Will SWTOR be bigger than WoW? LucasArts thinks so
by Shawn Schuster 
Oct 24th 2008 at 2:30PM
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Business models, Culture, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic
According to a recent interview with videogaming247, BioWare's newly announced MMO has very high expectations. Both Nichols and Gibeau seem very confident in the power of the Star Wars brand to take the game higher than any other MMO has gone before. "This is going to be a powerful category and there's lots of ways to compete in this category," Gibeau stated. "[Blizzard] created a much larger opportunity for everybody else, but that doesn't mean it's going to stay that way."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Iconic said on 2:51PM 10-24-2008
I think the Star Wars brand only goes so far, as evidenced by Star Wars: Galaxies.
The game would actually be a much more interesting proposition if I knew that Lucasarts was going to be nowhere near the development of it.
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Mike said on 2:58PM 10-24-2008
Keep in mind, the NGE was not a Sony decision. Hence why it tanked like it did.
I'd have to agree with Lucasarts in that I believe that StarWars is the only franchise that could possibly compete with Warcraft, but like you said, Lucasarts need to let the developers do their job and develop the game. If they try to step in and say "Well, this is what we really wanted" and win that battle, Warcraft will forever dominate.
LA needs to keep hush this time, and not say a god damned word.
LaughingTarget said on 3:58PM 10-24-2008
SWG tanked before NGE was proposed. Sure, old SWG players didn't like it, but the reason NGE was implemented was precisely because SWG was doing so poorly. SWG was built on a poor foundation and catered to a crowd that existed as a minimalistic portion of the market. It attempted to bring the EverQuest philosophy of heavy grind to a market where the monopoly on the concept (EQ) was only able to draw 250k subscribers at its peak. That 250k pie was too far chopped up between EQ, AO, DAoC and AC for there to have been any room for the original SWG concept.
The NGE change could have solved the dilemma had that been the original launch product. However, SWG was long since irrelevant at that point for it to have mattered. NGE is a vastly superior product where the mass market is concerned.
Jack said on 5:20PM 10-24-2008
"I believe that StarWars is the only franchise that could possibly compete with Warcraft"
I think Star trek online got a much bigger change if you just look to the franchise with 100000s Trekkie around the world!
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Wjowski said on 8:00PM 10-24-2008
That and the fact that it's not hobbled by the twin anchors of failure that are EA and LucasArts.
Tasogare said on 5:00PM 10-25-2008
Have you seen EA's recent releases? They're definitly on the rebound. As for Lucas Arts, I can't remember the last good game they were associated with. And I have full faith in Bioware's storytelling ability, as that is top notch, but I really don't think they're very good at making games. We'll see about this one.
Reader said on 7:48PM 10-24-2008
Only if they lame the game down enough. Make it a theme park and you're set.
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Bob said on 5:01AM 10-31-2008
Correction:
SW:TOR won't compete with WoW.
SW:TOR will compete with Blizzards next gen mmo.
When that is said, I have great belief in SW:TOR being the best mmo to be released aside from what Blizzard makes. But I have a hard time seing how WoW raiding will get beaten by any game. Although it has a few flaws, and allways will. It does make people addicted :)
Mass Effect is the best single player game since... well Baldurs Gate however :)
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Sarem said on 11:32AM 10-28-2008
ALL SPACE MMOS FAIL since the DND mechanic doesnt work for futuristic business. theres no "tanks" in space. Prepare for the smallest mmo experience ever based on limited universe potential.
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Leminnes said on 12:05PM 10-28-2008
I'm sorry but
Star Wars + Knights of the Old Republic + Bio Ware > Blizzard + Warcraft
Any day of the week. I play WoW and love it, but when this game comes out, I am immediately moving.
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CN said on 1:08PM 10-28-2008
Well, EA said the same thing about Warhammer for 2 years... And Lucas has done enough damage himself to make some hardcore fans shy away from anything SW related.
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Lemons said on 2:49PM 10-28-2008
Wow, he's talking smack before he's even got that game done! I, personally, don't think that this new Star Wars MMO is going to be a wow killer by any stretch of the imagination.
The swords and sorcery of WoW is much more accessible to the common gamer than Star Wars, especially the expanded universe type crap.
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