GameSpot’s Andrew McMillen has an article up on the working conditions of game developers and why gamers should care. but unfortunately is misses its topic on a few levels and fails on its most important point – making gamers care. The first issue with the article are the games used to showcase extensive crunch times (“crunch” … Continue reading
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Star Wars: The Old Republic – The Risk in Being Too Big
There is a risk in being too big. Although the modern cliche is “too big to fail”, it is a term that originally referenced companies who were saved by Government money because their collapse would have resulted in unbearably devastation on the economy around them. In a short period of time, it seems this saying … Continue reading
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
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
Buy Medal of Honor or EA Will Shoot A Baby
They aren’t kidding around.
Five Reasons Why SWOR Is A High Risk MMO: #3 The Subscription Fee Model Is Falling From Grace
Star Wars: The Old Republic is a high risk title because it is being developed for some good and bad reasons, and will cost too much… and because its core way of collecting revenue is currently on the downhill slide. Although BioWare has been coy about its revenue model, EA management is talking subscription fees. … 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
Five Reasons Why SWOR Is A High Risk MMO: #1 EA Is In It For The Wrong Reasons
It’s been a good week for internet video game drama. There was a nice warm-up with Nick Lovell’s contribution to the masses on 10 doomed games / businesses / products, followed by the main course of EA Louse spewing bile at EA from the inside. Putting aside the validity of EA Louse’s posts – and … Continue reading
DCUO Delayed Until Q1 2011; Please Pre-order It Anyway
In an announcement that surprised me so much I remained sitting in my chair, DC Universe Online has been delayed until Q1 2011. There was an indication that things weren’t going swimming given the lack of marketing build-up before launch, but now the November launch is off and has been replaced by a November public … Continue reading
World Class Villains 