 minutes ago, Mubark said:

It doesn't really matter if EA owns Broadsword or not... They're still sending this game there to die.

Well, bits of your post I quoted were completely inaccurate and I figured that should be pointed out, all this doom&gloom comes with tons of falsehoods. 

Assuming what IGN article suggests is accurate  and like 40+ BW Austin people move to Broadsword, then it is bit like whole team of  Denver Broncos moving to a small frat party that used to have only  two people previously.  Sure, that two perso party had its own history and vibe before  Broncos arrived, but force in numbers alone dictates it is a  party for/of Denver  Broncos  from now on.  "Broadsword has done this, Broadsword has done that.." this stuff matters so little, since TOR and some 40 devs moving over there completely transforms  Broadsword into something it hasn't been. They're a tiny studio. If TOR and 40 people move in, they're no longer a tiny studio.

 

Edited June 8, 2023 by Stradlin

[Samcuu]

2 hours ago, Stradlin said:

Well, bits of your post I quoted were completely inaccurate and I figured that should be pointed out, all this doom&gloom comes with tons of falsehoods. 

Assuming what IGN article suggests is accurate  and like 40+ BW Austin people move to Broadsword, then it is bit like whole team of  Denver Broncos moving to a small frat party that used to have only  two people previously.  Sure, that two perso party had its own history and vibe before  Broncos arrived, but force in numbers alone dictates it is a  party for/of Denver  Broncos  from now on.  "Broadsword has done this, Broadsword has done that.." this stuff matters so little, since TOR and some 40 devs moving over there completely transforms  Broadsword into something it hasn't been. They're a tiny studio. If TOR and 40 people move in, they're no longer a tiny studio.

 

Yup. Swtor made $1 billion in revenue in 8 years. Bioware's cut of that money went under a bioware umbrella where they used it to invest in other projects. Now that Broadsword will be running things they've got two options. Don't do anything and pocket the money, or support their 40 new employees and give them work to do and make more content. No clue how much bioware got of the roughly $100m swtor makes every year, as we know and it's been well documented they used those resources on failed projects like anthem. Now that money can go directly to supporting swtor. Seems like a win win for me.

[Stradlin]

8 minutes ago, Samcuu said:

Yup. Swtor made $1 billion in revenue in 8 years. Bioware's cut of that money went under a bioware umbrella where they used it to invest in other projects. Now that Broadsword will be running things they've got two options. Don't do anything and pocket the money, or support their 40 new employees and give them work to do and make more content. No clue how much bioware got of the roughly $100m swtor makes every year, as we know and it's been well documented they used those resources on failed projects like anthem. Now that money can go directly to supporting swtor. Seems like a win win for me.

It takes  only little bit of forced optimism to believe in this! Swtor and its devs within Broadsword without a doubt will  have more influence and..internal visibility   than Bioware Austin used to have within Bioware. As to where the money TOR makes goes...ig that's up to EA.  Ultima Online is a tiny game but due to....reasons, it has insane profit marigins.  It doesn't earn  EA much but it earns so much more than it costs. Average UO player spends more  money in UO than average TOR player spends in TOR. Not much of the  noney UO makes goes to Broadsword.

Edited June 8, 2023 by Stradlin

[CrazyScruffy]

2 hours ago, Stradlin said:

It takes  only little bit of forced optimism to believe in this! Swtor and its devs within Broadsword without a doubt will  have more influence and..internal visibility   than Bioware Austin used to have within Bioware. As to where the money TOR makes goes...ig that's up to EA.  Ultima Online is a tiny game but due to....reasons, it has insane profit marigins.  It doesn't earn  EA much but it earns so much more than it costs. Average UO player spends more  money in UO than average TOR player spends in TOR. Not much of the  noney UO makes goes to Broadsword.

