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New KOTR MMO announcedFollow
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Any opinions as to how the newly announced EA/BioWare KoTR MMO will affect the SWG community? My first thought was "Oh well, SWG has become a heavily Jedi-dominated game anyways..." It is getting better, but most feel that the heavy influx of Jedi after NGE have damaged the game. Will this new MMO steal subscriptions away from SWG?
who knows, since there no info on it at all, and it likely wont be out for another 2 years.
im not sure where the 'based on kotr' comes in, as they havent specified a genre for it, for all we know it could be a lucas arts/bioware collaboration to bring out Sam&Max online.. or it might not even be an online game at all. at the moment its useless to speculate until there is some actual evidence/report etc, from the company themselves, saying what it is their actually doing. bearing in mind the current state of play of the starwars game, i think its unlikely that bioware will be interested in doing anything starwars related. kotr or otherwise.
EA to Play in Knights of the Old Republic
17-kotor-logo-large.jpgN. Evan Van Zelfden in Los Angeles warns, watch out World of Warcraft. In an interview at E3 this week, Electronic Arts chief executive John Riccitiello said that EA is working on the next version of Star Wars game Knights of the Old Republic, and it will most certainly have a massively multiplayer online component to it.
"We've got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development," said Riccitiello. The first title, based on the Warhammer property, will launch soon. "And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about -- in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it."
Does Riccitiello mean the oft rumored Knights of the Old Republic Online? "Yes," he said.
Moving into MMOs is an essential component for any gaming company, and it's a big part of the reason Vivendi merged with Activision, for that company's World of Warcraft MMO.
Riccitiello told Portfolio.com that he was interested in owning World of Warcraft, and that he did discuss it, but it wasn't in the cards. "Because [Vivendi] couldn't afford control of EA, and I wasn't giving it up."
But EA is firmly on that path now, with a KOTOR MMO, which would sidestep the consoles owned by Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. "Increasingly, people are going to be talking about direct-to-customer in our business," said Riccitiello. "I think we'll be talking about it louder than most."
Today, two-thirds of the game industry is console systems and dedicated handhelds. "We expect in 2011 for it to be fifty-percent," Riccitiello said.
MMOs will also be useful as a way to expand into foreign territories.
"China's a growth market for us," he said. "We're launching some mid-session games on a micro-transaction model." In May of last year, the company announced an equity investment in a leading Chinese online game operator, The9, Ltd. "And there's a bunch more coming that we haven't announced. "
The company has stated that M&A is part of the strategy, and EA is looking for core game companies "only when they bring great [intellectual property] and great teams," he said. The company is also interested in businesses that "help us build our platform in the area of Asia, online, and direct-to-consumer."
"One is strategic and new, one is core and profitable -- and we're looking at both," explained Riccitiello.
Future games aside, Riccitiello is most proud of EA's revenues, its console-business growth, and what's currently on display to the army of reviewers and game journalists in Los Angeles this week.
"We added almost a billion dollars to the revenue last year," he notes. "This year, we've told the street that we're going to add a billion to a billion-three."
And console games are a market that's doing well. "It's grown 30 percent year-to-date," says Riccitiello. "All three of the consoles are way up. The PC business in terms of it's aggregate of subscriptions/micro-transactions is also way up. "
But at the end of the day, it's about the games themselves.
"I think, hands down, there's not a publisher or a platform that's got what we've got," he says. In his own life, he sees how EA's games are making an impact: "I've got twenty-two nephews and nieces. A couple years there, I couldn't buy everything I wanted for them at the holidays. I can do the entire holiday -- and capture my mother for the first time -- at the EA store. That's never been the case before."
http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/the-tech-observer/2008/07/17/ea-to-play-in-knights-of-the-old-republic
===============================================================================
Personally I am skeptical that anything EA gets their greedy little hands on will even be released given their MMO performance to date and if it doesn't make a billion in the first month they will pull the plug on it faster than any of us can image.
I have a great deal of confidence in Bioware's ability to make the game but I have no confidence in EA especially with people dribbling on with statements like "Watch out WoW".
Edited, Jul 21st 2008 7:51pm by MontyB
17-kotor-logo-large.jpgN. Evan Van Zelfden in Los Angeles warns, watch out World of Warcraft. In an interview at E3 this week, Electronic Arts chief executive John Riccitiello said that EA is working on the next version of Star Wars game Knights of the Old Republic, and it will most certainly have a massively multiplayer online component to it.
"We've got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development," said Riccitiello. The first title, based on the Warhammer property, will launch soon. "And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about -- in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it."
Does Riccitiello mean the oft rumored Knights of the Old Republic Online? "Yes," he said.
Moving into MMOs is an essential component for any gaming company, and it's a big part of the reason Vivendi merged with Activision, for that company's World of Warcraft MMO.
Riccitiello told Portfolio.com that he was interested in owning World of Warcraft, and that he did discuss it, but it wasn't in the cards. "Because [Vivendi] couldn't afford control of EA, and I wasn't giving it up."
