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SWG's Place in Gaming History
Nikoz78
Member UncommonPosts: 910
I think at this point it's safe to say that Star Wars Galaxies will be recorded as the BIGGEST letdown in gaming history. Period.
I miss the good ol' days when nerds were actually intelligent.
Comments
"There's no star system Slave I can't reach, and there's no planet I can't find. There's nowhere in the Galaxy for you to run. Might as well give up now."
Boba Fett
I am pretty sure the biggest let down in gaming history is either:
1. Skyfox 2. Back when you could return software this had almost all returned to the stores within a week or two. (so biggest let down per capita)
or
2. Contra Force. Out sold SWG and make well...ya, ever play Contra?
From a gaming perspective I dont think SWG will go down as a huge failure because they chose to make the moves they did. However, strickly from a business perspective it may go down as one of the worst moves since Sonny left Cher. Time will tell.
-Launched with some 500k subs, maintained 250k during 2 years, settled at 150-200k after NGE.
-Lasts 3 years
-Adapted from sandbox to fps
-2 expansions to date
No, the game is good. Business is solid. Customers are... well... not in that equation.
Business ethics are one thing, but in retrospect and in all fairness, SWG is not a failure nor a disaster. There's lessons to be learned for the industry, but that's what every project does.
As for customers... This is corporate America. Where stockholders have the final word, where cost-cutting is the way forward and where consumer society changes brands and products every 3 weeks.
Are you joking? SWG has no more than 32k subs now, and those are the generous numbers.
The NGE is a complete failure, especialy considering that "it will be complete in 6 months" from the NGE launch date, and now they're spreading out an unreasonable timeline that stretches into late '07.
The game play is a joke, according to Smed. The President of the COMPANY says the game play is sub-par, and now they're saying the basic components of the game won't be in place for another year+! Just for the record, that's 5 YEARS AFTER LAUNCH!
It's OVER. The game is DEAD.
I'll start my own SWG... with Black Jack... and Hookers!!!
In fact, forget the SWG!!!!
The perfect example of a Bird in the hand...
Shayde - SWG (dead)
Proud member of the Cabal.
It sounds great, so great in fact, I pitty those who canceled
I don't like it when you say things. - A Vanguard fan who does too.
09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0
But, it goes to show that great things should not be left in the hands of destructive minds. Thankfully, the key players in that major fuckup are going to have to live with that on their resume.
Good points, all. There are a lot of let downs in the history of our hobby. I have been a gamer since the Atari 2600 and have seen many things in the 25 years I have been a gamer. The "Video Game Crash of 1982-83" is offten sited as the lowest point in gaming history. Atari is to blame for that. Famicom/Nintendo, obviously, changed that. I am no professional game guru by any streach of the imagination. Yet I do consider myself a gaming-history buff (*ego downplayed*). I enjoy brushing up on details. From Pong, to Ralph Baer's brilliant inovations in the 1960's that lead to the 'Magnavox Odyssey' in the early 70's (worlds first gaming console), Arcades to Sierra On-Lines seminal King's Quest series (which took us from text-based adventures to 3D computer games), et al. I know my stuff and am not 'talking out my ass,' or making overly-emotional statements. This is my opinion, but I think it is valid. When dealing with a mass-cultural icon like Star Wars it is not proper to compair it to Contra. Again, my opinion is this: Star Wars Galaxies is by far the biggest letdown in the history of electronic gaming. Period. Name one single other title that has, and continues to, generate such an negative emotional response from it's players and, even more revealing, ex-players. The negative reaction this game has received has been reported in (major) mainstream press. Many times, infact. Compair all this negative media to the way the original game made you feel. People loved it. It was awesome, especially to Star Wars fans (and there are a lot of fans). It was non-linear. It was just plain fun to play. Now it blows chunks. People are super pissed-off. They take it very personally. I have NEVER seen anything quite like these heartfelt reactions over a game. If you don't believe Star Wars Galaxies will go down as the biggest failure ever (that ironicly had the most promising start) --I can respect that. But I do think the evidence is clear....
