E308: John Smedley on Star Wars Galaxies, reconnecting with players
by Michael Zenke 
Jul 16th 2008 at 8:45AM
Filed under: Sci-fi, New titles, Star Wars Galaxies, Massively Interviews, Massively Event Coverage
Our lengthy discussion with John Smedley yesterday focused primarily on Free Realms and the possibilities in SOE's future. We also chatted briefly about the newest surprise from the company - a collaboration between the Austin and Denver studios called Champions of the Force. Here Mr. Smedley discusses his view on the TCG, Star Wars Galaxies in general, and how reconnecting with the playerbase is really great for the company.It seems as though the reaction impression from a lot of SWG players is that it's surprising that the company put all these new assets and resources into the game.
I think people have the wrong impression about Star Wars Galaxies. We still have a very active live team. We have a bunch of new content just out, and a bunch of new content in the pipe. Have they talked to you about what's coming? Vehicles in battles on Hoth? It's amazing. It is expansion-pack level content, and it's going to be included for free as part of the release. We could have done a straight-up expansion pack but we decided not to do it that way because of the history with the game and expansions. We want to focus on the content. I think it's a really good game now. We think the content is there, the polish is way up.
The lesson we've learned from Galaxies is, "take the time." We haven't released an MMO of our own in three years. We helped out with Pirates of the Burning Sea obviously ... looking around the room, I think you can see the level of polish we're reaching for. We've taken this up about five notches. You learn your lessons in life ... what I'm happy is that we're still making games, having a good time doing it. There has been some downsizing in our industry of late. We've been kind of on the upswing, it's a good time in the company right now. We've even got some unannounced projects that you folks haven't had the chance to hear about yet.
That seems like it has an obvious connection with Living Legacy. There's an element across the company that we don't think has really been played up. You're essentially letting anyone that's ever held an SOE account get back into their game this summer?
Yup!
Where did the inspiration for that come from?
One of our strongest assets is that we've been around for so long. So many people have played our games that there is a lot of nostalgia surrounding them. EverQuest, EQ2 ... EQ has a huge number of folks who look back at that game fondly, and I've been shocked by the number of people who are jumping back in to try out the game. There are a lot of games to play this summer, a lot of MMOs, and we're trying to make sure people keep us in mind. We've got feature titles coming, and so it's a good time to touch base with our players.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Severius Darkbane said on 10:48AM 7-16-2008
Living Legacy, more like come play our games for free so we can show our stock holders that we are still relevent. Funny thing is, not even making their games free for any amount of time is enough to get me to install their trash on my pc again. Not after the NGE. Screw me once, shame on you. Screw me twice, shame on me.
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Sithe said on 12:54PM 7-16-2008
It's amazing to me that Smedley still has a job in this industry. He has ruined a game based on one of the strongest IP's in commercial history, yet continues forward like the sleazy used car salesman he is.
Smedley. The name is a joke among video game players across the globe.
Seriously, SOE was given a gold mine. Millions of American children grew up primed for a Star Wars mmo, playing with action figures, running around with toy lightsabers and blasters. And when the oppurtunity arose for those millions of hours of childhood fantasy to come to life in a virtual world, not once, but twice, Smedley tells us that "the customers do not know what they want from a Star Wars mmo".
Every mmo I play I run across a loud, resopunding agreement with these opinions. It's the easy way to break the ice with a new group, getting people to talk about how bad SWG is and how Smedley ruined it.
Hopefully, the rumored KOTOR mmo will see light, and it will be hugely successful. The IP is still strong, and fewer things would bring such a quick smile to my face than to see millions of Star Wars fans playing in a REAL mmo.
That, and the sudden, overdue announcement that SOE has fired Smedley.
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argo747 said on 2:03PM 7-16-2008
A lot of pre-NGE players of SWG hold John as responsible for many of the problems that the game has had over the years. He has a habit of talking up how great the game is and then pulling the rug out from under the player base. Gamers should take what he says with a grain of salt IMHO.
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Mr Angry said on 8:19PM 7-16-2008
Me too John, sorry.
Fix what you screwed up, give the players what they wanted and then we'll talk moving forward, but until then, SWG is the best maintained MMO graveyard (with houses for tombstones) in the industry.
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Starbuck1771 said on 4:06PM 7-17-2008
John you can pass all the false statments in the world. It will change nothing. The fact is you have ignored the SWG community for some time now and you continue to screw over the players. I stood up for you a couple of years ago but I will not do it this time.
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JD said on 4:08PM 7-17-2008
John just fix what you broke that is the only way your PR nightmare is going to end.
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Jestor Rodo said on 7:33AM 8-11-2008
John should be fired...from a cannon.
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Markonus said on 7:19PM 8-12-2008
Smed isnt a major part of SWG development anymore (thank god), and as a result, things are defo on the upswing, loads of new content has, and is, in the pipe for SWG, that much is true, but we didnt need to hear that from him, lets just hope he runs off to ruin another mmo, and leave SWG to build a proper future for itself, now that most of the NGE mess has been swept away.
Markonus said on 7:21PM 8-12-2008
Smed isnt a major part of SWG development anymore (thank god), and as
a result, things are defo on the upswing, loads of new content has,
and is, in the pipe for SWG, that much is true, but we didnt need to
hear that from him, lets just hope he runs off to ruin another mmo,
and leave SWG to build a proper future for itself, now that most of
the NGE mess has been swept away
Reply