But EA is firmly on that path now, with a KOTOR MMO, which would sidestep the consoles owned by Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. "Increasingly, people are going to be talking about direct-to-customer in our business," said Riccitiello. "I think we'll be talking about it louder than most."
Today, two-thirds of the game industry is console systems and dedicated handhelds. "We expect in 2011 for it to be fifty-percent," Riccitiello said.
MMOs will also be useful as a way to expand into foreign territories.
"China's a growth market for us," he said. "We're launching some mid-session games on a micro-transaction model." In May of last year, the company announced an equity investment in a leading Chinese online game operator, The9, Ltd. "And there's a bunch more coming that we haven't announced. "
The company has stated that M&A is part of the strategy, and EA is looking for core game companies "only when they bring great [intellectual property] and great teams," he said. The company is also interested in businesses that "help us build our platform in the area of Asia, online, and direct-to-consumer."
"One is strategic and new, one is core and profitable -- and we're looking at both," explained Riccitiello.
Future games aside, Riccitiello is most proud of EA's revenues, its console-business growth, and what's currently on display to the army of reviewers and game journalists in Los Angeles this week.
"We added almost a billion dollars to the revenue last year," he notes. "This year, we've told the street that we're going to add a billion to a billion-three."
And console games are a market that's doing well. "It's grown 30 percent year-to-date," says Riccitiello. "All three of the consoles are way up. The PC business in terms of it's aggregate of subscriptions/micro-transactions is also way up. "
But at the end of the day, it's about the games themselves.
"I think, hands down, there's not a publisher or a platform that's got what we've got," he says. In his own life, he sees how EA's games are making an impact: "I've got twenty-two nephews and nieces. A couple years there, I couldn't buy everything I wanted for them at the holidays. I can do the entire holiday -- and capture my mother for the first time -- at the EA store. That's never been the case before."
http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/the-tech-observer/2008/07/17/ea-to-play-in-knights-of-the-old-republic
===============================================================================
Personally I am skeptical that anything EA gets their greedy little hands on will even be released given their MMO performance to date and if it doesn't make a billion in the first month they will pull the plug on it faster than any of us can image.
I have a great deal of confidence in Bioware's ability to make the game but I have no confidence in EA especially with people dribbling on with statements like "Watch out WoW".
Edited, Jul 21st 2008 7:51pm by MontyB
It would have to go a long long way to be a WOW contender, that is true, even AoC is losing the battle against WOW, although im a fan of the swg genre, i really didnt like kotor, and have no idea how popular or not, the game was/is. As for EA themselves, their not as flexible as SOE probably, while SOE were willing to take a risk and keep SWG going through its 'difficult' period, EA do have a history of closing games, mmo's etc, if they stumble at the first hurdle, so to speak, anyone who remembers Earth and Beyond, will know what i mean, when it comes to broken promises and let downs, trust me, SOE may be no angels, but there are other companies just as guilty. About the only company i would trust, is Bioware, they do have a very good history, which i think everyone is aware of, lets hope this one doesnt bite them. I thought it was a very humourous statement where quote' Riccitiello told Portfolio.com that he was interested in owning World of Warcraft, and that he did discuss it, but it wasn't in the cards ' unquote. as if he could possibly lay his hands on that amount of money, even if blizzard were willing to sell, which they wouldnt, of course. personally, i think the interview itself is full of BS, or as they call it in the trade, PR spin.
cloudancer wrote:
About the only company i would trust, is Bioware, they do have a very good history,
EA owns bioware, i would find it hard to not trust EA but have trust in bioware.
cloudancer wrote:
It would have to go a long long way to be a WOW contender, that is true, even AoC is losing the battle against WOW, although im a fan of the swg genre, i really didnt like kotor, and have no idea how popular or not, the game was/is. As for EA themselves, their not as flexible as SOE probably, while SOE were willing to take a risk and keep SWG going through its 'difficult' period, EA do have a history of closing games, mmo's etc, if they stumble at the first hurdle, so to speak, anyone who remembers Earth and Beyond, will know what i mean, when it comes to broken promises and let downs, trust me, SOE may be no angels, but there are other companies just as guilty. About the only company i would trust, is Bioware, they do have a very good history, which i think everyone is aware of, lets hope this one doesnt bite them. I thought it was a very humourous statement where quote' Riccitiello told Portfolio.com that he was interested in owning World of Warcraft, and that he did discuss it, but it wasn't in the cards ' unquote. as if he could possibly lay his hands on that amount of money, even if blizzard were willing to sell, which they wouldnt, of course. personally, i think the interview itself is full of BS, or as they call it in the trade, PR spin.
Yeah I dont know how this is going to work out because unless the new game has space, housing and a crafting system to match the existing SWG then its really going to be a rather empty shell of a game, long gone are the days of jumping from one new release to next now I expect the next game I adopt to be better than the last in more than just graphics.
I also agree that for all of SOE's faults at least they do support their games EA just cancel them and move on to the next thing.
Edited, Jul 23rd 2008 2:22am by MontyB
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