Raph to SOE and SWG: See Ya!

SavageX · **Joined:** Thu Jan 08, 2004 8:57 pm **Posts:** 1193

http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/sony/shake ... 162338.php

Quote:

A mole sends us word that Raph Koster has left the SOE to start up a new games studio. Cindy Armstrong, head of Business Development, has taken an offer to become the new USA honcho for Webzen. Moreover, Lucas Arts is not extending their Star Wars license. Yikes.

The rot has started to set in, and the mole implies that itâ€™s only a matter of time before SOEâ€™s prez. John Smedley is sent packing. â€œPlace has been falling apart for a while,â€ writes our mole. â€œSmedley is not long in his job.â€ May the force be with you, John.

Riley · **Joined:** Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:44 am **Posts:** 80

I think you are going to see them changing their focus quite a bit in the future. That division is now going to be in charge of the online platform for the PS3 as well so I don't imagine that will mix real well with the traditional MMORPG focus.

God knows they need a shakeup there though, maybe some change will do them good.

Pika · **Posted:** Thu Mar 23, 2006 10:25 am

If thats true put me down for two boxes of whatever Raph is selling. Basically, he can just shit in a box and put his picture on the cover.

MrJoshua · **Joined:** Thu Jan 15, 2004 1:16 pm **Posts:** 582

He tried half of that formula already: SWG.

Hades-LotD · **Joined:** Tue May 11, 2004 5:01 am **Posts:** 352

When you launch a game, you need to get it right in the first 6 months or you are yesterday's news. SWG had no competition at the time it launched, but the gameplay was absolutely horrible. You were penalized for grouping, missions were terribly boring, the PVP zones didn't work, downtime was gut wrenching, and combat/recovery mechanics were terrible.

Hell the only thing I liked was player housing, and LotD built the first player city on the Flurry server.

What did it in for me in SWG was being sick and tired of sitting in cantinas being forced to watch afk macroing dancers to heal my mental wounds, and sitting in a stupid hospital for countless minutes trying to heal because I was out of stimpack heals. For a night of PVP and a few deaths, I might have to endure those to features for an hour or more just to recoup.

Later after everyone was gazillionaires this wasn't a problem as much, but it was the stupid things that drove me from that game.

Ralph got UO right, and every other game he's been on has been worse IMHO. I hope now that he's his own boss he can figure out why people still cry for a UO type world today, and constantly bitch about EQ/WoW model gameworlds.

Pika · **Posted:** Thu Mar 23, 2006 10:55 am

I'd have to disagree. I think SWG's mechanics were truly inspired up until the CU. True, it had some bugs. But the interdependence of the community was a thing of beauty if you're into the Virtual Worlds type design. I look forward to Raph taking his 'Theory of Fun' from the drawing board to reality.

TripleDES · **Posted:** Thu Mar 23, 2006 10:57 am

It would be nice to get more official news about that license revokal, which kind of goes hand in hand with the stuff I posted in the Bioware thread.

Murgos · **Joined:** Tue Apr 06, 2004 2:56 pm **Posts:** 948

So does not extending the license mean that shortly Star Wars Galaxies with be renamed Sony Galaxies?

Does that mean that all Star Wars IP has to be purged from the game?

Or does it just mean the game is done? Time to turn off the servers and go home?

Tell you what, if you want to be known as a failure I can't think of a better way to go about it than to be the guy who couldn't make money with the Star Wars license... Yeah, I imagine that guy would have a lot of problems pursuing his chosen career in the future.

Pika · **Posted:** Thu Mar 23, 2006 11:29 am

Not just SWG but EQ2, the sequel to the best selling (at the time) MMORPG evah. Which one is the bigger fuck up? An argument could be made for either.

Simond · **Posted:** Thu Mar 23, 2006 11:32 am

Pika wrote:

I'd have to disagree. I think SWG's mechanics were truly inspired up until the CU. True, it had some bugs. But the interdependence of the community was a thing of beauty if you're into the Virtual Worlds type design. I look forward to Raph taking his 'Theory of Fun' from the drawing board to reality.

SWG, as a virtual world design, was pretty good (especially if SOE had spent some time fixing bugs instead of just randomly changing stuff).
SWG, as a Star Wars game, was bloody awful.

Pika · **Posted:** Thu Mar 23, 2006 11:33 am

I think the biggest problem with SWG as a game was the piss-poor Jedi implementation. Other than that I really enjoyed my time there.

tazelbain · **Joined:** Wed Dec 08, 2004 3:33 pm **Posts:** 112

Burn Baby Burn!

There is still some hope for KOTOR Online.

Mechta · **Joined:** Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:56 am **Posts:** 271

When something like the '92 New York Mets happens, we end up with a book like The Worst Team Money Could Buy. But when a company completely fucks up what is arguably the most marketable franchise in the world, in what is undoubtedly one of the biggest debacles in the history of the industry, who will write the tell all book? The answer is no one. Because the MMORPG world is too insular and incestuous to allow anyone to do something like that without becoming a pariah.

