It is true. Check it out.
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/17/porfolio-com-lucasarts-and-bioware-building-kotor-mmo/)

Most likely the end of SWG as we know it.

Anybody want a hug?

LucasArts are yet to confirm a new MMO, if there is one. I spent all night searching for confirmation but couldnt find anything. I think the story has come from a website looking for additional hits!

Bioware were due to make a new game announcement yesterday @ E3 but didn't. Only time will tell but all the information we have does point to a new MMO

Bioware were due to make a new game announcement yesterday @ E3 but didn't. Only time will tell but all the information we have does point to a new MMO

Supposedly they announced it on E3 (according to the kind folks in the KOTOR Forums).

Would you get into it if it came out DMUK?

That's true there is no official word on this matter yet. That being said, they aren't denying it either and there have been reports on it all day long.

@ Haters, lolz, people hate SWG that much???? they spend all day bitching that kotOR mmo sucks, it's gonna be like galaxies and suck!!(Spit dummy), then come into Galaxies forum and rub it in our face that this MMO that they hate will replace the MMO that they also hate? I dont care, I love SWG and I'll prob love SW: tOR or whatever it will be called, I'm happy either way :)

Here is the thread in bioware forums. You are correct that no official press release has come out from Bioware or LA. But it seems to be true none the less. If you want to read more on the topic check out the thread in the bioware forums. http://forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=595021&forum=41&sp=1515)

Just check out the last couple of pages.

The problem is that if there is a new Star Wars MMO in the works, it has already built up high expectations, so it has already been set up to fail, no matter what.

Galaxies is old now but I can still see it living along side any new MMO. It is clear that Lucas wants to target the Asia market, hence the Clone Wars movie. The Asia market is huge for MMO gaming, which in turn equals high revenue figures. Lets not forget that Galaxies failed in Japan, which was published by EA there I believe.

Would I get into KOTOR online? That would depend on what the game actually had to draw me in. I never got into KOTOR, but I just want a polished game that has engaging content and where players can be what they want to be - like Galaxies was a launch.

@ Haters, lolz, people hate SWG that much???? they spend all day bitching that kotOR mmo sucks, it's gonna be like galaxies and suck!!(Spit dummy), then come into Galaxies forum and rub it in our face that this MMO that they hate will replace the MMO that they also hate? I dont care, I love SWG and I'll prob love SW: tOR or whatever it will be called, I'm happy either way :)

I never said I hated the idea :lol:

I said Haters not Han Sala, but yeah :)

I said Haters not Han Sala, but yeah

Just clarifying that atm that it doesn't include me.


Carry On :D

KOTOR should be single player only.

Well from what I understand Lucas Arts copyrighted several names one of which was "The Old Republic" which I believe this game will actually be called. They also registered KOTOR3. So you may still see a single player KOTOR sequel as well as a new star wars mmo.

well if they close SWG because of this, that will piss me off. i'd rather pay for both subscriptions tbh.

^^^
Agreed
I see no reason to close SWG for the new MMO, from what I can tell the SW, and Lucasarts brand name's is all that links them, there both externally made game by different companies, they'll be independently maintained, surely Lucas would rather make money off two MMO's? :)

yea i invested alot of time into my character. :) starting to get more of the equipment, and regardless of what bounty hunter community is complaining about, i am pretty successful bounty hunter, what alot of people don't get is they have to WORK for their money now instead of just running in and 2 shotting someone. it is a pain though coming up against a fully buffed person that has all the heroic jewelry, +35/3s, and such...

anyway. i hope i can play as a bounty hunter in kotor mmorpg.

Well from what I understand Lucas Arts copyrighted several names one of which was "The Old Republic" which I believe this game will actually be called. They also registered KOTOR3. So you may still see a single player KOTOR sequel as well as a new star wars mmo.

Yeah. Like what Bungie did with Halo. Make Halo 3, then Halo Wars. I just don't know if the devs will do it in that order or the reverse order.

Its not going to be anything like the single player game. You cant pause an mmo in order to create a strategy for battle which was one of the nice things about KOTOR, if you ran into a room with an enemy in it the game would pause and give you time to look at the situation. I just hope that there's content to it that no other mmo has, just like what SWG did with space battles. I did like how in KOTOR it was kind of like fighting through dungeons in the Star Wars world. They gave an area to run around and you were able to blow up doors and steal from people, use computers to set traps and other really fun stuff.

Sorry, but it has not been confirmed. All these websites that many have cited for "confirmation", always come back to this two-bit, no-name company. Hmmm...why haven't the big name websites said something, from their own news source, instead of citing this other article. Like DMUK, until EA/LEC releases a direct press release, then I'll believe.

But, if this KotOR MMO is true, it won't be very popular. Why? Because of several reasons.

1. Bioware makes story-driven RPGs. MMORPGs require repeatable content. Good luck with this one. Bioware is walking into uncharted territory. What do you do when you're going someplace new? To look to someone with experience. And if you're a company trying to make a profit and you're looking for experience, you take from the most popular. And what is the most popular MMORPG to date? That's right - World of Warcraft. So, you can get the farm that this new MMORPG, if it exists, will be WoW in Space (some of you maybe able to remember the fears of SWG being "EQ is Space" back in '01 and '02).

2. Ultimately, if this MMO becomes WoW in Space, which it will be, you can bet it won't be as open-ended. It'll be linear, and it'll lack space, complete with the dogfights of the movies. It'll be class-based. The only redeeming factor - it'll have flashy glowsticks. That's right. That's all Bioware needs to put on the box is "Play as a Jedi...with a million other Jedi..." "That's not true" the fans will say, "You'll still be able to play as Scoundrel or a Soldier." Have you played KotOR? You picked a Jedi because they were more powerful. And the same will be true in this MMO. If the Jedi class(es) aren't the most powerful, people will cry, claiming, "They were the most powerful in 1 and 2." (Yes, you're going to say, "But this happens in every MMORPG." True, but this is a bit different as the game will be marketed as selling Jedi as the alpha class.)

I apologize for the tirade. I've never been a huge fan of KotOR. I liked the games, but they weren't "Star Wars". They were generic Sci-Fi with the force and lightsabers. If you removed the SW license and renamed those, the game wouldn't change at all. Quite frankly, like previously mentioned, the game as already failed. Bioware will not be able to meet expectations. Legions of players want to see a Pre-CU game with Post-NGE content set up in timeline that may be familiar to them.

If Bioware wants to pull this off correctly, and I hope they do, they need to not make Jedi playable at all - at least, not right away. Make them unlockable. But, you see, they can't do that, because their other game focused on Jedi. In the end, I wish they picked a different timeline entirely. But, we'll see what happens. Until then, SWG is a good game to play and makes good use of the SW license.

From portfolio.com:http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/the-tech-observer/2008/07/17/ea-to-play-in-knights-of-the-old-republic)

*This is the site that actually did the interview*

N. 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."
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