It's very clear that you are a fan of UO. But "reasons" is not proof of anything. And what can you show that support that UO players spend more money than TOR players? There are some whales here who spend a lot of money, and hundreds and if not thousands who probably drop small charges here and there. It's a big reason why if the store ever goes down it is fixed right away. Because that is where they get their money. And it is very hard to compare UO to TOR - they might as well be different planets. I can see that that have Chinese servers - so I could see UO pulling in money from there. They have a very different market than us and I imagine their costs for their game is far less to maintain. 

[Stradlin]

1 hour ago, CrazyScruffy said:

It's very clear that you are a fan of UO. But "reasons" is not proof of anything. And what can you show that support that UO players spend more money than TOR players? There are some whales here who spend a lot of money, and hundreds and if not thousands who probably drop small charges here and there. It's a big reason why if the store ever goes down it is fixed right away. Because that is where they get their money. And it is very hard to compare UO to TOR - they might as well be different planets. I can see that that have Chinese servers - so I could see UO pulling in money from there. They have a very different market than us and I imagine their costs for their game is far less to maintain. 

In SWTOR, it is quite unusual to hear of anyone who'd pay for subscriptions for  two accounts or more.  In UO, it is unusual for anyone among the remaining playerbase to have "only" two main accounts.  There are maybe 3000 or 4000  or so somewhat active UO players. I'd guess those 3-4k people  have something like 80000-12k  subscriptions active. I remember doing a poll of this on UO forums long time back. When it comes to folks who replied, having only one account was more rare than having over 5 accounts.  It is pretty crazy rly! oO This is mostly due to housing and multiboxing, Only one house per account, and people like their houses. Having at least two accounts running at once on same PC is common and allowed; it is  usual to have a supporting semi afk alt along for the ride, buffing you as you do the fighting on another character.

SWTOR players surely use cash shop at least a bit more often than UO players use theirs. ..But I'm pretty sure it doesn't even up the scales, when it comes to amount of money average player throws at the game. When it comes to totals, ofc SWTOR brings much more money in, there's at least 10x-20x  more players over here. TOR also has like 20x more people working for it, VA to worry about, higher dev costs in general.

Japanese servers btw, not Chinese. They used to be a notable portion of the playerbase in UO. 

UO  is prolly extremely cheap to maintain. Among the very few devs and admins  there are some positions and job descriptions that are sadly amiss from TOR and most  all other MMOs. Afaik to this day, Ultima Online has event masters whose only job is to  do one off live events. - Tiny completely unique stories that happen once and are never retold. Few weeks from now, time for another uique event. - True live development, that.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 8, 2023 by Stradlin

[CrazyScruffy]

1 hour ago, Stradlin said:

In SWTOR, it is quite unusual to hear of anyone who'd pay for subscriptions for  two accounts or more.  In UO, it is unusual for anyone among the remaining playerbase to have "only" two main accounts.  There are maybe 3000 or 4000  or so somewhat active UO players. I'd guess those 3-4k people  have something like 80000-12k  subscriptions active. I remember doing a poll of this on UO forums long time back. When it comes to folks who replied, having only one account was more rare than having over 5 accounts.  It is pretty crazy rly! oO This is mostly due to housing and multiboxing, Only one house per account, and people like their houses. Having at least two accounts running at once on same PC is common and allowed; it is  usual to have a supporting semi afk alt along for the ride, buffing you as you do the fighting on another character.

SWTOR players surely use cash shop at least a bit more often than UO players use theirs. ..But I'm pretty sure it doesn't even up the scales, when it comes to amount of money average player throws at the game. When it comes to totals, ofc SWTOR brings much more money in, there's at least 10x-20x  more players over here. TOR also has like 20x more people working for it, VA to worry about, higher dev costs in general.

Japanese servers btw, not Chinese. They used to be a notable portion of the playerbase in UO. 

UO  is prolly extremely cheap to maintain. Among the very few devs and admins  there are some positions and job descriptions that are sadly amiss from TOR and most  all other MMOs. Afaik to this day, Ultima Online has event masters whose only job is to  do one off live events. - Tiny completely unique stories that happen once and are never retold. Few weeks from now, time for another uique event. - True live development, that.

