Bobby Kotick questions Star Wars Old Republic's economics

By Robert Purchese Published 29 November, 2011

Suggests Lucasarts will be only beneficiary.

With Star Wars: The Old Republic, EA will mount its second major attack on Activision Blizzard dominance within months.

The first attack, remember, was Battlefield 3 on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick's response? To doubt EA's ability to turn a profit with Star Wars: The Old Republic.

"Lucas is going to be the principal beneficiary of the success of Star Wars," Kotick said at a Reuters Media Summit this week.

"We've been in business with Lucas for a long time and the economics will always accrue to the benefit of Lucas, so I don't really understand how the economics work for Electronic Arts."

Kotick reportedly downplayed the suggestion that SWTOR would steal WOW subscribers, and warned that producing an MMO success was historically and statistically harder than it looks.

"If you look at the history of the people investing in an MMO and achieving success, it's a small number," he said.

World of Warcraft has been losing subscribers. In October 2010, prior to the launch of expansion Cataclysm, WOW had 12 million players. Today, WOW has 10.3 million subscribers.

Those 1.7 million cast-offs, should they join SWTOR, would make EA's MMO a success. EA boss John Riccitiello told investors recently that his game, which is rumoured to have cost hundreds of millions of dollars to make, will only need 500,000 subscribers to turn a profit.

How many fidgety World of Warcraft players actually do jump ship, at least temporarily (as has been the case with past MMO launches), remains to be seen. And whether Star Wars: The Old Republic packs the depth and breadth to retain them will be interesting to see.

Consider Battlefield 3's battle against Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, however, and how both companies produced their biggest game launches ever. Given that, perhaps there's ample room for both WOW and SWTOR after all.

The Jedi Consular.

Star Wars: The Old Republic was finally opened to the public, via a huge closed beta test, this weekend passed. The game will launch, to limited quantities, on 20th December.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (56) Latest comment 6 months ago

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  • Byzanite #1 6 months ago

    SW:TOR is good!

  • Davinnicus #2 6 months ago

    Having played the beta this past weekend, and enjoyed it immensely, I have put my order in for this and cancelled my WoW account. WoW for me was becoming a little stale.

  • bigjimbeef #3 6 months ago

    If the beta weekend was anything to be relied upon, then I really think that this game is going to generate a lot of interest. It was a flawlessly-executed weekend of very, very server-intensive play from my point of view. I even tried playing on a West Coast US server (from the UK), and I still didn't experience any real issues.

    They've got the tech, the game is great fun (for those who like such things), and they've got the marketing grunt to push it. I really can't see this being another Age of Conan or equivalent.
    Edited by bigjimbeef at 29/11/11 @ 09:58

  • Mister-Wario #4 6 months ago

    "Lucas is going to be the principal beneficiary of the success of Star Wars,"

    Right, because Activision isn't the primary beneficiary of CoD's high launch prices, yearly releases, expensive DLC and similiar games each year.

  • Eisenstein #5 6 months ago

    @Byzanite Yes, but it could be sooo much better. The story, dialogue, immersion and "care for your character"-feeling is excellent, but the MMORPG-mechanics and design are right out of 2006. Clunky skills (and far too many functionally similar ones), overloaded talent trees without much choice, too many kill-10-of-those-quests with very badly optimized quest-paths, long travelways, no dual-spec, no UI customization (like moving your character portrait somewhere else), no LFD-function (and since population is so split up between areas that really hurts if you want to group), really bad nameplates, generally very poor information communication from game to player, annoying catchphrases your companions repeat ad nausea ("Let me show you my gun", "I'm not afraid of you";), companions who are generally implemented like an afterthought etc.

    Most can be fixed with patches and since the basis (story, design, characters) is solid I'm sure the game will be great in a few months, but that takes time after all. Still, I'm very sure Bioware will make the money more than back, but I'm currently not sure it is a game that will keep a large crowd attracted for more than a few months.

  • Seoh #6 6 months ago

    TOR is gonna do fine, based on the licence alone should hold onto a million for a couple years.

    The mmo mechanics are tried and tested rather than anything innovative but in this economy innovation is a risk that few are willing to take.

