so i guess we can look to obsidian to make the expansions for kotor online? since bioware GAVE UP the IP rights to kotor when it broke with LEC. they were given to another company ... anyone see anything saying that the kotor IP has since changed hands to something bioware or EA now own?
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
I thought someone posted something about BioWare still holding the rights for KOTOR 3 in single player form. I'm not sure though.
As for SOE holding the rights to Star Wars based MMOs, I believe that expires in 2009 based on game performance. It's also unclear if it's ALL Star Wars MMOs or just the Galactic Civil War era.
so i guess we can look to obsidian to make the expansions for kotor online? since bioware GAVE UP the IP rights to kotor when it broke with LEC. they were given to another company ... anyone see anything saying that the kotor IP has since changed hands to something bioware or EA now own?
Nope and thats the point all this KOTOR stuff is all PURE speculation there is nothing anywhere that BioWare owns the KOTOR IP and that Obsidian gave it up and in so doing gave EA the rights to a KOTOR game. In any case EA wouldnt be able to have those rights because LA still has full publishing power of any game produced under the name Star Wars unless they were not smart enough to read the full contract they would have signed or produced themselves and judging from Lucas's track record they aren't that dim witted.
I thought someone posted something about BioWare still holding the rights for KOTOR 3 in single player form. I'm not sure though.
hmm I'd like to see if thats true, that would be interesting, but then again would such a said contract be void if they went to another publisher or were bought out? I doubt in capitalism LA would be so narrow minded to leave a clause out of a contract incase something like the EA/BioWare thing happened.
soe already said there was going to be a second star wars galaxies. swg2 look it up in interviews. soe ALSO has the rights reserved to ALL star wars mmos meaning if any star wars mmos were published itd have to be through them.
i wouldnt doubt it at all if bioware were the ones developing the new star wars mmo (kotor online anyone?)
You have officially won "Post on the Internet With The Least Truth" since people believed that Bonsai Cats were for sale.
p.s. No one...ever...has held the rights to Star Wars but Lucas. They have [i]licensed games[/i] but that doesn't give away, sell, or in any other way compromise their ownership of the license.
...really? Do you have a copy of SOE's contract with lucasarts? Because it would be the first developer in history who obtained sole rights to the intellectual property of the developer... And as to this whole "competition" thing... If there's 500,000 Star Wars MMO players in the world...what the hell does LucasArts care if 250,000 are playing KOTOR online and 250,000 are playing SWG??? They make the SAME MONEY. In fact, if anything, by having two products published they have a better chance of increasing that total player number. Most importantly though, for all of this...if anyone thinks that Bioware is going to develop a game that EA isn't going to publish they're insane. If anyone things LucasArts is going to let EA publish a Bioware developed SW MMO...they're equally crazy.
If there are 500K Star Wars MMO players split between two seperate Star Wars MMOs, that means LEC has twice the costs to maintain both games. In reality, SWG has nowhere near 250K players, nor will it even reach half that number again (probably not even a third). The thing in the favor of keeping SWG alive if the Bioware rumor turns out to be true, is that all the costs are already sunk into SWG, and LEC can allow SOE to keep the servers open with little to no development. As long as the costs of keeping the servers online is less than the revenue generated by the game, SWG can continue to limp along in perpetuity.
As for EA publishing Bioware's MMO, that wouldn't necessarily be the case. EA is buying Bioware and all of Bioware's existing contracts. If Bioware has already signed a publishing deal with a non-EA company, EAwill have to honor the contract, or buy the contract out.
soe already said there was going to be a second star wars galaxies. swg2 look it up in interviews. soe ALSO has the rights reserved to ALL star wars mmos meaning if any star wars mmos were published itd have to be through them.
i wouldnt doubt it at all if bioware were the ones developing the new star wars mmo (kotor online anyone?)
You have officially won "Post on the Internet With The Least Truth" since people believed that Bonsai Cats were for sale.
p.s. No one...ever...has held the rights to Star Wars but Lucas. They have [i]licensed games[/i] but that doesn't give away, sell, or in any other way compromise their ownership of the license.
Considering the disaster that SWG turned into, the folks at LEC would be insane to let SOE anywhere near another Star Wars MMO. The main thing I don't understand about the whole 'SOE would be the publisher' train of thought is that SOE isn't the publisher of the current Star Wars MMO, LucasArts is.
Hell, the one good thing about EA buying Bioware, is that it pretty well eliminates the possibility of SOE having anything to do with Bioware's MMO, regardless of the IP.
As for EA publishing Bioware's MMO, that wouldn't necessarily be the case. EA is buying Bioware and all of Bioware's existing contracts. If Bioware has already signed a publishing deal with a non-EA company, EAwill have to honor the contract, or buy the contract out.
