Co founder of BioWare Greg Zeschuk did a public Speaking at the DICE summit in Las Vegas yesterday. Here he confessed that World of warcraft has set the standards for any MMORPG. and that the developer’s own offering, Star Wars: The Old Republic, looks to it for “standards”. Furhtermore he doesn’t see SWTOR as a WoW-killer. The players will decide if SWTOR will become a succes: “It is a touchstone,” Zeschuk said of WoW, according to GamesIndustry. “It has established standards, it’s established how you play an MMO: “It is a touchstone,” Zeschuk told the audience. “It has established standards, it’s established how you play an MMO. Every MMO that comes out, I play and look at it. And if they break any of the WoW rules, in my book that’s pretty dumb. If you have established standards, WoW established them.” Zeschuk also admitted that it will be an “interesting challenge” to compete with…
News
EA To Present At Goldman Sachs Technology And Internet Conference
At last weeks conference call, we learned that Star Wars: The old republic needs 500.000 subscribers to be profitable. Apart from that, only small amount of new information came out. Now we get a new chance to gather information about the game, as John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer of Electronic Arts will present at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference on Tuesday, February 15, 2011 in San Francisco. Here is the press release I found in my mail box this morning: Electronic Arts Inc. today announced that John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer, will present at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference on Tuesday, February 15, 2011 in San Francisco, CA. During the course of this event, Electronic Arts may disclose material developments affecting its business and/or financial performance. Listeners may access the presentation via a live audio webcast. Tuesday, February 15, 2010Presentation at 2:40 PM PT / 5:40…
EA: Star Wars: Old Republic can be profitable with 500000 subs
World of Warcraft may have more than 12 million subscribers, but that doesn’t mean Star Wars: The Old Republic needs to surpass or even approach those sorts of numbers in order to be profitable. During a conference call yesterday EA CFO Scott Brown talked about the number of subscribers BioWare’s upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic need to be profitable – and according to his comments on a recent conference call: it’s 500,000. “”At half a million subscribers, the game is substantially profitable, but it’s not the kind of thing we would write home about,” he said. “”Anything north of a million subscribers, it’s a very profitable business.”” Tackling World of Warcraft is certainly a daunting task. Achieving one million subscribers, though? That’s not in any way a given, but it’s most definitely an achievable number for a quality MMO — especially one carrying the Star Wars name. Brown…
SWTOR – The risky investment by EA
World of Warcraft is, without reason of doubt, one of the best successes on the market that, even though it has aged and should have been dead already (in theory only – because game rarely “live” more that 2 years). But WoW is still the leader, the moneymaker, the game that drives so many people crazy – destroys marriages, makes people rich and so on. And it keeps going. A hit MMO like that can be an huge thing for the investors on Wall Street. If a MMORPG has success, it can offer a certain degree of predictable revenue. For example, there’s a certain degree to which World of Warcraft subscription revenues are a sure thing each quarter for Activision Blizzard. Electronic Arts and BioWare are well aware of the stats, and they’re making sure their entrant in the genre is well prepared: EA is spending more money on the…
EA crowned top publisher of 2010
Electronic Arts has been named the leading games publisher for the second year in a row. The firm took the biggest share of the UK games market in 2010 in terms of revenue generated from games and units sold – as it did in 2009. Data from GfK Chart-Track revealed that Activision Blizzard and Nintendo took the second and third biggest share of the market in terms of value, while Ubisoft and Nintendo were the No.2 and No.3 publishers in terms of games sold. 2010 was also a bumper year for Microsoft as Xbox 360 took the biggest console market share. It took 35.2 per cent of the market in terms of value and 28.9 per cent of total retail game sales. To see the full charts and analysis, read the top publishers of 2010 list.
Coruscant? Republic Only!
For all the guys (and girls) who will be fighting for the Empire and who wanted to visit Coruscant – we have bad news for you. Stephen Reid just said: Coruscant will be for Republic only. So will be Dromund for the Empire. Georg Zoeller confirmed that you will be able to respecc within your advanced class. If you can change your AC is not sure yet. It isn’t going to be able to change your class at all.
