Going back to October 2010 (and through to March 2011) I detailed five reasons why Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWOR) was a high risk MMO. Those reasons where: EA was funding SWOR for the wrong reasons – they weren’t looking to develop a profitable title, but instead create a WoW-level success with a financial … Continue reading
Tagged with Mass Effect 2 …
What Proportion of Games Actually Get Completed By Players?
One area I’ve been curious on for a while is what proportion of players actually complete the games they play. A lot of attention gets put on games about how their narrative sophistication is evolving and how players love playing for the story they uncover, but all of that is so much puffery if 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
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
World Class Villains 