WAR Online "technically" ready for launch

By Oli Welsh Published 28 March, 2008

Delay is to give it polish, says producer.

In an interview with Eurogamer, Jeff Hickman, senior producer of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning at EA Mythic, has explained the reasons for the fantasy MMO's recently announced delay from spring to autumn this year.

"We need more time to polish it," said Hickman, explaining that the actual content of the game was already, to all intents and purposes, complete. "All the content's done. The game is fully playable. Technically, I could launch the game today."

Instead, Mythic is conducting an exhaustive overhaul of the entire game and its interface to bring it up to the desired standard. "We're looking at every quest in the game, we're looking at how the land is set up, all of the content. Everything," he said. "And making sure that it feels the way that it needs to feel, and that we want it to feel, so that we can have a slam dunk success when we launch the game."

The move, said Hickman, is part of EA's drive to improve the quality of its games. "We believe very strongly, and John Riccitiello the CEO at EA has really pushed hard on this in the last year since he came online, that getting games out the door quickly, making the quick buck, is not what EA needs to be about," he said. "We need to be about quality games, games that build big franchises, games that have future and longevity."

Although the game has been delayed from the second to fourth quarter of 2008, Hickman said, "I know the actual dates and it's not six months. Let's call it three to six months," he added, which would suggest an early autumn release date. This will likely put it very close to the release of second World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, expected late this year.

However, Hickman said that Warhammer Online was not expected to compete closely with Blizzard's behemoth, and suggested that EA would be happy just to have a profitable MMO on the market. "We don't expect to dominate the MMO space against the biggest game out there," he said. "We have very very sound expectations for our game, I think we're going to meet those expectations, and I think EA is going to go, 'Oh my Lord, we finally have an MMO'. And they're going to be happy as hell."

Read more of Hickman's thoughts in the full interview, or visit the Eurogamer MMO Channel to find more coverage of Warhammer Online.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (10) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • bengray66 #1 4 years ago

    well 3 months is June, which is summer. Even 5 months is still summer, (working on the classic June - August) so it has to be six months to be classed as autumn.

    /gets coat.
    Edited by 1 at 28/03/08 @ 14:39

  • HyperShadow #2 4 years ago

    "I know the actual dates and it's not six months. Let's call it three to six months"

    Eh? He knows the dates, but makes a solid six months a vague time frame? Oh my poor head.

    I thought the last delay was to give the game polish? Does this mean that when it is *eventually* released, it'll have that lovely waxy sheen that early 360 games had a la PDZ and FIFA?

  • Oli Verified Reviews Editor, Eurogamer.net #3 4 years ago

    He means a delay of three to six months from the original release date (probably May or June), not from now.

  • Dizzy #4 4 years ago

    And by "technically" he means "not"

  • TheDudesRug #5 4 years ago

    It certainly looks like it needs polish too; more than six months worth at that. FIngers crossed they will perform miracles.

  • Gl3n #6 4 years ago

    news like this just adds even more confidence for WAR....

  • M83J01P97 #7 4 years ago

    People need to stop commenting on the graphics of WAR not being up to scratch seeing as we haven't actually seen the final game yet...

    The Beta's (there is more than one) use a version of the graphics engine that has been optimised to run on a wide variety of machines and isn't representative of the final system requirements at all.

  • George-Roper #8 4 years ago

    To the above posters 'Beta graphics dont represent....' comment..

    GLOL!

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #9 4 years ago

    Like LOTRO and EVE's graphical engine was as it was in beta?

    Point proven

  • MaxiSleep #10 4 years ago

    "People need to stop commenting on the graphics of WAR not being up to scratch seeing as we haven't actually seen the final game yet...

    The Beta's (there is more than one) use a version of the graphics engine that has been optimised to run on a wide variety of machines and isn't representative of the final system requirements at all."

    I have heard that comment repeated for every launch of quite a few beta mmo's and to date every person who has said it has ended up been dead wrong.

    What matters is not the graphics per se, but the anamation quality and the overall consitancy