Is this shown some where that EA is going to honor or buy all contracts because that would be interesting.
Hell, the one good thing about EA buying Bioware, is that it pretty well eliminates the possibility of SOE having anything to do with Bioware's MMO, regardless of the IP.
LOL I agree totally. the only game I might try that SOE has coming out in the future is The Agency and even then I really dont want to give them another dime.
Food for thought about some random points made in this thread by various people.
Kotor made by Bioware. Kotor II made by obsidian. Why is it so hard to believe that Lucas arts would not allow to different companies to make star wars MMOs. Edit: if you were Lucas Arts would you back SOE for a sequel or wait out the contract and hire another company?
It is very very unlikely that SOE has a no compete clause in their SWG that lasts forever. 5 years sounds very reasonable. Maybe there are conditions for a sequel if they meet certain benchmarks, but I don't think that is a reality to be seen any time soon.
Someone stated why would EA make a game they would only get box sales from. I am certain that SOE sees a share of the subscriptions from SWG and so would any company making a sequel. Otherwise they wouldn't continue to code the game or continue to support it? It isn't like MMOs end once they launch.
Someone else said why would EA want to make a game they would only get half of the revenue from. Consider this, what company wouldn't like 50% of what blizzard makes a month? Even 10%?
Edit: I take no stance on what game Bioware is making. It is all just rumor right now as far as I am concerned.
Someone else said why would EA want to make a game they would only get half of the revenue from. Consider this, what company wouldn't like 50% of what blizzard makes a month? Even 10%?
If I'm correct I believe Blizzard both made and published WoW so there were no split revenues to begin with, I'm currently double checking I'm right atm.
*Edit* yep I'm right, Blizzard didn't have to split money with anyone they are raking in the money all by themselves.
Originally posted by Daffid011 Kotor made by Bioware. Kotor II made by obsidian. Why is it so hard to believe that Lucas arts would not allow to different companies to make star wars MMOs. Edit: if you were Lucas Arts would you back SOE for a sequel or wait out the contract and hire another company?
Also EA is a competitor for LA so unless EA upon buying out BioWare to add to their Developing center specifically said that they would honor all current contracts BioWare had LA would not allow EA to co-publish a SW IP. At least not in good business sense. And since BioWare now belongs to EA, and would be using EA resources to make an MMO you can almost with certainty bet that they aren't going to Co-Publish either. BUT of course I have no hard facts I'm just going off of what I know of business.
Someone else said why would EA want to make a game they would only get half of the revenue from. Consider this, what company wouldn't like 50% of what blizzard makes a month? Even 10%?
If I'm correct I believe Blizzard both made and published WoW so there were no split revenues to begin with, I'm currently double checking I'm right atm.
*Edit* yep I'm right, Blizzard didn't have to split money with anyone they are raking in the money all by themselves.
And now that I think about it. It would seem more sensible to me that, that is exactly why EA bought up BioWare, NOT to share with LA (which they wouldnt do anyways) but to monopolize their future MMO and rake in the earnings without splitting it up with a publish and developer.....*
*that is complete speculation and I have no basis for it! but as detective Folly said call it a hunch.
Someone else said why would EA want to make a game they would only get half of the revenue from. Consider this, what company wouldn't like 50% of what blizzard makes a month? Even 10%?
If I'm correct I believe Blizzard both made and published WoW so there were no split revenues to begin with, I'm currently double checking I'm right atm.
*Edit* yep I'm right, Blizzard didn't have to split money with anyone they are raking in the money all by themselves.
And now that I think about it. It would seem more sensible to me that, that is exactly why EA bought up BioWare, NOT to share with LA (which they wouldnt do anyways) but to monopolize their future MMO and rake in the earnings without splitting it up with a publish and developer.....*
*that is complete speculation and I have no basis for it! but as detective Folly said call it a hunch.
1) World of Warcraft was published by Blizzard's parent company Vivendi Universal. Blizzard has never self-published any of its games in the traditional sense. Technicality I know.
2) Your next paragraph makes no sense. EA can't not share with LA on a Star Wars game. And if the game isn't a Star Wars IP, then there was never any threat of EA or Bioware having anything to do with LA. As long as the IP is owned by a third party EA HAS to maintain or renegotiate a contract to use the IP...they can't publish a game without the permission of the IP owner. So EA can't monopolize anything unless the IP is one wholly owned by Bioware/Pandemic. See where I'm going?
Originally posted by Vincenz
p.s. No one...ever...has held the rights to Star Wars but Lucas. They have [i]licensed games[/i] but that doesn't give away, sell, or in any other way compromise their ownership of the license.
