anyone see the post about lucas walking outa of a meeting about swg?

FikusOfAhazi

said he asked one question.."where is the FRS?"..soe said they didnt have a plan atm or something and so lucas walked out. only reason im asking cause the original poster isnt someone who makes this stuff up. anyone else see this and what do ya think?

SonOfAGhost

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So my roommate just told me about a meeting on Monday between George Lucas himself and SOE. Now before NGE was produced LA went to SOE and said, "lets make an FPS game." SOE said ok, but Lucas approved it under one condition, that the FRS would be in it. This last monday Mr. Lucas walked into the meeting and asked one question, "where is the FRS?"..SOE replies...we don't plan on making on at this time. At this point, 1 question into the meeting, Lucas just turned around and walked out. OOPS! nice doin business with ya SOE.

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The roomate referred to is a former correspondent and current (at least until SOE get into the office tomorrow) galactic senator. That much is confirmed, decide for yourselves how much credibility that gives him. Probably to protect said roomate from reprisals the original poster has gone through and edit-deleted the posts but the text remains in a quote later in the thread.

ArtifacT

uhhh can u post the link to the thread plz?

FikusOfAhazi

i saw it in ahazi forum i think its still there..seems mods are off for the weekend

FikusOfAhazi

theres also a post in the game play discussion right now about insider info on the nge...this is getting good lol.

ArtifacT

haha prolly all rumor but imma check it out cuz it prolly is really good and may help quell some anger i have lol

FikusOfAhazi

ya look in the "game play discussion" in the insider info thread just checked its still there

FikusOfAhazi

I don't expect you to take my word on this but I will share with you what I was told by a friend of mine who works for SOE.  I can't give you any more detail like his position, department, etc for fear of him being identified.  They apparently are bound by some air-tight non-disclosure agreements.

 

Below is what I was told:

 

Apparently, the NGE has really, REALLY stirred things up in Austin.  All sorts of fingers are being pointed among SOE employee's as nobody wants to take the blame.  Right now EVERYONE is trying to distance themselves from being responsible for making ANY decsions on pushing the NGE live.  Every single employee is avoiding any connection to the NGE like the plague.  I was told that the Dev's expected SOME account cancelations when the NGE went live, but my insider said they were willing to take those vet losses with the hopes of bringing in new subscribers over the holiday sales season.  Also, the devs were counting on most of the threats by vets to quit to not actually go thru with cancelling.  They have admitted, at least internally, that they number of cancels has FAR FAR FAR exceeded the number they were willing to take.  As a result, there is beginning to be some serious discussion of a pre-NGE rollback.  Several dev's are in serious jeopardy of being fired, and many many many of the support staff etc are polishing up their resume's because SOE has become the laughing stock of the online gaming community.  No longer is it a badge of pride to work for SOE according to what I was told.  Even my friend says he is no longer proud of working for SOE because of how they have destroyed their reputation.

 

Also, after having to report to LA on the NGE results, specifically the account cancels numbers, some of the big dogs from LA have flown into Austin for some serious intervention.  No details on what that means yet, but it is known that Smedly and the senior crew at SOE have been behind closed doors for unusually lengthy meetings and have emerged with scowls on their face.  The speculation is that LA is gearing up to crack down big time.  (I would love to have been a fly on the wall in those meetings)

 

Because of the signifacant loss of subscriptions, customer service has laid off 25% of their support staff starting the 1st of January with more cuts expected.

 

All in all, the NGE turned out to rock the player base more deeply than what they expected.  Talks are now underway on cutting the game off sometime in the first quarter of 2006.  There is discussion with an outside company that is interested in purchasing the pre-NGE code with the aim of running a handful (5 tops) of pre-NGE servers, and maintained with a skeleton support staff.  Right now this is apparently looking to be the most realistic result.

 

I will post more info as I hear stuff.

 

Added stuff:

 

Oh, and my insider said the Devs are being intentionally vague on their forum posting and player communication because they want to keep as many subscribers as possible right now.  A memo was passed down to ALL Dev's by the SOE execs with a list of topics that are completely not to be discussed or responded to on the forums.  It is generally feared by the SOE team that the more info the player base has, the more of them will quit the game.

 

Also, the game WAS in the pre-development phase on porting to consol (xbox, playstation), but that those cycles have been 100% stalled at the moment because the future of SWG is so uncertain.  But I was told that if any Dev posted or said that consol talks were never taking place it is a lie because significant discussions had already been underway with the design teams experienced with porting PC games to consol systems and that the NGE was partly (not entirely) designed to acomplish this objective

Jodokai

The whole story is crap.