    I'll probably be playing TOR for a good 6 months myself, maybe longer. A probably revisit during expansions etc..

  • BloodSaint #7 6 months ago

    Ahh someone's very nervous. but it's okay bobby you do have a right to be nervous after all

  • MattRobson #8 6 months ago

    Why are people willing to pay a monthly sub to play a game they have already paid for?
    Edited by MattRobson at 29/11/11 @ 10:22

  • nickthegun #9 6 months ago

    TOR is gonna do fine, based on the licence alone should hold onto a million for a couple years.
    Played much Star Wars Galaxies recently?

  • Cjail #10 6 months ago

    Activison, instead, is known for sharing the profit: ask Zampella & West abut this!
    Edited by Cjail at 29/11/11 @ 10:27

  • Zomeguy #11 6 months ago

    The only reason to play this game is for the story. Once you have completed that (2 month?) you can safely cancel your subscription as gameplay wise, it does not offer anything that WoW doesn't do better.
    The MMO mechanics are extremely bland and boring, at least for those people that have been playing those games for 10 years.
    For newbies to the genre, I could understand you enjoying it.

  • Nephirion #12 6 months ago

    WoW is so old now it almost on life support, hardly surprising that some people will jump ship to play it. Blizzard need a new MMO for the Western market if it wants to retain market domination. Or maybe the days of only one MMO being the biggest is gone.

  • Softie2k #13 6 months ago

    SWTOR was a great single player game. It won't last 12 months though.

  • Shikasama #14 6 months ago

    THose 1.7 million 'cast off's are primarily asia based, pay next to nothing to play Warcraft and make very little difference at all.

    There is very little incentive to play SWTOR past the license. The problem other MMO's that haven't tried to differentiate themselves from WoW in their gameplay is that people start playing them, enjoy the first 20 levels or so, but when you hit that grind phase you just sit there and think 'I may aswell be doing this on 500 hour+ level 85 night elf'.

    That's why they struggle.

  • JahB #15 6 months ago

    @Mister-Wario
    You're missing his point. His problem is that he sees the holder of the IP, Lucasarts, benefit more than the game's publisher, EA.

    It would be like infinity ward making more money on cod than activision. Unthinkable, in a world of greedy suits.

  • JahB #16 6 months ago

    @Mister-Wario
    You're missing his point. His problem is that he sees the holder of the IP, Lucasarts, benefit more than the game's publisher, EA.

    It would be like infinity ward making more money on cod than activision. Unthinkable, in a world of greedy suits.

  • ZuluHero #17 6 months ago

    @MattRobson Why are people willing to pay for DLC? Or Add-ons? Or Xbox Live? Or PSN PLUS?

  • Boki #18 6 months ago

    Having played the beta I cannot wait for it to launch. Yes the Ui is a bit clunky at times, nameplates make targetting a bit difficult, but they can be patched/ modded and some quest hubs are easy to get lost in and are too big for their own good, but the story/conversations/lightsabers more than make up for it. Wow was a bit of a no frill game when it came out so I cant put tor down for that. The bounty hunter was also great fun having to use cover, craftig is also nicely implemented.
    I played the esseles instance 4-5 times, the way the dialogues played out was always different making for a very enjoyable experience. Running through RFC 4 times in a row for example would be torture.
    3 more weeks to decide what class to play \o/

  • anomagnus #19 6 months ago

    Its the exact same model as yours, bobby. Its a sub based product, with no micro transactions. Its also using the same mechanics.

    I don't think SWTOR needs 10 million subs. It'll get a million subs probably with little effort. I see rift doing very well, all without a licence, and being almost the exact same as WoW. I really don't see how SWTOR will suffer, except if it is shite, which doesnt seem to be the case at all.

    @zomeguy
    There is an element of truth there. But, unlike other MMOs, the story driven side gives you a lot of drive to re-roll and run multiple characters. Depending on how different the stories are, you might find 8 different stories there. At two months a peice, thats 16 months of game play right there, without even getting into raiding, pvp etc. I'd also suspect that the first xpac will be out in roughly that time as well.