Don't try and fool us with your facts.
For the original purpose of the thread... Do I think a KotOR MMO would make LA shutdown SWG? Absolutely not. I have never doubted LucasArts or Sony Online Entertainment's ability to milk something for every cent it's worth. As long as a passable number of people stay subscribed they aren't going to suddenly shut it down. And I doubt there's any hard feelings at SOE over this...I would be surprised if they ever wanted to work with LA again.
Someone else said why would EA want to make a game they would only get half of the revenue from. Consider this, what company wouldn't like 50% of what blizzard makes a month? Even 10%?
If I'm correct I believe Blizzard both made and published WoW so there were no split revenues to begin with, I'm currently double checking I'm right atm.
*Edit* yep I'm right, Blizzard didn't have to split money with anyone they are raking in the money all by themselves.
And now that I think about it. It would seem more sensible to me that, that is exactly why EA bought up BioWare, NOT to share with LA (which they wouldnt do anyways) but to monopolize their future MMO and rake in the earnings without splitting it up with a publish and developer.....*
*that is complete speculation and I have no basis for it! but as detective Folly said call it a hunch.
1) World of Warcraft was published by Blizzard's parent company Vivendi Universal. Blizzard has never self-published any of its games in the traditional sense. Technicality I know.
2) Your next paragraph makes no sense. EA can't not share with LA on a Star Wars game. And if the game isn't a Star Wars IP, then there was never any threat of EA or Bioware having anything to do with LA. As long as the IP is owned by a third party EA HAS to maintain or renegotiate a contract to use the IP...they can't publish a game without the permission of the IP owner. So EA can't monopolize anything unless the IP is one wholly owned by Bioware/Pandemic. See where I'm going?
Originally posted by Vincenz
p.s. No one...ever...has held the rights to Star Wars but Lucas. They have [i]licensed games[/i] but that doesn't give away, sell, or in any other way compromise their ownership of the license.
Don't try and fool us with your facts.
For the original purpose of the thread... Do I think a KotOR MMO would make LA shutdown SWG? Absolutely not. I have never doubted LucasArts or Sony Online Entertainment's ability to milk something for every cent it's worth. As long as a passable number of people stay subscribed they aren't going to suddenly shut it down. And I doubt there's any hard feelings at SOE over this...I would be surprised if they ever wanted to work with LA again.
Vivendi Universal is mentioned NO where on the WoW site and every other site has Blizzard as publisher and producer and I am going by multiple reputable sites so if you know of another one that shows VU as publisher let me know. and "Don't try to fool us with your FACTS?" WHAT is that? thats like telling a scientist that the sun revolves around us. get over yourself and look at the FACTS and quit denying them. All evidence points towards a NON SW IP MMO produced and published by EA not LA. do I have hard facts backing me up? no. but my facts are better than your facts. and yes you got my point on my second paragraph dont know why you had to point it out again unless you werent actually READING IT. but nice try. NEXT!
P.S. SOE was the producer with SWG and so I believe if they screwed it up (which they did) LA has full rights to take back and suddenly stop publishing said game SOE is the one to be blamed not LA.
Someone else said why would EA want to make a game they would only get half of the revenue from. Consider this, what company wouldn't like 50% of what blizzard makes a month? Even 10%?
If I'm correct I believe Blizzard both made and published WoW so there were no split revenues to begin with, I'm currently double checking I'm right atm.
*Edit* yep I'm right, Blizzard didn't have to split money with anyone they are raking in the money all by themselves.
And now that I think about it. It would seem more sensible to me that, that is exactly why EA bought up BioWare, NOT to share with LA (which they wouldnt do anyways) but to monopolize their future MMO and rake in the earnings without splitting it up with a publish and developer.....*
*that is complete speculation and I have no basis for it! but as detective Folly said call it a hunch.
1) World of Warcraft was published by Blizzard's parent company Vivendi Universal. Blizzard has never self-published any of its games in the traditional sense. Technicality I know.
2) Your next paragraph makes no sense. EA can't not share with LA on a Star Wars game. And if the game isn't a Star Wars IP, then there was never any threat of EA or Bioware having anything to do with LA. As long as the IP is owned by a third party EA HAS to maintain or renegotiate a contract to use the IP...they can't publish a game without the permission of the IP owner. So EA can't monopolize anything unless the IP is one wholly owned by Bioware/Pandemic. See where I'm going?
Originally posted by Vincenz
p.s. No one...ever...has held the rights to Star Wars but Lucas. They have [i]licensed games[/i] but that doesn't give away, sell, or in any other way compromise their ownership of the license.
Don't try and fool us with your facts.