It makes me sad. I would love to read The Worst Game Money Could Buy, but when will it ever be written? Maybe only when people like Raph and Smedley are old and retired and have nothing left to lose.

Mechta · **Joined:** Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:56 am **Posts:** 271

Rumors are rampant!

All copies of SWG being recalled?

Publish 28 to be the last one? SWG licence going to Bioware?

We need Anderson Cooper on this stat!

Edit:MMORPG.com is getting hammered and died at least once already. I'll paste that first link in case it goes down for good.

Quote:

Went to Wally-World just now. Got a great lil gamepad for Battlefield 2, some blank DVDs, etc. But I guess you do not care about that... And, as always I perused the fine selection of video games...

Zero copies of ANYTHING related to SWG. Which is unusual for this particular Wal-Mart (west NC). Yes they previously pulled all the gamecards a while ago. Yes they pulled all the copies that were NOT The Starter Pack or newer expansions a while ago. But they still had Starter Packs galore and a couple expansions until today. Since I am in here all the time I know the guys here pretty good. The manager of this store is one of my customers. SO, I had him check things out for me.

He said he received a pull order from home office on a total of 4 SKUs, to be replaced by a brand new SKU effective 06/01/2006. I asked him what the title was of this new SKU. He said it was "LucasArts - Star Wars Galaxies" and it was indeed a brand new SKU according to the digits he was seeing. The retail price for the new SKU was $59.99. The SKUs that were pulled were The Starter Pack, The Total Experience, RotW, and ToOW. I commented that the last two had not been around for a while, and he said the reorder was set to zero a while back, but not recalled until now.

SO...the new pack is expensive...as expensive as a new release game. My GUESS would be it is a new rebundle of ALL expansions into one box, simliar to what the Total Experience was. He agreed. He also said that typically he would get a memo on something like this and that he did not this time. He was simply told to pack it ALL up and ship it back to HQ. He put me down as a preorder on it and told me he would give me a shout when he got it in stock, he said probably around middle of May. At the very least I can check it out before it is on the shelf, if I am lucky.

After I left, I went back to my office and decided what the hell, I called the Wal-Mart one town over and inquired about buying The Starter Pack - sorry, no longer available, and none in stock. I then asked, when IT would be back in stock. I was told that it is being replaced, and the new product would not be availale until the end of May. My guess is the "end of May" is the same as "06/01/2006" but I could be reading too much into it.

I then realized something, and called my buddy back. I asked him if the descriptions of the pulled product included the name LucasArts/SOE or just LucasArts. He said the four pulled SKUs were SOE - SWG, NOT LA - SWG. So for some reason the Wal-Mart inventory systems are now referring to Star Wars Galaxies as being LucasArts, not Sony Online Entertainment. So this either means diddly squat and someone just put in the first company they saw, or indeed, SOE is NO LONGER producing this new overpriced box.

So, as usual, there is something going on behind the scenes, and no one is talking facts. So there you go. I am sure the guys on the SWG forums would love to know this info, but I am unable to post on SWG forums...so if one of you kind souls could drop a link over there it would be appreciated.

Ookane · **Joined:** Fri Apr 22, 2005 1:02 pm **Posts:** 546

Well since BioWare just opened shop in Austin, announcing that they will be doing their own MMOG, and SOE:SWG team is in Austin, staffing should be a snap

Mechta · **Joined:** Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:56 am **Posts:** 271

Bioware adds fuel to the fire.

Quote:

Our studio, BioWare Edmonton, is still firmly pursuing the development of our own intellectual properties as we have been for some time.

Our new sister studio, BioWare Austin, has yet to state what stance they will be taking. I would refrain from assuming anything, one way or the other, until they've released more information.

_________________
Cinematic Designer
Mass Effect
BioWare/Pandemic
Edmonton Studio

crocker · **Posted:** Thu Mar 23, 2006 1:53 pm

If true, I hope Raph can make something close to the original SWG design doc, there was a lot of cool shit that got cut from development due to time constraints. A UO/SWG hybrid would be just lovely.

Ark · **Joined:** Fri Apr 23, 2004 5:21 am **Posts:** 690

And please, stay clear of any franchise license. I want to see what he does without being bound by Ultimae/Star Wars lore.

Septa Scarabae · **Posted:** Thu Mar 23, 2006 2:15 pm

All I can think of is, good for Raph. Here is to hoping he makes something decent we can sink our teethes into.

ahoythematey · **Posted:** Thu Mar 23, 2006 2:19 pm

It will be the most amazing MMO experience EVAR.

For the first month.

Then it will all fall apart and end up stagnant.

Raph to SOE and SWG: See Ya!

Who is online