… for its employees working on Star Wars: The Old Republic anyway. With the announcement that SWOR is launching December 20 (US) / December 22 (EU), EA BioWare have basically put the SWOR team (and related infrastructure teams) on the crunch to launch on pretty much the last possible date of this year. But MMOs … Continue reading
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Star Wars: Galaxies – End of the Universe, Driven by the Republic
It is sometimes said that the launch of a new MMO never really ‘kills’ an older title. The older MMO might lose some players but will continue on in its own way with its already established community and developer Vision. That might have been true once, but it is increasingly less reliable to believe in. … Continue reading
The Very, Very Late 2010 MMO Recap: Here Comes the New Stuff, Same As the Old Stuff
(All you have is my word that I haven’t made any substantive revisions to this document since January 30, 2011. Trust me. I’m a blogger. For a point-by-point recap of 2010, see either the January to June or the July to December articles.) 2010 was an interesting year for the MMO industry in that it … Continue reading
The Very, Very Late 2010 MMO Recap (Part 1)
A Note of Explanation At the end of 2010, I wrote up a recap of the year’s MMO-related events for a particular site, as I’ve done for a few years. Given that it’s now almost May, I don’t think that site is going to use it, but I’m really loathe to throw out all the … Continue reading
Five Reasons Why SWOR Is A High Risk MMO: #5 BioWare Doesn’t Do Great Game Mechanics
It was announced recently that Eric Brown, EA’s CFO, finds that blogs about the cost of Star Wars: The Old Republic “bring a chuckle” to his day. Glad to bring a smile to your face, Eric – here’s hoping the following brings some belly laughs. Back when I started this series, I said there were … Continue reading
Five Reasons Why SWOR Is A High Risk MMO: #4 The Story Pillar’s Strength May Not Pass The Building Code
In selling Star Wars: The Old Republic to the masses, BioWare has been hammering on about the fourth pillar they are adding to MMOs: story. They see that most MMOs have exploration, combat and progression, but they are adding story to that mix which is going to make them stand out. Fully voiced story, at … Continue reading
Five Reasons Why SWOR Is A High Risk MMO: #2 It Is Going To Cost Too Much
Following on from reason number 1, the next big problem that Star Wars: The Old Republic is going to face is that it is going to cost too much.
Cost estimates for SWOR vary from the US$150m mark up to the US$300m mark, which is a big range, but regardless of its true cost it is EA’s self-proclaimed biggest project ever and even BioWare sees it being multiple times bigger than anything they’ve worked on before. The reason is will cost too much is that combination of profit, business practicality and ego I mentioned before, but the development costs are actually what could cause the most problems post launch.
To understand this, you have to look at how MMOs actually make money: box sales, subscription fees and real money transactions (RMT). Continue reading
Mass Effect 2 Stats: Male Soldiers Dominate
Saw this interesting release from IGN and BioWare – it shows some of the stats collected on how Mass Effect 2 was played. I find it interesting because: My personal experience is that it takes about 30 hours to complete a BioWare console game – Jade Empire and Mass Effect in my case. ME2 is … Continue reading
You Give Yourself Enough Rope, BioWare
Sometimes you expect someone to know better, but then they go and make the mistake anyway. In this case, it was Daniel Erickson, BioWare’s writing director, saying how MMOs had been “no fun” to date, a lot of which relates to there being “no point” to play them because they don’t have a decent story … Continue reading
Voice Overs Are The New Black
When it comes to upcoming MMOs, voice overs are the new public quests. By which I mean: thing you have to have to look cool. Star Wars: The Old Republic is going to be fully voiced. Some people are very excited about that. DC Universe Online is going to have an all-star voice acting cast. … Continue reading
World Class Villains 