For the original purpose of the thread... Do I think a KotOR MMO would make LA shutdown SWG? Absolutely not. I have never doubted LucasArts or Sony Online Entertainment's ability to milk something for every cent it's worth. As long as a passable number of people stay subscribed they aren't going to suddenly shut it down. And I doubt there's any hard feelings at SOE over this...I would be surprised if they ever wanted to work with LA again.
Vivendi Universal is mentioned NO where on the WoW site and every other site has Blizzard as publisher and producer and I am going by multiple reputable sites so if you know of another one that shows VU as publisher let me know. and "Don't try to fool us with your FACTS?" WHAT is that? thats like telling a scientist that the sun revolves around us. get over yourself and look at the FACTS and quit denying them. All evidence points towards a NON SW IP MMO produced and published by EA not LA. do I have hard facts backing me up? no. but my facts are better than your facts. and yes you got my point on my second paragraph dont know why you had to point it out again unless you werent actually READING IT. but nice try. NEXT!
I can't believe I'm actually going to debate you on this...
1) World of Warcraft was published by Vivendi Universal Blizzard's parent company. Blizzard is a developer, not a publisher and at various times Sierra Entertainment, Interplay, and Vivendi have all published Blizzard games. Again, like I said it's a technicality and one that most people and companies don't distinguish. And it wasn't even really relevant to your point anyway.
2) The "Don't try to fool us with your facts" comment was said sarcastically because "No one...ever...has held the rights to Star Wars but Lucas. They have licensed games but that doesn't give away, sell, or in any other way compromise their ownership of the license." is pretty much the only factual statement in the entire thread.
3) Your second paragraph still makes no sense. If the IP is owned by a third party, EA can't "monopolize" anything by buying up Bioware.
4) No facts point to anything. The only thing factual is that Bioware licensed the HeroEngine to make their MMO. And the evidence points to it being a 3rd party IP based on EA's disclosure of what IPs they will now own as a result of the deal. So saying "all evidence points towards a NON SW IP MMO produced and published by EA not LA" is kind of ridiculous.
5) You have no facts but your facts are better than my facts...ok, thanks for that one.
Originally posted by Korusus I can't believe I'm actually going to debate you on this...
1) World of Warcraft was published by Vivendi Universal Blizzard's parent company. Blizzard is a developer, not a publisher and at various times Sierra Entertainment, Interplay, and Vivendi have all published Blizzard games. Again, like I said it's a technicality and one that most people and companies don't distinguish. And it wasn't even really relevant to your point anyway. 1) Thats actually the first time I've EVER seen Vivendi Universal so I apologize for that one and thankyou for the knowledge. I'm surprised they didnt have their name all over WoW even on the other websites that listed Blizzard as publisher.
2) The "Don't try to fool us with your facts" comment was said sarcastically because "No one...ever...has held the rights to Star Wars but Lucas. They have licensed games but that doesn't give away, sell, or in any other way compromise their ownership of the license." is pretty much the only factual statement in the entire thread. 2) Wasn't sure if you were actually serious or not. 3) Your second paragraph still makes no sense. If the IP is owned by a third party, EA can't "monopolize" anything by buying up Bioware. 3) This I know it is why I posted the second paragraph it was my reason for stating why EA would have POSSIBLY bought up BioWare and that second paragraph was pure speculation on my part nothing factual based. 4) No facts point to anything. The only thing factual is that Bioware licensed the HeroEngine to make their MMO. And the evidence points to it being a 3rd party IP based on EA's disclosure of what IPs they will now own as a result of the deal. So saying "all evidence points towards a NON SW IP MMO produced and published by EA not LA" is kind of ridiculous. 4) You are right the facts at this point in time are still very vague, but that is interesting I have never seen that before either. I'm guessing that is the Actual agreement? and my whole point for this thread was that no one thread yet has actual hard facts (including this one) that support one way or the other. BUT atleast this one has critical thinking and the posters have worked through the thought plans to produce a good civil debate. And not just posted the same article over and over.
5) You have no facts but your facts are better than my facts...ok, thanks for that one. 5) and You are MOST welcome. (sorry mate always has to be a bit of comical relief in anything I do rather at my own expense or others). Also I'd like to apologize for the out burst anger gets the best of me sometimes especially while sleepy. And especially when dealing with all these people saying for 100% that its KOTOR.
So this means that EA doesn't own the MMO IP? and therefore buying BioWare for their MMO was a false statement? (if that is even real) I know I'm so skeptical I just rather question now instead of later.
So this means that EA doesn't own the MMO IP? and therefore buying BioWare for their MMO was a false statement? (if that is even real) I know I'm so skeptical I just rather question now instead of later.
