Hey everyone, I have an interesting theory about the new Bioware/Lucas Arts Secret MMO. I don't want this to be taken as fact, but me and my friends have been discussing a theory as to why there have been talks of a new Star Wars game in 2005 yet nothing was official and how it connects to the official announcement in 2007 with Biowares merger with EA and partnership with LucasArts. Here is why I believe this partnership in 2007 was made so recently and not in 2005 and how this may tie into what the game is going to be..... namely a Star Wars MMO. In 2005 announcements were made that Bioware was in development of a new game. They had recently moved into an office in Austin Texas, which was housing many SOE staff as well as many developers of the KOTOR programmers and developers as well. We all know that. What we may have not known, is that Bioware may have been developing an engine for a future MMO which they didn't have a title or specific world content to it at the time. Essentially a generic engine which in fact may have been part of the development of Mass Effect as well as other games in development at Bioware. What it seems is that Bioware probably contacted Lucas Arts during 2005 about a possibility on working on a new Star Wars MMO, but due to 2 main factors in that Lucas Arts wouldn't back Bioware until they saw their engine and development of the game, and also the ongoing license with SOE regarding their MMO; the game had no identity at the time. The engine/game was generic at the time. Recently Lucas Arts created a partnership with Bioware, and many people assumed that this was the start of a new Star Wars MMO, or they had witheld the information until recently to build hype and keep the project secret. I believe Bioware had to prove to LucasArts that they had a significant game/engine in development in order for the backing to occur and licensing of the Star Wars universe to commence. Now we all know that Lucas Arts purchased a new engine in regards to a new MMO they are developing and I assume that Bioware has been developing an engine for their new MMO. A Lucas Arts rep in this next post explains that at the time, there were no future developments in a new Star Wars MMO, but based on my theory, the main reason is because of no licensing agreement at the time with Bioware or any ofther company was in existence because Lucas Arts was taking a wait and see attitude. http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=24466266 "However, what the LucasArts rep said next raised another interesting possibility--that another Star Wars MMORPG could be in the works. "We have had several developers approach us expressing interest in developing a future Star Wars online game," said the rep. (emphasis in the original.) However, if any such game is in the works, it will be a long time until it surfaces. "As of right now, it hasn't gone anything beyond that (that is, no conversations, no serious talks, no pitches, etc.)," assured the rep." In addition Bioware is currently looking for creative development employees to make things such as character models, terrain and concept art for their first MMO. This reinforces my theory, that Bioware had a engine in development with the possibility of making it a Star Wars MMO, and now that they have Lucas Arts approval, they can now hire creative team members to spend the last couple of years on the creative aspects of the game (ie: Characters, Planets, Lore, etc that specifically relate to the Star Wars World). Where as before, the engine Bioware was making, was just a generic shell to house any sort of world/story/setting,and which is why there was no announcement at the time from Lucas Arts about a partnership. So to summarize, the reason the 2 announcements were made separately in 2005 and 2007, were because at the time in 2005, Lucas Arts wouldn't make a firm commitment to Bioware until they had seen some development in the game engine.And then in 2007 Lucas Arts officially gave their backing and came onboard. This is similar to how a movie director/writer makes a pitch to a production company before going into full development of the movie. This is also probably why EA purchased Bioware for so much money because they knew Lucas Arts would be on board and that a high profile MMO was on the way. Specifically a Star Wars MMO.
Then why Bioware spent a lot of money buying Hero Engine, a completed (and awesome) mmo engine?
Comments
Man this was so off lol
Im still pissed it wasnt Howard the Duck Online....
"The man who exchanges Liberty for Iconic classes is a fool deserving of neither." - Me and Ben Franklin
Then why Bioware spent a lot of money buying Hero Engine, a completed (and awesome) mmo engine?