That adds a lot more insight into UO, thank you

 

But I did mean Chinese unless they only support Chinese as a language. It looked like they have Chinese; English; Japanese; German; French; and Korean

[Stradlin]

12 minutes ago, CrazyScruffy said:

That adds a lot more insight into UO, thank you

 

But I did mean Chinese unless they only support Chinese as a language. It looked like they have Chinese; English; Japanese; German; French; and Korean

 That's some left over from the very beginnings of UO. It has a  ridiculously wide support for all possible alphabets. Richard Garriott had plans to make some sort of auto translator so people could talk to one another no matter what language and alphabet they used. It never happened.

 

[Darev]

3 hours ago, Stradlin said:

In SWTOR, it is quite unusual to hear of anyone who'd pay for subscriptions for  two accounts or more.  In UO, it is unusual for anyone among the remaining playerbase to have "only" two main accounts.  There are maybe 3000 or 4000  or so somewhat active UO players. I'd guess those 3-4k people  have something like 80000-12k  subscriptions active. I remember doing a poll of this on UO forums long time back. When it comes to folks who replied, having only one account was more rare than having over 5 accounts.  It is pretty crazy rly! oO This is mostly due to housing and multiboxing, Only one house per account, and people like their houses. Having at least two accounts running at once on same PC is common and allowed; it is  usual to have a supporting semi afk alt along for the ride, buffing you as you do the fighting on another character.

SWTOR players surely use cash shop at least a bit more often than UO players use theirs. ..But I'm pretty sure it doesn't even up the scales, when it comes to amount of money average player throws at the game. When it comes to totals, ofc SWTOR brings much more money in, there's at least 10x-20x  more players over here. TOR also has like 20x more people working for it, VA to worry about, higher dev costs in general.

Japanese servers btw, not Chinese. They used to be a notable portion of the playerbase in UO. 

UO  is prolly extremely cheap to maintain. Among the very few devs and admins  there are some positions and job descriptions that are sadly amiss from TOR and most  all other MMOs. Afaik to this day, Ultima Online has event masters whose only job is to  do one off live events. - Tiny completely unique stories that happen once and are never retold. Few weeks from now, time for another uique event. - True live development, that.

 

 

 

 

 

I've paid for 3 subscriptions here for awhile.

Still paying for two, but I did switch them from 6 month to month to month because of this news.

[casirabit]

14 hours ago, Stradlin said:

Well, bits of your post I quoted were completely inaccurate and I figured that should be pointed out, all this doom&gloom comes with tons of falsehoods. 

Assuming what IGN article suggests is accurate  and like 40+ BW Austin people move to Broadsword, then it is bit like whole team of  Denver Broncos moving to a small frat party that used to have only  two people previously.  Sure, that two perso party had its own history and vibe before  Broncos arrived, but force in numbers alone dictates it is a  party for/of Denver  Broncos  from now on.  "Broadsword has done this, Broadsword has done that.." this stuff matters so little, since TOR and some 40 devs moving over there completely transforms  Broadsword into something it hasn't been. They're a tiny studio. If TOR and 40 people move in, they're no longer a tiny studio.

 

You are also assuming those people want to move to Virginia and that might not happen.  Moving from Texas to Virigina will be costly, even doing it yourself.  I know when I moved from Texas to South Carolina it was expensive to do so and Virginia is even further than South Carolina.

[Shayddow]

It's very possible to do tho. I moved from Ohio to NY in 1980 and then back to Ohio in 1996, did it myself with a u-haul (moved everything myself except for the piano). 

[Stradlin]

3 hours ago, casirabit said:

You are also assuming those people want to move to Virginia and that might not happen.  Moving from Texas to Virigina will be costly, even doing it yourself.  I know when I moved from Texas to South Carolina it was expensive to do so and Virginia is even further than South Carolina.