EA got the MMO, that's the list of acquired products. What the Owned IP means is that Bioware doesn't own the IP, they simply have a license to use it. i.e. The MMO is not going to be a Bioware created universe.
So say for a second it is KOTOR, would LA and EA both have publishing rights? or would EA be moved to the developer part of the deal now that they own BioWare and BioWare just gets erased from memory?
(I'm using speculation to get down to how this would work out I still hold firm to the idea its not KOTOR but I'm using it as an example.)
simple marketing. if you produce an item and sell it to a company for mass production under a contract, then sell the exact same thing to another company maybe slightly tweaked under another contract you would be competing with yourself. also SOE could Sue LA for doing so if they were still under a binding contract.
You're not competing with yourself since you own both.
This reminds me of a Coke commercial I saw recently. One division of the Coke company wanted to sue another division of Coke because they thought they were trying to steal away customers or something. Think about it logically; it doesn't make sense. Regardless of whether you buy coke classic or coke you are still buying coke and hence the company is still making money.
What you are doing is widening your market and thus making more money not less. If this was not the case, both Coke and Pepsi would only make their one drink.
simple marketing. if you produce an item and sell it to a company for mass production under a contract, then sell the exact same thing to another company maybe slightly tweaked under another contract you would be competing with yourself. also SOE could Sue LA for doing so if they were still under a binding contract.
You're not competing with yourself since you own both.
This reminds me of a Coke commercial I saw recently. One division of the Coke company wanted to sue another division of Coke because they thought they were trying to steal away customers or something. Think about it logically; it doesn't make sense. Regardless of whether you buy coke classic or coke you are still buying coke and hence the company is still making money.
What you are doing is widening your market and thus making more money not less. If this was not the case, both Coke and Pepsi would only make their one drink.
yea I messed up there. I was trying to point out EA/BioWare working WITH LA while SOE already had a contract. what I was trying to state is that It would be more like Coke trying to work with pepsi. Sorry I wasnt very clear there.
So say for a second it is KOTOR, would LA and EA both have publishing rights? or would EA be moved to the developer part of the deal now that they own BioWare and BioWare just gets erased from memory? (I'm using speculation to get down to how this would work out I still hold firm to the idea its not KOTOR but I'm using it as an example.)
Going on your example:
Depends on how it's all contracted out I'd say. When they license it out, it's saying, "I still own this, but I am giving you limited rights to use my copyrighted materials to make a product." They maybe (and probably are) a good number of strings attached to the IP, i.e. You can't include these characters unless you do specifically this or that.
Now, there would probably be a clause in the license saying you can do what you want with these materials; but if you want to do something with these items you have to run it past us. Example, You can do what you like with the art and these worlds, but if you're going to do something with the Ebon Hawk, you need to run it by us first.
LA would still own it and be free to play with it on their own, but they wouldn't make a similiar product; such as give license to Bio to make a KOTOR MMO and then start their own KOTOR MMO; that would be conflicting as the products are TOO similiar and would compete directly.
According to EA, the MMO that BioWare is working on is one of the main reasons for their purchase. Is it to hard to believe that they may have already worked out all the kinks in publishing a KOTOR MMO during the process of the purchase?
There's plenty of ways for this to work out in favor or against a KOTOR MMO. And to be honest, I don't think the facts really point to it being or not being KOTOR. Basically because the facts about the game are pretty few and far between.
".LucasArts has acted as at least publisher, if not developer and publisher, for every Star Wars game to date."
Comments
so i guess we can look to obsidian to make the expansions for kotor online? since bioware GAVE UP the IP rights to kotor when it broke with LEC. they were given to another company ... anyone see anything saying that the kotor IP has since changed hands to something bioware or EA now own?
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
I thought someone posted something about BioWare still holding the rights for KOTOR 3 in single player form. I'm not sure though.
As for SOE holding the rights to Star Wars based MMOs, I believe that expires in 2009 based on game performance. It's also unclear if it's ALL Star Wars MMOs or just the Galactic Civil War era.
Nope and thats the point all this KOTOR stuff is all PURE speculation there is nothing anywhere that BioWare owns the KOTOR IP and that Obsidian gave it up and in so doing gave EA the rights to a KOTOR game. In any case EA wouldnt be able to have those rights because LA still has full publishing power of any game produced under the name Star Wars unless they were not smart enough to read the full contract they would have signed or produced themselves and judging from Lucas's track record they aren't that dim witted.
hmm I'd like to see if thats true, that would be interesting, but then again would such a said contract be void if they went to another publisher or were bought out? I doubt in capitalism LA would be so narrow minded to leave a clause out of a contract incase something like the EA/BioWare thing happened.