    @shikasama
    I don't buy that for a second. I saw a brilliant post in the US WoW forums (sadly unable to find it at the moment, so you'll have to take my word for it) that worked out the maths on the subs figures, and showed that for the sub figures to be what they are, the loss was coming from the western markets, and has been for some time, and only the asian market is keeping the game afloat.

  • graham738 #20 6 months ago

    As a veteran MMO player, SWTOR is really upping the MMO space with this game. Played beta this weekend and the story driven aspect is really and truly amazing. Its like playing a great single player RPG - with your mates.

    There were some small bugs and nuisances but all in all it was a very smooth experience.

    WoW is not getting an worse, its just showing its age. I played WoW for over 4 years, and loved every minute of it, but now its time for a new flavour. Rift was a flawless launch and really polished game, but it was nothing really new. I think Bioware really has a chance of succeeding in reaching at least 1 million subscribers within a month or so.

    If any of you are not sure if you'll enjoy it, and havent had the chance to play it, ask yourself this:

    Would Mass Effect be even more fun if it was played with a friend? If the answer is yes, then you'll love this game.

    The potential for this game is really great. The story aspect means that you dont feel like you're grinding - at all. There is no grind. Everything you do is for a reason. The "bonus" missions for each mission is just optional, so you dont really have to kill a bunch of stuff if you dont want to, but you're rewarded if you do.

    The companions add a nice touch to the game. They're a lot more than a simple "pet". The light side / dark side options really make you stop and think before you act, and you can see the potential changes in your future every step of the way.

    All in all, i think everyone should try this game. I think it has great potential and looks like its gonna be a lot of fun. I;m sure Kotick hopes that it will fail miserably, but i'm also sure Blizzard will like some competition, and see what they can implement in "Titan".

    Just over 2 weeks to early access, cant wait!

  • Spekingur #21 6 months ago

    WoW came out at exactly the right moment with exactly the right stuff.

    Question: Why would Bobby Kotick have to comment on SWTOR at all? Was it an answer to a question?
    The Star Wars franchise is big and all - and has some crossover but probably has fans that are interested in sci-fi more than Warcraft-type of fantasy.

    @Shikasama: But what if I do not have a level 85 night elf? What if I have not been continously playing WoW since its release? Hardcore WoW players are a lot less likely to switch (for any amount of time) than casual players.

  • Fatallyflawed #22 6 months ago

    Played the Beta over the weekend and definitely sets my preorder in stone.......I'm not to sure about the crafting system but I guess it will just take a little getting used to put the voice acting and quest lines that I played are awesome.

  • Daz190uk #23 6 months ago

    @Boki We certainly should be putting TOR down for being a bit of a "no frills games", even if WoW was upon launch. EA haven't lived in a time warp, the game should be judged by the standards of quality that WoW has set now, if not the volume of content.

  • Anciegher #24 6 months ago

    Well, I for one can't wait to play it! The beta was a very positive experience from my side.

  • bobfish09 #25 6 months ago

    He's right, to a degree. LucasArts will probably take home around 30% of the revenue, without doing any of the work. That is how most licenses work.

    On the other hand, profit on an MMO is much higher than any other game. Provided EA hit their targets they probably won't have any problems making a profit, they just won't have it as easy as LucasArts.

  • MattRobson #26 6 months ago

    @ZuluHero perhaps because its deemed as value added content, which you dont HAVE to pay to actually play a product you have just purchased at retail.

    Certainly you could level the same argument at xbox live however that's access to online to unlimited games for about £30odd a year not just one game for as I recall £10 per month (haven't looked for a long time) so in comparison your paying say £30 to buy a disk that to actually play the game will then cost a further tenner per month.

    I just don't understand why people are willing to pay it.

  • Kami #27 6 months ago

    I sort of agree... I think many have felt the sting of the LucasArts licencing arrangements in recent years, including the fans. The Old Republic is a nice MMO - if a little on the rough side at the moment (I also played over the weekend and the reports of sun shining from its backside are wildly exaggerated) - but once the "Ooh, Star Wars MMO!" shine has worn off in a few weeks, the game has to hold up on its own weight. It's a bit early to tell if BioWare are capable of that.

    However... Bobby Kotick? And I'm agreeing with him? ACK! *Darth Vader Noooooooo sound effect here*

    I feel so unbelievably dirty. There isn't enough water in the known universe to scrub the disgust off...