The part I can prove:

JULIO TORES IS THE PRODUCER OF SWG AND WORKS FOR LUCASARTS. As the producer HE is responsible for setting and making sure the team meets deadlines.

The parts I can't prove, but can logically deduce:

First I doubt George Lucas has any idea SWG is still around. I don't think he gives a rat's @$$ about video games as long as they bring in money. I would be extreamly suprised if you said FRS and he had any idea what the hell you were talking about. There is a reason his name isn't on any of the credits for the game.

I REALLY wish you people would get a clue and realize that LucasArts ddin't just sell the licence, they are just as involved with the making of the game as SOE.

Rattrap

Well reading this great post , I can almost smell the tension in SOE. And fear in hearts of hot shot young game producers that know apsolutely nothing about swg game community (and dont care).
They thought they can treat mmorpg crowd just as they treat hollywood crowd with their : bigger better dummer ! And now some hot shots are going to get fired And hopefully some people that love the game and know what is good for players will get hired.

I just want to say thanks to the VET SWG COMMUNITY

Thanks for showing MMORPG world that we are not bunch of spineless 12 year olds.

And RIP swg - you were a very good game once

ArtifacT

wow pretty interesting it sounds pretty riliable i hope to god that its true

SoE desereves whatever it gets if this is true thx for the info

Unknown

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Originally posted by Jodokai

First I doubt George Lucas has any idea SWG is still around. I don't think he gives a rat's @$$ about video games as long as they bring in money.

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Riiiight.  You don't become a successful business person by being in the dark about your products.  I can guarantee something as major as the only Star Wars MMORPG is being watched in some way shape or form by Lucas himself.

Nothing in those "rumors" surprise me one bit.  Any MMORPG that makes such drastic changes so late in its lifecycle is in deep trouble.  Its a dead-end project and whats worse, the longer SWG flounders along, the more difficult its going to become for any *future* Star Wars MMORPG to become a reality.

ArtifacT

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Originally posted by Aildrik
Originally posted by Jodokai
First I doubt George Lucas has any idea SWG is still around. I don't think he gives a rat's @$$ about video games as long as they bring in money.
Riiiight. You don't become a successful business person by being in the dark about your products. I can guarantee something as major as the only Star Wars MMORPG is being watched in some way shape or form by Lucas himself.
Nothing in those "rumors" surprise me one bit. Any MMORPG that makes such drastic changes so late in its lifecycle is in deep trouble. Its a dead-end project and whats worse, the longer SWG flounders along, the more difficult its going to become for any *future* Star Wars MMORPG to become a reality.

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wow very true about the business/lucas thing

especially with commercials spreading bs all over tv now (saw it on scifi channel earlier today) so theres no way george doesnt know whats goin on with something that has his own name on it.....

Obraik

Sigh.  If you think LucasArts has nothing to do with SWG unless something goes wrong then you need to face facts.  Everything SOE wants to put in the game has to go through LA for approval.  They have the last word on everything that goes in.  SWG is SOE & LA, not SOE & sometimes LA.  LA is not the saint or the hero you want to make them out to be.

I highly doubt Lucas himself has much to do with the game.  I'm sure he knows about it, but he has LucasArts so he doesn't have to deal with the gaming side.

Scaris

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Originally posted by Obraik
Sigh. If you think LucasArts has nothing to do with SWG unless something goes wrong then you need to face facts. Everything SOE wants to put in the game has to go through LA for approval. They have the last word on everything that goes in. SWG is SOE & LA, not SOE & sometimes LA. LA is not the saint or the hero you want to make them out to be.
I highly doubt Lucas himself has much to do with the game. I'm sure he knows about it, but he has LucasArts so he doesn't have to deal with the gaming side.

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Thank you, and well said.

FikusOfAhazi

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Originally posted by Obraik
Sigh. If you think LucasArts has nothing to do with SWG unless something goes wrong then you need to face facts. Everything SOE wants to put in the game has to go through LA for approval. They have the last word on everything that goes in. SWG is SOE & LA, not SOE & sometimes LA. LA is not the saint or the hero you want to make them out to be.
I highly doubt Lucas himself has much to do with the game. I'm sure he knows about it, but he has LucasArts so he doesn't have to deal with the gaming side.

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 i beleive everything relating to jedi has to be cleared by lucas himself.

Obraik

EVERYTHING goes through LucasArts, Lucas has people there specifically to deal with these issues.  He doesn't want to be bothered with it.

FikusOfAhazi

so this meeting could have never taken place because lucas doesnt have any interest in the company with his name on it..which is taking some bad PR because of these changes. honestly i dont care either way, im more interested in how this will effect mmorpg's in the future, but, i dont see lucas meeting with developers would be out of the question.