You have officially won "Post on the Internet With The Least Truth" since people believed that Bonsai Cats were for sale.
p.s. No one...ever...has held the rights to Star Wars but Lucas. They have [i]licensed games[/i] but that doesn't give away, sell, or in any other way compromise their ownership of the license.
If there are 500K Star Wars MMO players split between two seperate Star Wars MMOs, that means LEC has twice the costs to maintain both games. In reality, SWG has nowhere near 250K players, nor will it even reach half that number again (probably not even a third). The thing in the favor of keeping SWG alive if the Bioware rumor turns out to be true, is that all the costs are already sunk into SWG, and LEC can allow SOE to keep the servers open with little to no development. As long as the costs of keeping the servers online is less than the revenue generated by the game, SWG can continue to limp along in perpetuity.
As for EA publishing Bioware's MMO, that wouldn't necessarily be the case. EA is buying Bioware and all of Bioware's existing contracts. If Bioware has already signed a publishing deal with a non-EA company, EAwill have to honor the contract, or buy the contract out.
You have officially won "Post on the Internet With The Least Truth" since people believed that Bonsai Cats were for sale.
p.s. No one...ever...has held the rights to Star Wars but Lucas. They have [i]licensed games[/i] but that doesn't give away, sell, or in any other way compromise their ownership of the license.
Considering the disaster that SWG turned into, the folks at LEC would be insane to let SOE anywhere near another Star Wars MMO. The main thing I don't understand about the whole 'SOE would be the publisher' train of thought is that SOE isn't the publisher of the current Star Wars MMO, LucasArts is.
Hell, the one good thing about EA buying Bioware, is that it pretty well eliminates the possibility of SOE having anything to do with Bioware's MMO, regardless of the IP.
Is this shown some where that EA is going to honor or buy all contracts because that would be interesting.
LOL I agree totally. the only game I might try that SOE has coming out in the future is The Agency and even then I really dont want to give them another dime.
Food for thought about some random points made in this thread by various people.
Kotor made by Bioware. Kotor II made by obsidian. Why is it so hard to believe that Lucas arts would not allow to different companies to make star wars MMOs. Edit: if you were Lucas Arts would you back SOE for a sequel or wait out the contract and hire another company?
It is very very unlikely that SOE has a no compete clause in their SWG that lasts forever. 5 years sounds very reasonable. Maybe there are conditions for a sequel if they meet certain benchmarks, but I don't think that is a reality to be seen any time soon.
Someone stated why would EA make a game they would only get box sales from. I am certain that SOE sees a share of the subscriptions from SWG and so would any company making a sequel. Otherwise they wouldn't continue to code the game or continue to support it? It isn't like MMOs end once they launch.
Someone else said why would EA want to make a game they would only get half of the revenue from. Consider this, what company wouldn't like 50% of what blizzard makes a month? Even 10%?
Edit: I take no stance on what game Bioware is making. It is all just rumor right now as far as I am concerned.
If I'm correct I believe Blizzard both made and published WoW so there were no split revenues to begin with, I'm currently double checking I'm right atm.
*Edit* yep I'm right, Blizzard didn't have to split money with anyone they are raking in the money all by themselves.
Also EA is a competitor for LA so unless EA upon buying out BioWare to add to their Developing center specifically said that they would honor all current contracts BioWare had LA would not allow EA to co-publish a SW IP. At least not in good business sense. And since BioWare now belongs to EA, and would be using EA resources to make an MMO you can almost with certainty bet that they aren't going to Co-Publish either. BUT of course I have no hard facts I'm just going off of what I know of business.
If I'm correct I believe Blizzard both made and published WoW so there were no split revenues to begin with, I'm currently double checking I'm right atm.
*Edit* yep I'm right, Blizzard didn't have to split money with anyone they are raking in the money all by themselves.
And now that I think about it. It would seem more sensible to me that, that is exactly why EA bought up BioWare, NOT to share with LA (which they wouldnt do anyways) but to monopolize their future MMO and rake in the earnings without splitting it up with a publish and developer.....*
*that is complete speculation and I have no basis for it! but as detective Folly said call it a hunch.
If I'm correct I believe Blizzard both made and published WoW so there were no split revenues to begin with, I'm currently double checking I'm right atm.
*Edit* yep I'm right, Blizzard didn't have to split money with anyone they are raking in the money all by themselves.
And now that I think about it. It would seem more sensible to me that, that is exactly why EA bought up BioWare, NOT to share with LA (which they wouldnt do anyways) but to monopolize their future MMO and rake in the earnings without splitting it up with a publish and developer.....*
*that is complete speculation and I have no basis for it! but as detective Folly said call it a hunch.
1) World of Warcraft was published by Blizzard's parent company Vivendi Universal. Blizzard has never self-published any of its games in the traditional sense. Technicality I know.