  • Quixz #28 6 months ago

    Bobby is overlooking something very important!
    THE FORCE IS WITH THIS GAME!

    :cool:
    Edited by Quixz at 29/11/11 @ 13:02

  • ZuluHero #29 6 months ago

    @MattRobson I know it's hard for people to comprehend, but some people are just willing to do it. The most logical justifiable reasons will include things like new content, content updates, patches, quick fixes, server stability, but often people will come up with more outlandish reasons why they will be happy to pay.

    I guess the main thing you have to remember is that the game you buy at the start often isn't the same game after a few months. When a standard box game is developed, bang - its out the door, finished, finite, final. MMO development is continuous.

    Anyway, things are changing. A lot of upcoming MMOs will work in a way you describe. You buy the game and you'll be able to play it forever - BUT - only the content you get with the standard game, sans fixes and minor updates. You will have to buy the major content updates or add-ons, or DLC if you will. I'm sure you are already aware that this is the called the Free-to-Play or Fremium models?

    It's kind of a Swings-and-Roundabouts argument. People either pay a monthly sub, get all the major updates for free, or will be forced to pay lump sums every now and again in order to keep playing the game in any meaningful way. The difference is pretty negligible, but for some reason lump-sum payments seem to sit better with certain people, where as drip feeding payment can make people question the validity of monthly payments.

  • Rack #30 6 months ago

    From what I've played of it it's got legs. I'll be staying clear of the uncomfortable first year but if Guild Wars 2 doesn't up and rewrite the rulebook I can see myself playing for year 2,

  • makariel #31 6 months ago

    I wasn't really thrilled when I got the beta invitation last week. Only started on Sunday afternoon playing since I had nothing better to do anyway and I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised. SWTOR is a good game. Sure it has it's glitches here and there, but the little I saw was solid and way more enjoyable than what I've done in my 4 years of WoW. I especially love the flashpoints. What keeps me back from (pre-)ordering is the monthly fee. I consider buying it a month I have not much else to play just to play through one or two of the class storylines.

  • Xeopuppy #32 6 months ago

    I am not a MMO fan at all, but after playing SWTOR beta this weekend I will be buying the game and subscribing come January, I really enjoyed it...

  • MattRobson #33 6 months ago

    @ZuluHero I dont want people to justify what they spend money on, to me and i appreciate i may well be in a minority here but i dont see the logic in paying full retail for something outright to then have to pay for the privilege to use it. more logical to me would be a small fee to 'purchase' the game say £5-£10 then pay your monthly fee but i appreciate the commercial side behind game development would not allow that to happen.

    I have seen a few games change to the free to play model from a sub model like DC universe where i believe you pay for the 'bits' you want. which to me may suggest that people are not willing to keep up this sub model.

    its the over all cost of it that grates me, say you play it for a year you have paid £120 just to play the game you paid say £40 for in the first place, that to me is madness. but again i appreciate people clearly are willing to pay it and do if they get enjoyment out of it who am i to judge.

    I just hope this kind of model does not find it way into other sectors of gaming, which lets face it's had plenty of time to do so and as yet its remained exclusive to MMORPGs.... hasnt it?

  • Eraysor #34 6 months ago

    The beta was extremely good. As in, best-MMO-I've-ever-played good. Better than WoW too (and I have an annual pass!)

  • Hellion83 #35 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 20:12:17 01-02-2012

  • digitalash #36 6 months ago

    Kotick ought to be running scared - yes, it's a very old fashioned MMORPG, but that's what people who play this want, isn't it? And TOR's got the weight of the Star Wars license behind it. It's not going to crush WoW overnight, but it is going to steal some of their bored customers.

  • varkdm #37 6 months ago

    I really enjoyed the swtor beta, thought it was extremely polished (by mmo launch standards :) ).

    I thought the quest system of interractive conversations worked perfectly, for once I actually genuinely knew what i was doing in an MMO and why all the time.. half the time in WoW i wondered wtf was going on and why (not that i didnt enjoy WoW) :)

    It even made me reconsider my general aversion to jedi'ness in games.. i much refer the bounty hunter/smuggler type in that unvierse, but i spent a lot of time paying a bounty hunter (which was a lot of fun) and tried a sith warrior.. and found that to be a lot of fun too.. launch date aproaches and .. decisions decisions.