Obraik

Because he has an entire company to deal with these issues.  If Lucas himself is getting involved then it means he has no confidence in LucasArts, which means LA would be in worse trouble then SOE.

FikusOfAhazi

which is what makes this so interesting. all bonuses this year have been cancelled at LA as well. So things might not be that good and he may be stepping in. Oh well either way its very interesting, thanks for those who replied, i was wondering what people might think of this rumor.

maciopa

It seems that Obraik is the one who has a sence of business here.
If You are the owner/president/head of the board in such a big company as LA - You have ppl to do their job... You are interested in Annual income, but You do not walk/stroll through all oficess to see what is going on in the specific department!!! You think global - not micro-economy...
And ppl - SWG is one of many games based on the SWG movies, ok it is the only MMORPG but still - it is just a game - a product, one of millions that LA licensed. They earn a lot more selling out SWG figures than they do from SWG MMORPG.
So please cut out the crap with all those post-NGE "breaking news".

Wepps

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Originally posted by Jodokai
The whole story is crap.
The part I can prove:
JULIO TORES IS THE PRODUCER OF SWG AND WORKS FOR LUCASARTS. As the producer HE is responsible for setting and making sure the team meets deadlines.
The parts I can't prove, but can logically deduce:
First I doubt George Lucas has any idea SWG is still around. I don't think he gives a rat's @$$ about video games as long as they bring in money. I would be extreamly suprised if you said FRS and he had any idea what the hell you were talking about. There is a reason his name isn't on any of the credits for the game.
I REALLY wish you people would get a clue and realize that LucasArts ddin't just sell the licence, they are just as involved with the making of the game as SOE.

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Jodo, I think we all accept this now. But you have to understand how it actually works.

A - LA representative shows up, people don serious masks and enter the war room.

B - LA representative does a lot of finger waggling, and spouting off about 'Game needs Jedi.'

C - SOE protests, but must comply.

D - SWG team incapable of providing it in a working format, and ALL game fixes and professional reworks come to a halt for over a year while they screw with it.

The SWG development team has proven themselves incompetent. They never seem to be able to finish what they start, provide working code, test properly, or even add the right dimensions to the game that are required.

So what if LA says "Jedi"? It's SOE that's screwing it up hard.

Scaris

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Originally posted by FikusOfAhazi
said he asked one question.."where is the FRS?"..soe said they didnt have a plan atm or something and so lucas walked out. only reason im asking cause the original poster isnt someone who makes this stuff up. anyone else see this and what do ya think?

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It took awhile for the lightbulb to come on with this. However I soon realized it seemed familiar. The rumor you were told has gone around the MMO forums before, atleast once if not more. Its like a virus hoax email I think at this point, going around every so often.

FRS, as IF that were the hot issue right now. Thats your proof on how out of date this rumor is.

Scaris

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Originally posted by FikusOfAhazi
which is what makes this so interesting. all bonuses this year have been cancelled at LA as well. So things might not be that good and he may be stepping in. Oh well either way its very interesting, thanks for those who replied, i was wondering what people might think of this rumor.

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Highly doubt it, even if the company was falling to peices I doubt its even within George's authority to step in anymore and do anything.

Wepps

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Originally posted by Fadeus
Originally posted by FikusOfAhazi
which is what makes this so interesting. all bonuses this year have been cancelled at LA as well. So things might not be that good and he may be stepping in. Oh well either way its very interesting, thanks for those who replied, i was wondering what people might think of this rumor.

Highly doubt it, even if the company was falling to peices I doubt its even within George's authority to step in anymore and do anything.

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That's correct. Although up until now his word carried significant weight, he hasn't had any real power since before Episode I. He sold out to the ties, and now the corporate beast has complete control the direction of the future of Star Wars. And he knows he made a mistake.

Scaris

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Originally posted by Wepps
Originally posted by Fadeus
Originally posted by FikusOfAhazi
which is what makes this so interesting. all bonuses this year have been cancelled at LA as well. So things might not be that good and he may be stepping in. Oh well either way its very interesting, thanks for those who replied, i was wondering what people might think of this rumor.

Highly doubt it, even if the company was falling to peices I doubt its even within George's authority to step in anymore and do anything.

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That's correct. Although up until now his word carried significant weight, he hasn't had any real power since before Episode I. He sold out to the ties, and now the corporate beast has complete control the direction of the future of Star Wars. And he knows he made a mistake.

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Is LEC publically traded Wepps? I never bothered to research that.