2) Your next paragraph makes no sense. EA can't not share with LA on a Star Wars game. And if the game isn't a Star Wars IP, then there was never any threat of EA or Bioware having anything to do with LA. As long as the IP is owned by a third party EA HAS to maintain or renegotiate a contract to use the IP...they can't publish a game without the permission of the IP owner. So EA can't monopolize anything unless the IP is one wholly owned by Bioware/Pandemic. See where I'm going?
Don't try and fool us with your facts.
For the original purpose of the thread... Do I think a KotOR MMO would make LA shutdown SWG? Absolutely not. I have never doubted LucasArts or Sony Online Entertainment's ability to milk something for every cent it's worth. As long as a passable number of people stay subscribed they aren't going to suddenly shut it down. And I doubt there's any hard feelings at SOE over this...I would be surprised if they ever wanted to work with LA again.
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Life sucks, buy a helmet.
If I'm correct I believe Blizzard both made and published WoW so there were no split revenues to begin with, I'm currently double checking I'm right atm.
*Edit* yep I'm right, Blizzard didn't have to split money with anyone they are raking in the money all by themselves.
And now that I think about it. It would seem more sensible to me that, that is exactly why EA bought up BioWare, NOT to share with LA (which they wouldnt do anyways) but to monopolize their future MMO and rake in the earnings without splitting it up with a publish and developer.....*
*that is complete speculation and I have no basis for it! but as detective Folly said call it a hunch.
1) World of Warcraft was published by Blizzard's parent company Vivendi Universal. Blizzard has never self-published any of its games in the traditional sense. Technicality I know.
2) Your next paragraph makes no sense. EA can't not share with LA on a Star Wars game. And if the game isn't a Star Wars IP, then there was never any threat of EA or Bioware having anything to do with LA. As long as the IP is owned by a third party EA HAS to maintain or renegotiate a contract to use the IP...they can't publish a game without the permission of the IP owner. So EA can't monopolize anything unless the IP is one wholly owned by Bioware/Pandemic. See where I'm going?
Don't try and fool us with your facts.
For the original purpose of the thread... Do I think a KotOR MMO would make LA shutdown SWG? Absolutely not. I have never doubted LucasArts or Sony Online Entertainment's ability to milk something for every cent it's worth. As long as a passable number of people stay subscribed they aren't going to suddenly shut it down. And I doubt there's any hard feelings at SOE over this...I would be surprised if they ever wanted to work with LA again.
Vivendi Universal is mentioned NO where on the WoW site and every other site has Blizzard as publisher and producer and I am going by multiple reputable sites so if you know of another one that shows VU as publisher let me know. and "Don't try to fool us with your FACTS?" WHAT is that? thats like telling a scientist that the sun revolves around us. get over yourself and look at the FACTS and quit denying them. All evidence points towards a NON SW IP MMO produced and published by EA not LA. do I have hard facts backing me up? no. but my facts are better than your facts. and yes you got my point on my second paragraph dont know why you had to point it out again unless you werent actually READING IT. but nice try. NEXT!
P.S. SOE was the producer with SWG and so I believe if they screwed it up (which they did) LA has full rights to take back and suddenly stop publishing said game SOE is the one to be blamed not LA.
If I'm correct I believe Blizzard both made and published WoW so there were no split revenues to begin with, I'm currently double checking I'm right atm.
*Edit* yep I'm right, Blizzard didn't have to split money with anyone they are raking in the money all by themselves.
And now that I think about it. It would seem more sensible to me that, that is exactly why EA bought up BioWare, NOT to share with LA (which they wouldnt do anyways) but to monopolize their future MMO and rake in the earnings without splitting it up with a publish and developer.....*
*that is complete speculation and I have no basis for it! but as detective Folly said call it a hunch.
1) World of Warcraft was published by Blizzard's parent company Vivendi Universal. Blizzard has never self-published any of its games in the traditional sense. Technicality I know.
2) Your next paragraph makes no sense. EA can't not share with LA on a Star Wars game. And if the game isn't a Star Wars IP, then there was never any threat of EA or Bioware having anything to do with LA. As long as the IP is owned by a third party EA HAS to maintain or renegotiate a contract to use the IP...they can't publish a game without the permission of the IP owner. So EA can't monopolize anything unless the IP is one wholly owned by Bioware/Pandemic. See where I'm going?
Don't try and fool us with your facts.
For the original purpose of the thread... Do I think a KotOR MMO would make LA shutdown SWG? Absolutely not. I have never doubted LucasArts or Sony Online Entertainment's ability to milk something for every cent it's worth. As long as a passable number of people stay subscribed they aren't going to suddenly shut it down. And I doubt there's any hard feelings at SOE over this...I would be surprised if they ever wanted to work with LA again.