Fan Friday
As always, the Fan Friday segment contains New Fan Stuff by the Geeks to the Geeks. The most noteworthy portion is the announcement that Star Wars: The Old Republic will be present at PAX East this year. The convention will be held from March 11-13 in Boston, Massachusetts. Other then that you can find tons ofother cool stuff: New Smilies and avatars pics for www.swtor.com. Dont miss the New Studio Insider this month for an in-depth look at the design of the Agent starship and more Community Q&A answers. If you have some talents you wish to share then visit the community forums. Greighson from the SWTOR forum community created Sith-themed propaganda. Another member named Crypticgrrl detailed close-up portraits. They look really awesome. There are Some really nice Fan Fic work. The story’s called Final Ex a member named Kharnis. If I finish any of my Star Wars stories then…
EA CEO Claims Cloud Gaming Is Not The Future
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitello has announced that he thinks cloud-gaming is not necessarily the future, and that games issued on disc are still the best way for consumers to enjoy gaming. In an interview with Industry Gamers, Riccitello claimed that discs will be around for a long time to come as they are still the most practical and reliable way of accessing games quickly. “I think the consumer…doesn’t care what the technology is, what lives behind the veiled curtain; they just want it to work,” Riccitello said. He explained that streaming a game is often not the most efficient way of processing the experience. He pointed out that relying on an internet connection means that users would be unable to access games if their broadband was down and that there are lag issues with slower connections. “The point, though, that I’m making is that sometimes you’re not going to…
MMO: Heaven or Hell?
I can’t wait anymore! So close and it driving me crazy, I really love reading everyone’s opinion or predictions of what might happen but it’s 2011, YAY! Two years of being in aggravating pain in anticipation for the ultimate game of the next decade or this decade now. If SWTOR doesn’t release soon I’ll harakiri myself with bothan stunner. OK, that’s off my chest, I’m ready for my review now 🙂 Will Star Wars: The Old Republic it be the greatest game everyone is waiting for? Yes! I want it to. No surprise there, but if it doesn’t go well all hell will break loose and I mean that literally I will grab my plastic lightsaber and start seeing everyone else Bantha Fodder. But of coarse if it does go well you won’t see any mmo lovers or Star Wars enthusiast (which are almost the same category with a few…
Buy Cheap Star Wars: The Old Republic Credits… WTF?
Here is something strange. There is still a few month until Star Wars: The old republic will be released, but already the gold-sellers are setting up there shops ( and spamming my inbox). This morning I got a mail about Swtorcreditsale.com selling 1000 credits for only 10$ – what a bargain! They also have a professional Star Wars The Old Republic items Online store, that provide us with a wide range of SWTOR items. I’m sure there will be plenty of gamers willing bankroll their way to a uber character, but do we know anything about the games currency system yet? Do we have imperial and republic credits? Will Nal Hutta and Nar Shaddaa have it’s own money? Who knows One thing is for sure, gold sellers starting up early means that they have high expectations of the game to. Is this a good or a bad thing? PS. This is not a…
SWTOR voted Most Anticipated MMORPG for 2011/2012 by Massively’s readers
Massively have released the Player’s Choice poll results for both 2010 and the entire last decade in MMOs. Not surprisingly the most anticipated mmorpg for 2011/2012 is Star Wars: The old republic in a close race with Guild wars 2. Source More surprisingly we see Star Trek online voted the best launch, best crafting, best pvp, best capacity for Role playing in a 2010 MMO and best overall new mmo of 2010. Source I’m not usually critical, but I have a REALLY hard time believing that STO is deserving of such positions in poll results. PvP and “Surprise Hit”? The best crafting in a 2010 MMO is handing mats to an NPC to buy the crafted item? It was also really surprising that Blizzard was voted both the best and almost the worst MMO studio of the decade: Source Source Blizzard may be many things, but they’re not the worst MMO Studio of the Decade. The results ended up like this:…
Friday update: Dev Blog Discusses Cinematic Design
For its final Friday update of the year, BioWare has posted a blog entry by Lead Cinematic Designer Paul Marino that explains how a scene is designed and directed in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Here’s his explanation of what his team does for the game: “To put it simply, Cinematic Design is using cinematic presentation to facilitate narrative and gameplay, and heighten emotional involvement. By the use of a directed camera, we’re able to make the story real to the player, allowing them to get involved with the characters and make meaningful choices.” Marino’s job as cinematic designer is to direct the game’s cutscenes, allowing the game’s writing and characters to shine. To see how well the developers have injected some humor and atmosphere into run-of-the-mill quests, have a look at these two videos, recently released on The Old Republic‘s blog:
Friday update: Trooper’s Unstoppable Force
This friday sends love to the Trooper. Ready as always the Troopers are willing to put the Sith on their @$$. The Trooper’s Advance Classes will allow you to cause massive damage as Vanguard or Commando. Play as the Defensive Vanguard, nothing will move these soldiers back, they will throw everything on the line to keep their position from the enemy. Or as the Crazy Commando, The Sith will run from the very sight as this Tank will mow down their defenses. Either way you can’t go wrong. See more details about the Explosive Ex-Military Tanno Vik, how Zabraks are known for their loyalty to the Republic, and how each Trooper are given a high-powered Rendili Hyperworks BT-7 Thunderclap, a heavily-armored starship powerhouse upgraded with state-of-the-art tech requisitioned by Republic Special Forces. If you don’t believe me, watch the Trooper video again. You can now read all about the…