  • ucankurbaga #38 6 months ago

    I played the beta weekend, its crap, it will go f2p soonish.

  • Kami #39 6 months ago

    @ucankurbaga; Hopefully not, although it is very love-it-or-not. There was not one aspect over the weekend that really grated - just lots and lots of little ones; low-resolution textures, awful character models, simplistic combat mechanics, unbalanced faction abilities (always nice to see Smugglers get a charge shot for 15 energy and Bounty Hunter gets the same thing costing 20), some music errors, that conversation wheel which must now be a patented thing by BioWare with the same usual good/evil/sarcastic response options. Couple this with the armours I got looking like they had been wallpaper pasted onto my character (badly), a cliche storyline and generally unconvincing voice acting and I just didn't get a feel for it. All the above just kind of started to brew together with other issues and the absolutely coma-inducing conversations full of the same old horse manure "This is better than WoW/Sex/My wife/Girlfriend/Boyfriend/Rift/TV/Life/Job/Other *delete where applicable*" to really just put me off.

    I know, it's just a few starter areas and I know there's still a month before release, so many of the little niggles may get fixed, whereas others will just be a case of personal taste. But I just feel like TOR has been rushed - and having seen and witnessed the fallout from Galaxies over that Combat Upgrade patch, once the novelty of the Star Wars franchise has been scratched away, it has to sparkle underneath. And on that, time will tell. I don't know. I can't say with any certainty what the future holds for TOR. Just that I, personally, wasn't exactly blown away. But that's not to say it won't do well, it's Star Wars, whatever the game is like at release, it will sell on that and that alone.

    And it will give BioWare some time to get feedback and fix whatever niggles are happening. The initial release is usually two or three months of extended beta testing and bug fixes anyway.

    But I do think it will initially do well. Based purely on the fact it's Star Wars + BioWare. That is enough. But long term? Hmm. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Age of Conan was heralded as the next big thing, remember, and we all know what happened there...

    I've learned when it comes to MMOs, nothing is guaranteed...

  • HMAN #40 6 months ago

    @Kami Just nitpicking one thing out of your post
    "always nice to see Smugglers get a charge shot for 15 energy and Bounty Hunter gets the same thing costing 20"

    Smugglers use energy, Bounty Hunters use heat, different mechanics, its apples and oranges

  • zhivik #41 6 months ago

    I actually think Bobby Kotick has some point. The main problem with SWTOR is that it is very agressively advertised as an MMO, but it is actually KOTOR with MMO elements. I played through the beta last weekend, and as far as story/questing goes, it felt like KOTOR 3. This applies to your companions too, who also have their stories (and from what I saw - secrets). I admit the flashpoints are incredibly fun to play, mostly because of the group conversation mechanic and the good story. However, the big lure is the class quests, and these are played solo. I don't know if the feature is not ready yet, but I couldn't do a single class quest with another player (even from the same class), once I got into the instanced class areas.

    Anyways, the thing is that after you finish your class quest, all left to do is either PvP (and not that many people like it), or repeat flashpoints/operations, which are not that many, and at some point will just get annoying to do again. Of course, providing new content will be key, but given how the class quests are so epic, everything else will look bland, even well-made flashpoints, so not many people will have the incentive to keep paying a monthly fee.

    Actually, this is the dealbreaker - I would definitely pay for KOTOR 3, even more than usual, given there are eight different main stories, but I'm not sure I want to pay continuously for it, and this is what essentially wll happen here. Thus, I don't see many players sticking for long, unless there is regularly new content, and given the quality bar set at the beginning, it will be both expensive and time-consuming to put enough new content on a regular basis.

  • Kami #42 6 months ago

    Knew someone would call that out HMAN :p Point is, it feels like a balance issue more than a feature issue. But as I said, it's one of many small niggles for me.

    I won't say SWTOR is bad, as there was nothing overwhelmingly bad about it. Just... I can't escape the notion it's been a bit rushed. And I went in thinking I was going to enjoy it and I didn't really.