Vivendi Universal is mentioned NO where on the WoW site and every other site has Blizzard as publisher and producer and I am going by multiple reputable sites so if you know of another one that shows VU as publisher let me know. and "Don't try to fool us with your FACTS?" WHAT is that? thats like telling a scientist that the sun revolves around us. get over yourself and look at the FACTS and quit denying them. All evidence points towards a NON SW IP MMO produced and published by EA not LA. do I have hard facts backing me up? no. but my facts are better than your facts. and yes you got my point on my second paragraph dont know why you had to point it out again unless you werent actually READING IT. but nice try. NEXT!
I can't believe I'm actually going to debate you on this...
1) World of Warcraft was published by Vivendi Universal Blizzard's parent company. Blizzard is a developer, not a publisher and at various times Sierra Entertainment, Interplay, and Vivendi have all published Blizzard games. Again, like I said it's a technicality and one that most people and companies don't distinguish. And it wasn't even really relevant to your point anyway.
2) The "Don't try to fool us with your facts" comment was said sarcastically because "No one...ever...has held the rights to Star Wars but Lucas. They have licensed games but that doesn't give away, sell, or in any other way compromise their ownership of the license." is pretty much the only factual statement in the entire thread.
3) Your second paragraph still makes no sense. If the IP is owned by a third party, EA can't "monopolize" anything by buying up Bioware.
4) No facts point to anything. The only thing factual is that Bioware licensed the HeroEngine to make their MMO. And the evidence points to it being a 3rd party IP based on EA's disclosure of what IPs they will now own as a result of the deal. So saying "all evidence points towards a NON SW IP MMO produced and published by EA not LA" is kind of ridiculous.
5) You have no facts but your facts are better than my facts...ok, thanks for that one.
N/m changed my mind about continuing
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Life sucks, buy a helmet.
So this means that EA doesn't own the MMO IP? and therefore buying BioWare for their MMO was a false statement? (if that is even real) I know I'm so skeptical I just rather question now instead of later.
So this means that EA doesn't own the MMO IP? and therefore buying BioWare for their MMO was a false statement? (if that is even real) I know I'm so skeptical I just rather question now instead of later.
EA got the MMO, that's the list of acquired products. What the Owned IP means is that Bioware doesn't own the IP, they simply have a license to use it. i.e. The MMO is not going to be a Bioware created universe.
So say for a second it is KOTOR, would LA and EA both have publishing rights? or would EA be moved to the developer part of the deal now that they own BioWare and BioWare just gets erased from memory?
(I'm using speculation to get down to how this would work out I still hold firm to the idea its not KOTOR but I'm using it as an example.)
This reminds me of a Coke commercial I saw recently. One division of the Coke company wanted to sue another division of Coke because they thought they were trying to steal away customers or something. Think about it logically; it doesn't make sense. Regardless of whether you buy coke classic or coke you are still buying coke and hence the company is still making money.
What you are doing is widening your market and thus making more money not less. If this was not the case, both Coke and Pepsi would only make their one drink.
This reminds me of a Coke commercial I saw recently. One division of the Coke company wanted to sue another division of Coke because they thought they were trying to steal away customers or something. Think about it logically; it doesn't make sense. Regardless of whether you buy coke classic or coke you are still buying coke and hence the company is still making money.
What you are doing is widening your market and thus making more money not less. If this was not the case, both Coke and Pepsi would only make their one drink.
yea I messed up there. I was trying to point out EA/BioWare working WITH LA while SOE already had a contract. what I was trying to state is that It would be more like Coke trying to work with pepsi. Sorry I wasnt very clear there.
Going on your example:
Depends on how it's all contracted out I'd say. When they license it out, it's saying, "I still own this, but I am giving you limited rights to use my copyrighted materials to make a product." They maybe (and probably are) a good number of strings attached to the IP, i.e. You can't include these characters unless you do specifically this or that.
Now, there would probably be a clause in the license saying you can do what you want with these materials; but if you want to do something with these items you have to run it past us. Example, You can do what you like with the art and these worlds, but if you're going to do something with the Ebon Hawk, you need to run it by us first.
LA would still own it and be free to play with it on their own, but they wouldn't make a similiar product; such as give license to Bio to make a KOTOR MMO and then start their own KOTOR MMO; that would be conflicting as the products are TOO similiar and would compete directly.
".LucasArts has acted as at least publisher, if not developer and publisher, for every Star Wars game to date."
Not true, SWG was developed and published by SOE.
...no...they didn't.
SOE=Developer
Lucasarts=Publisher.