Holiday Sale on KOTOR
Hey Star Wars Fans, do I got great news for you. http://Store.steampowered.com/app/32370/ is selling Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for 4.99 that’s 50% off. That is a great deal for all of you that spent 20 to 30 dollars on the X-Box version recently or if you had to spend 40 bucks on the Star Wars Pak. Except for the pak there is no hard copy of KOTOR for the PC anymore but I’m assuming it’s a holiday special price. ( It’s on Amazon though) I never really played the PC Version but I hear with the DC you get to were your old robes, probably not the best fighting wear but it is still awesome to run around the Jedi Academy looking like Darth Revan. I love the KOTOR games always making difficult decisions on what to slay next, well unless you liked being on the light…
BioWare Doctors To Become AIAS Hall Of Famers
The Founders of Bio Ware, Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk, are to be included in the AIAS Hall of Fame (The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences) which sounds like an awesome way to be praised. The two are worthy of this awesome achievement, for they accomplished so much in the past 14 years. BioWare has shot out impressive game titles the equal the level of baddest @$$ RPG’s. They will be presented the award on the 10th of February, 2010 in one of the brightest city in the world or possibly the Brightest, Las Vegas. This will be held at the D.I.C.E. Summit (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) which basically translates to a gathering of gamers, a Convention, or An Emmy for the truly gifted. While a gamer is earning Achievements on his or her Xbox 360 while Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk and others like…
New Bioware community team member: David Bass
Biowares Community manager Stephen Reid announced on his twitter that David Bass is the new Senior Community Coordinator for the SW:TOR team: Today’s been busy, partly because I’ve been getting a new employee up to speed on a few things… If you run a #SWTOR fansite or head up a guild (of a reasonable size!) then you should totally follow this guy as he’s working for you! Without further ado welcome aboard to the #SWTOR crew to @doctordake – follow him, guilds and fansites! 🙂 Welcome to the community David!
EA: Old Republic will have ten-year lifespan
Speaking at the UBS Annual Media and Communications Conference in New York, EA CFO Eric Brown confirmed that SWTOR will use the monthly subscription business model. He also predicted a ten-year lifespan for the game: “Our assumptions for break-even and profitability are not seven-digit subscribers. We think we can run and operate a very successful and profitable MMO at different levels… The key thing here is to really perfect the product. We’re shooting for an extremely high quality game experience. We view this as a ten-year opportunity.” It was also mentioned that SWTOR “…will generate revenue through monthly subscriptions” With such a highly anticipated title on their hands, it is very surprising to hear EA more or less undercut their projections. Obviously not wanting to fail under the feet of the World of Warcraft juggernaut, the publisher thought it better to keep their sales projections reasonable and instead hope the…
Friday Update: Goodbye old Wizard… Hello Sage
The Jedi Wizard has officially been renamed. Here’s the official news: A few weeks ago, we asked the community to help us rename the Jedi Wizard advanced class. Thousands of votes and many posts full of lively debate later, the polls have closed, and we have a clear winner! Without further ado: The new name for the Jedi Wizard is… Jedi Sage! Thanks to everyone who participated in the voting process. Your feedback is always important to us, so please join us on the forums and let us know what you think about the game. – The Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ team For anyone who’s been following the official poll(s) (even if just looking at them once since they were posted) it shouldn’t come as a surprise that “Jedi Sage” came out the winner. Even so I’m glad that we’re rid of the “Wizard” name and will enjoy playing…
GameStar Magazine – skeptical about SWTOR – Stephen Reid Addresses
German Fansite We Don’t Serve Droids Took the time to do a translation of German GameStar Magazine Latest Star Wars the old republic article (GameStar XL (01/2011) and GameStar MMO Magazin (Dez 2010)) You can read the full transcript here The first article written by Petra Schmitz is the more skeptical one. They are actually two articles grouped in one big preview about SWTOR. In the first part she predicts that SWTOR will have big financial difficulties, because of the big money invested, and the needed number of players over certain time just to return the investment – the whole thing looks impossible to achieve. But I’m not worried about that part. The most important second part of the interview had some good and bad news about the game Quests According to them the story is great, the dialogs too due to the voice-over and the cinematic experience. Although they…
The Old Republic Release Date Update
Star Wars: The Old Republic won’t be arriving until sometime in EA’s 2012 fiscal year according to a recent report from Gamasutra. According to the report, EA CFO Eric Brown went on the record for the first time about the targeted release timeframe for SWTOR at the Credit Suisse 2010 Technology Conference. The initial targeted release was set to be spring of 2011 according to a post made in January by former SWTOR CM Sean “Ashen Temper” Dahlberg. EA’s 2012 fiscal year starts in April of 2011: “While we have not announced a specific date, we can confirm that we are targeting a spring 2011 release for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.” Spring of 2011 does fall within EA‘s 2012 fiscal year, if at only the beginning of it. As always, we’ll keep you updated as we hear more.
