Would anyone really be surprised to hear that SWTOR shut down Star Wars Galaxies? I mean it’s been the obvious choice for why SWG announced its December shutdown recently. It doesn’t make sense to have two Star Wars MMOs competing with one another. But SWG fans proposed the idea could work and requested SWG be kept alive. Their requests were denied.
Now, the reason for the closure of SWG has been officially explained. CEO of Sony Online Entertainment John Smedley spilled the beans with The Escapist on why they are closing the game.
“That’s the problem with licenses: they end,” Smedley said. When the game was first launched in 2001, the license was secured for five years, and had to be renegotiated multiple times over the years. “It was time to turn it off. We have a contractual relationship that’s ending in 2012,” Smedley added.
He goes on to discuss the topic of renegotiation of the contract and adds that he doesn’t think that would be the right thing for the company. He references the odds of more people playing TOR or moving from SWG to TOR and basically says that it doesn’t make sense to keep SWG up.
The company is planning a “galaxy-ending” event for SWG before the end date which is scheduled for December 15th. Full details on this have not been released yet.
So there you have it. SWG’s reign has officially come to an end and it seems TOR is a leading cause in the decision to shut down the MMO. Is anyone really that surprised to hear this news, though?