    As I said, it's just lots of small things. But small things can add up to big things.

  • HMAN #43 6 months ago

    @zhivik You can bring people you are grouped with into story phases. You can also have more than one of the same class in the phase but you have to check a box in preferences for that. Ofc only the person whose story it is can influence the conversation

  • Nova1977 #44 6 months ago

    and then they say there's no rivalry between them.

  • Lamb #45 6 months ago

    Always bet on Bobby! :D

  • Dave #46 6 months ago

    Had already pre-ordered and after playing the beta this weekend I'm glad I did. It was a joy to play, the story is great and it plays nicely. It's not anything new and compared to Wow it looks a bit bland or samey, but I sure like the universe (and after 6 years of Wow, I sure do need a change of scenery).

    I agree with someone above me that the mechanics are quite old though, too many skills that do the same thing, quests are nothing new (although the voice acting does actually add to the immersion) and there's a lot of unused space in the game. Which makes me unsure if TOR can keep me interested for more than 6 months. But who cares, if it can give me 6 months of fun, I'll happily pay for it!

  • Jayaitch #47 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 18:50:52 11-01-2012

  • Geminosity #48 6 months ago

    To be honest, having played it now I'd say it's not a bad game. It didn't grab me, but I'm not a Star Wars fan so I'm sure those who have a greater appreciation for the universe it's set in will probably enjoy it a great deal, which is good :3

    I liked the voice acting and the options for character customisation allowed me enough choice to make a character I like the look of which is all I ever ask :D
    The other thing of note was the smuggler/agent's cover system which I liked because it's the first mechanic in an MMORPG to make me pay attention less to the HUD and more to the environment. It's clunky but it works :3
    I'm also enamoured with the idea of your ship; your way around the galaxy, also being your own customisable home. This not only gets past lots of real-estate problems player housing causes but means you can take your home with you. Very clever! :D

    On the other side of the coin, I found combat to be fairly normal stuff. For those not jaded by the MMO genre I'm sure it'll do amicably, sporting some fun looking abilities like a "GERROVER HERE" from Mortal Kombat and the like. Sadly, I've been unfortunate enough to have played more MMO titles than is probably healthy so I'm a little too familiar with combat based around finding optimal ability sequence loops to enjoy it any more.
    While the NPC chat scenes are well voices and give you input, I frequently get distracted by the public chat window in the corner. Being a socialite I love answering questions, helping people and generally shooting the breeze and so before I know it I've missed whatever the NPC was telling me. This isn't a problem in Mass Effect but ME is a single player game and I feel this mechanic better serves people who treat this game as a single player :3
    The multiplayer aspect does kind prod the singleplayer enjoyment of it too though, as you'll have to deal with infinite respawning outside of flashpoints/instances and racing others to rescue npcs from cages/hack devices/etc or else find yourself waiting in line for it to reset with everyone else who was too slow. Some content is also designed for groups so if you're in a solo mood you'll need to bring your AI companion along or wait until you're feeling more group-friendly :p

    TL:DR version = Not my thing, but for those who will enjoy it; Have fun. I envy the awe and wonder you may have ahead of you :D

  • Collymilad #49 6 months ago

    Kotick is such a poopoo head. I wish he would just go away.

  • Toothball #50 6 months ago

    Gamers shouldn't really be concerned with who makes the money from a game like The Old Republic. It's good that there are alternative MMO environments that are also successful. As well as World of Warcraft has done, it's just not for everyone.

  • FortysixterUK #51 6 months ago

    I've had SWTOR C.E pre-ordered since the C.E was announced, and my wow account went into retirement on November 19.
    As much as I love wow, the inclusion of Pandas made me think twice.
    I was getting a little bored of WOW and the Pandas were its proverbial final nail in the coffin for my decision making process.
    I'll see you in SWTOR.
    Can't say I'm NEVER going back to wow. It's still the best polished, best performing MMO in existence, but a nice long break will go down well.

  • Nova1977 #52 6 months ago

    Kotick should go fuck himself.