I miss the good ol' days when nerds were actually intelligent.
But in SWG's defense, it was no more of a letdown than the prequels.
Shayde - SWG (dead)
Proud member of the Cabal.
It sounds great, so great in fact, I pitty those who canceled
I don't like it when you say things. - A Vanguard fan who does too.
09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0
Ya as a general statement Star Wars video games blow. KOTOR series was teh first good RPGs to me. Before that was X-Wing and Tie-fighter...also X-Wing Vs Tie-Fighter. But, most others were really bad. 'Cept the green screen arcade one that was just the Deathstar trench run, I was hooked on that one.
Ya as a general statement Star Wars video games blow. KOTOR series was teh first good RPGs to me. Before that was X-Wing and Tie-fighter...also X-Wing Vs Tie-Fighter. But, most others were really bad. 'Cept the green screen arcade one that was just the Deathstar trench run, I was hooked on that one.
I'm finding it difficult to find any defense for something that's been years live and is about to undergo pre-beta style changes live. The entire Jedi and BH profs get expertise trees first thing is just blowing my mind. I can't even wrap my head around how these guys could think doing this live in this way is a good thing. Once that starts... well then it's over and done with. Because that will be the single most heinious thing a company has done to a live game, ever.
/shakehead
_______________________
Kote lo'shebs'ul narit
I believe he was referring to how poorly done episodes 1-3 were done in the threatres and I was referring to the previous games. The old SWG is dead, but overal I think companies have done worse things to customers. Even within the MMO market atleast SWG wasn't spying on you wit ha hand reaching beyond the game.
I am only playing SWG now and then because I have station access now for EQ2. Apparently I was in the whole bio-eng grouping that was in the "1% of players" that didn't get any new class/profession to directly enter so I still ahve a cahracter than can enter any profession as a master. I left it a little before the CU though beause it had a lot of issues then. I have been trying out the various classes recently and just find it tedious now.
"-Launched with some 500k subs, maintained 250k during 2 years, settled at 150-200k after NGE."
I don't know where you got those numbers but they are WAY off. I still have my SWG acct because I play EQII and I can promise you SWG is very dead. 10k tops. If that.
SOE will tell you that people like me are subscribers...well...I pay for the station exchange for the EQII benifits, not SWG. I wish there was a way I could get EQII with the station benefits without being counted for SWG but as far as I know I cant.
Ch3cksix
1. I live in a "vilalge" (a second tier suburb) that is literally 1 by 1.5 city blocks and has a little over 3k people. SWG has only 3 times that population? That would be about 700 players per server total. Your estimate is off. The population may be smaller than it was at peak, but it is not that small.
Aw come-on. That was the height of Atari's programming knowledge. It took Activision to show them how to make a game.
Don't tell me you didn't cry when the little pixelated flower wilted
Shayde - SWG (dead)
Proud member of the Cabal.
It sounds great, so great in fact, I pitty those who canceled
I don't like it when you say things. - A Vanguard fan who does too.
09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0
Aw come-on. That was the height of Atari's programming knowledge. It took Activision to show them how to make a game.
Don't tell me you didn't cry when the little pixelated flower wilted
Activision? SEGA and nintendo were creeping up Atari's arse and Activision kept putting out the same old crap, albiet some good crap, but crap none the less.
I have to agree with you about the E.T. 2600 game LOL!! You win!! *pukes*
(And just to clairify to everyone: I was not writing about the biggest FINANCIAL disaster in gaming history, but rather the biggest LETDOWN).
I miss the good ol' days when nerds were actually intelligent.
I am very sure they are hurting over there, players are asking for free server transfers or mergers/consolidations, that does not scream healthy population.
as for me I think this will go down as the worst PR nightmare in gaming history.
Aw come-on. That was the height of Atari's programming knowledge. It took Activision to show them how to make a game.
Don't tell me you didn't cry when the little pixelated flower wilted
I must say I didn't cry..
I miss the good ol' days when nerds were actually intelligent.
Well I think the NGE may go down as the Hiroshima of MMO's, with the CU as Leyte Gulf.
NGE Refugee.