..Plus notion of uprootimg your entire life, finding, renting or buying  a new home, likely  uprooting lives of your SOs and kids.   Actual cost of actual process of moving is cheap by comparsion to all of that.

I'm amazed if that is even discussed though. Broadsword prolly doesn't have work space available for 40 new people anyway. I would assume they work remotely, and/or  maybe Broadsword Austin becomes a thing.

 

Only publicly available address for Broadsword I'm able to find is this cosy building. They share it with a Chinese restaurant on 1st floor and some other company. If the  creator of GSF still worked for TOR, I'd make a case of that nice tower belonging to him should he so desire, but alas:(

 

https://imgur.com/QPrBVct

Edited June 9, 2023 by Stradlin

[Whykara]

4 hours ago, Stradlin said:

Only publicly available address for Broadsword I'm able to find is this cosy building. They share it with a Chinese restaurant on 1st floor and some other company.

Looks comfy. The people working there probably have a better work environment than Bioware Austin ever had lol

[Christie_Swift]

Very disappointed on the news but I guess as it is been said. "All good things must come to an end". NO reason to keep subscribing on the Titanic.  I will have some more last fun for kicks sake and sign out. I was really hoping the summer Nightlife celebration would go really well this year but with these news I'm sure most smart people will leave this game. Why invest any further efforts.

It has been real fun and Thank you Bioware DEVS for making this a wonderful past time. I wish you the best and hope some day soon there will be another similar MMO StarWars related that can keep on the torch started on 2011. 

Thanks SWTOR!

[WayOfTheWarriorx]

1 hour ago, Christie_Swift said:

I'm sure most smart people will leave this game. Why invest any further efforts.

They should really close all the schools and declare it a National day of mourning and have all flags at half mast and have a moment of silence because another company will be administrating the game with perhaps half of the Bioware devs still working on the game in addition to whatever personnel they may put on the game.

Always pays to have a last hurrah a few years in advance....just to be on the safe side.

I'm not sure 'smart' would be the word I'd use.

Edited June 9, 2023 by WayOfTheWarriorx

[Stradlin]

45 minutes ago, WayOfTheWarriorx said:

They should really close all the schools and declare it a National day of mourning and have all flags at half mast and have a moment of silence because another company will be administrating the game with perhaps half of the Bioware devs still working on the game in addition to whatever personnel they may put on the game.

Always pays to have a last hurrah a few years in advance....just to be on the safe side.

I'm not sure 'smart' would be the word I'd use.

Honestly, ToR should be split in two games. A) Real actual  ToR, which continues on with Broadsword.

B) Bit of a makebelieve taxidermy copy of ToR, which will be created solely to  "pull the plug" in some grandiose  humiliating moneyshot. This just so all the doom, gloom, end is here tortanic lolz sink the ship all is over-  folks will finally get their release and  payoff. "See?? I knew it! I been saying this game would soon die for 9.5 years!!"  It'd be glorious.

Edited June 9, 2023 by Stradlin

[WayOfTheWarriorx]

1 hour ago, Stradlin said:

Honestly, ToR should be split in two games. A) Real actual  ToR, which continues on with Broadsword.

B) Bit of a makebelieve taxidermy copy of ToR, which will be created solely to  "pull the plug" in some grandiose  humiliating moneyshot. This just so all the doom, gloom, end is here tortanic lolz sink the ship all is over-  folks will finally get their release and  payoff. "See?? I knew it! I been saying this game would soon die for 9.5 years!!"  It'd be glorious.

It's like those doomsday sooth-sayers, the world is gonna end on such and such date. That date rolls around and the world doesn't end and what do they do? They say it's gonna end on this new date. Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat.

Edited June 9, 2023 by WayOfTheWarriorx

[Quantum]

21 hours ago, casirabit said:

You are also assuming those people want to move to Virginia and that might not happen.  Moving from Texas to Virigina will be costly, even doing it yourself.  I know when I moved from Texas to South Carolina it was expensive to do so and Virginia is even further than South Carolina.

Why would they when all of Broadsword works remotely?