  • Jayaitch #53 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 18:50:52 11-01-2012

  • Jorendo #54 6 months ago

    SWToR will do fine i think. It will make a profit if only for a bit. I would very much like to stay away from things like "WoW is better" or "SWToR is gonna be a WoW killer". If you either find WoW better or not is just a personal thing and frankly i can't care any less. I played Wow since the first day it came out and played it till februari 2011...then it was enough for me personally. For me that game lost all its appeal and seeing what path they heading for im glad i left, i mean panda's...serious? I played Rift for 2 months after but i noticed i got a bit fantasy tired. Game mechanic wise nothing was wrong, it looked beautiful and such but i was just tired of another high fantasy setting. Also i left WoW cause of what had become of the community, it went from a great helpful community to a "me me me im all that counts shut up noob" community on my server and i heard from friends who played on other servers (all kind of different servers) they had the same feeling. When i played Rift these same kids where there as well >.<

    I don't think WoW has to worry about SWToR pulling people away. SWToR aims for another kind of MMORPG player. WoW is mostly for raiders, and blizzard gives them all priority. SWToR aims for the experience to the last lvl and provides more for the solo player. I know people will shout "if you want to play solo go play a singleplayer game!" but i love being in a online world, just want to do things at my own speed and not have to depend on others to progress. I don't like the feel of being in some dungeon for hours but i do like to PvP.

    SWToR isn't a WoW clone either. I think the term "WoW clone" is the biggest mistake people made, both players and game journalists. WoW isn't orriginal in any form. WoW is a everquest 1 clone (not so weird when you know that the EQ1 team made WoW). If a game has many things WoW has as well its not a clone, its genre specific. Shooters and race games are all the same as well but MMORPGers always seem to forget that MMORPG is a genre, it has genre specific things. WoW, SWToR, LOTRO, it are all theme park MMORPG's so they are bound to have the same things like fetch quests, etc. But i will come back on this point in a moment.

    Where SWToR is different from WoW and most other MMORPG's:

    1. The classes aren't as typical as in the others. You get to specialize your class in 2 roles and both roles have different skill trees as well. Inquisitor is a great example. You can either become a sort of mage or rogue who serves as tank.

    2. The choices make quests more personal. In others you do the same quests with the same outcome.

    3. You aren't good or evil by choosing your faction. You can join the empire and still want to be good to people. While as jedi you can still give in to the temptations.

    4. Greater story telling where the voices really add to a better immersion.

    But SWToR still plays it save when it comes to combat and such. Al tough i personally found that the combat had more power in it as others. It feels very bioware with sabers deflecting the attacks and really have the sense combat is happening instead of swinging trough thin air.

    Will SWToR have millions of players or not? I don't know, time will tell. I know that i will play it and that i liked the beta. Will it entertain me enough for a long time? No idea depends mostly on the community for me. But iam convinced that SWToR will make a profit. If only a part of the SW fans and bioware fans buy and play this game for months then they already earned allot back and perhaps already made a small profit.

  • Uncompetative #55 6 months ago

    How about EA doing a Mirror's Edge MMO. The game already has one Shard.

    ;-)

  • TheGreebler #56 6 months ago

    this game totally different from any that have come before
    VERY involved in story, VERY
    Companions... Companions that go and fetch your crafting items WHILE you are doing missions.
    Story for your character with reactions YOU CHOOSE!
    Combat that is in depth and twitch to the point that you have no autoattack...

    Furthermore... your companion... and the fact that EVERY class has so many ways to spec they can fulfll several different group roles

    nope NO MMO can even touch this. None.

    IF they develp space combat into something worthy... its bye bye WoW.

    And truth is I dont care whether I loved playing the 'WoW killer.' I just want to play a good game. Hell with the rest.

    That is all.

    This game has lots of shiny grobbles, and there is no shortage of greebling to do.

    NO COLLECTION QUESTS. It is more even based. Also... they have a handy little 'missions' tab in inventory so all that crap doesnt take up your bags.

    FURTHERMORE.... watch the vids from the devs. OVER and OVER again... it is interviews from devs that actively play and make judgements accordingly. Simply dont see that applied in a realistic way; these guys ARE games.... this game is going to rock. Period.

    With a parting thought; this is the mostest greebly game ever. All others (except LOTRO maybe)... are simply ungreebly.