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dead game... politics?
PurpleLizard
Member Posts: 20
Was SWG destroyed on purpose? I head a rumor that SOE lost their licence for Star Wars and there is a limited amount of time left in this game.
So they destroyed it in an effort to drive away customers... and yet still make some money by selling boxes at Walmart.
???
So they destroyed it in an effort to drive away customers... and yet still make some money by selling boxes at Walmart.
???
Comments
Ya heard
It's just that they're not very good at what they do, no need for more complicated explanations. Bad decisions, bad management, bad result.
They put more work into the game during NGE than they did during entire time before, 2.5 years or so. Expansions were outsourced, so they don't count.
See you in the dream..
The Fires from heaven, now as cold as ice. A rapid ascension tolls a heavy price.
A good rule of thumb is, don't attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity.
In the case of SWG, they must be REALLY stupid.
SWG Tempest: Cardo Dycen RIP
Eve: Cardoh Dycen
I support random drug testing for all SOE employees
At first this notion had all the marking of a "conspiracy theory", but as I continue to watch the "buffonery" from the SWG devs unfold, I'm not so sure.
It actually does make sense from a business perspective, that if the partnership between LA and SOE went south, this is exactly the type of "aggressive corporate powerplay" to destroy the IP you would expect.
The real question is if SOE has people that smart working for them?
I think not.
They all jumped ship a long time ago.
They really don't need to resort to theatrics to shut the game down anyhow, just do it. Nobody has any recourse anyhow. They have shown time and again they don't give a rat's ass how we feel.
I realize I said I quit. I never said it was forever
There were rumors of it going onto XBox 360 but I bet Gates wised up and decided not to have anything to do with SOE.
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
When they make the decision to shutdown (I am certain it has already been made, subs below a certain number is automatic cancellation), they will simply be silent, stop development, and try to milk away as much of the prepaids as they can to avoid having to refund before announcing closure and actually closing the servers.
I'll start my own SWG... with Black Jack... and Hookers!!!
In fact, forget the SWG!!!!
Boy, Smed and company are really competent managers aren't they?
Boy, Smed and company are really competent managers aren't they?
Actually, this is why I believe this was driven by LA... the SOE Board would have already claimed some heads if it were otherwise...
I'll start my own SWG... with Black Jack... and Hookers!!!
In fact, forget the SWG!!!!
Boy, Smed and company are really competent managers aren't they?
Actually, this is why I believe this was driven by LA... the SOE Board would have already claimed some heads if it were otherwise...
The decision that the game needed fixing so it'd make more money was made by LEC, yes.
The decision as to HOW to do it, as well as the design, was made by Smed and company.
I agree that they didn't lose their contract. But... I'd guess there is a clause written into the contract by LA that they have the right to pull the game if the subs get below a certain number. That number, which was set long before anyone knew an MMO could pull in 7 million subs, is probably very low by todays standards, but high by 2002/2003 standards. So what is LA to do when they see Blizzard bathing in cash, while they are quite literaly bound to $OE and have no way out as long as $OE can maintain the pre-agreed sub numbers quite easily. Kamakaze game design time! It's been insinuated by Smed that the order for a huge game overhaul did infact come from LA. Once the threshhold of subs drop below the safe zone for $OE, the contract will be pulled, and LA will be free to pursue WoW sized sub numbers with a new SW MMOPRG (I'd guess an even more blatant WoW clone).
In other words: The NGE is a cyanide pill delivered into the mouth of SWG by none other than LA.
I'm not trying to paint $OE as the good guys here. I do think they seriously can't design a game to save their lives.
My 2 bits.
I agree that they didn't lose their contract. But... I'd guess there is a clause written into the contract by LA that they have the right to pull the game if the subs get below a certain number. That number, which was set long before anyone knew an MMO could pull in 7 million subs, is probably very low by todays standards, but high by 2002/2003 standards. So what is LA to do when they see Blizzard bathing in cash, while they are quite literaly bound to $OE and have no way out as long as $OE can maintain the pre-agreed sub numbers quite easily. Kamakaze game design time! It's been insinuated by Smed that the order for a huge game overhaul did infact come from LA. Once the threshhold of subs drop below the safe zone for $OE, the contract will be pulled, and LA will be free to pursue WoW sized sub numbers with a new SW MMOPRG (I'd guess an even more blatant WoW clone).
In other words: The NGE is a cyanide pill delivered into the mouth of SWG by none other than LA.
I'm not trying to paint $OE as the good guys here. I do think they seriously can't design a game to save their lives.
My 2 bits.
Brenlo already said it was all SOE.
See you in the dream..
The Fires from heaven, now as cold as ice. A rapid ascension tolls a heavy price.
Boy, Smed and company are really competent managers aren't they?
Actually, this is why I believe this was driven by LA... the SOE Board would have already claimed some heads if it were otherwise...
There have been an ongoing case of bad management at SWG since its inception. Of course the most noticeable cases were from just over a year ago when they completely redesigned the CH system, only to have all that work nullified with the NGE. At the time that the CH system was being worked on, the NGE (which SOE had to know would be removing CHs) was also being worked on. This was a complete waste of developer time and resource.
In fact, it would have been far better for the NGE to have had the CH team working on the NGE instead. Imagine if the NGE had launched with a complete expertise system! It might not have been such a slap in the face to as many players.
As much as I wish they'd just shut this one down, I have a feeling SWG is going to stay open for as long as SOE is offering Station Access accounts, whether they refine it some more, or not.
It just makes sense to keep it open, seeing as how you can charge $25 for one main game (Everquest 2), and four sideshows (Matrix, Everquest, PlanetSide, and SWG). Closing it down will only make the Station Access be $25 for one main game, and three sideshows.
LA won't do a thing, because at least with SWG open, they get free money every quarter no matter what the "SWG only" subscriptions look like. Money that won't be there anymore if SWG were closed down.
Even if they would pull the license, I would think that if it wasn't a mutual decision between SOE and LA, they would have to fork over some money to buyout SOE's interests in it, because its not LA's financial interests that are ultimately at stake as much as SOE's. All LA has done is collect checks, while SOE has done all the investment (with the possible exception of some advertisment money).
So in my estimation the game will continue, and may shut down only if any of these circumstances appear:
1) If SOE changes the Station Access package, or stops Station Access.
2) If SOE goes under or gets acquired.
3) If LA wants to go to another MMO provider for a new Star Wars MMO, and is willing to buyout SWG for the purpose of cancelling it to give the new MMO the best chance.
__________________________
"Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it."
--Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints."
--Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls."
--Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
I'll start my own SWG... with Black Jack... and Hookers!!!
In fact, forget the SWG!!!!
Expertise doesn't mean a darn thing if the game it's stapled to is junk.
Expertise doesn't mean a darn thing if the game it's stapled to is junk.
I'm not going to argue with that, as every single one of my toons had skills from the professions that were removed. It would have still been a slap in the face to me.
However, the point was that SOE wasted development time introducing a system that they knew would be removed a couple months later (when did that CH publish hit anyways?). That time could have been spent on the NGE and making that a better game. But it wasn't.
The most telling thing with regards to the future of the game will be how well the new incomplete boxed version sells at Christmas time. If fails to generate enough revenue, SOE will most likely put the game into support mode where they just do bug fixes for major issues and move the current development team to other SOE games to ruin them. If the new box doesn't sell, there will be no more expansions. The real reason the expansion they were working on was cancelled was because the current subscriber base isn't large enough to make an expansion worth the expense. Considering the last to major revamps of the game decimated the subscriber base of the game, I don't see another major revamp as an option.