Bioware sends out another wave of beta invites in the form of a survey
Several Users from the SWTOR Forums got the following Message via Mail Here is the official Statement from the swtor crew: Some of you may have received an email from Magid, regarding a survey concerning Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. As there has been some confusion, we wanted to let everyone know that it is indeed valid. We are partnered with a third-party agency, Magid, to conduct some focused playtests for TOR. These are part of our ongoing Game Testing Program. As part of that testing, a number of emails were sent to registered community members like you who’d opted in for game testing. What to do now? If you were sent an email and haven’t clicked through to the survey yet, well, go ahead and click. If you haven’t been emailed, don’t bother asking someone else to share; the surveys are individually linked to email addresses. If you are…
New SWTOR Community Manager: Stephen Reid
Back in September we reported that former community manager Sean “AshenTemper” Dahlberg departed Bioware to join UTV True Game’s Faxion. Until now duties have been filled by other community representatives like Joanne Laroche and Alyson Bridge. Yesterday we learned who would be taking the place after Mr. Dahlberg as Community Manager, and this is no other then Stephen “Rockjaw” Reid. Hi. My name’s Stephen Reid, and I’m your new Community Manager. Like probably all of you, I’ve been a Star Wars™ fan for almost my entire life – starting with the original Star Wars in 1977. When that Star Destroyer came thundering into frame, the unforgettable John Williams’ score blasting out in futuristic Dolby Stereo… well my 5-year-old mind was well and truly blown. Fast forward to 1999, and I made a pilgrimage to Portland, Oregon (of all places) to see The Phantom Menace on opening night – midnight showing, natch. When Darth…
EA and LucasArts Enter Into New Global Publishing Agreement for Star Wars: The Old Republic
In what amounts to a bit of publisher houscleaning, Electronic Arts has announced that it has entered into a new agreement with LucasArts that basically has EA taking over most of the publishing and marketing duties for the upcoming MMO Star Wars The Old Republic. Under the new agreement, LucasArts will continue to collaborate with EA and the game’s developer BioWare on the “design and marketing” for the game in addition to LucasArts’ basic role as the licensor of the Star Wars property itself. Financial terms of this new deal were not disclosed. BioWare and LucasArts first entered into an agreement to collaborate on Star Wars The Old Republic back in 2007 before the game itself was announced and just before BioWare was acquired by EA. The game itself was announced in October 2008. EA and Lucasfilm Ltd, announced today an updated global publishing agreement for the highly anticipated massively multiplayer…
EA Winter Showcase Update: Crafting Revealed
Gamespot is present at this years EA Winter Showcase in England. Earlier this morning they published an interview with Blaine Christine and Gabe Amatangelo from Bioware about crafting, collecting and PVP. Here is a snip of the crafting part: The crafting and collecting, for starters, is designed to fit the player’s experience in a way that is credible in relation to fiction. As Christine puts it, more or less, it does not make sense for a badass Darth Vader-like Sith skin WOMP rats in a new pair of boots in between conquering worlds. And yes, the coherent fictional basis for the low, the crew skills system. “You are the hero,” says Christine. “You make your crew work for you.” The crew consists of companion characters work as you play with your spaceship as their base of operations. From the ship, your comrades sent to collect materials and commanded to crafts while you go…