BioWare Developing Star Wars MMO, Gamer Heads Exploding

[Anach]

BioWare's eagerly anticipated MMO is set in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic universe, claims Primo Technology. The site attributes the information to a "source close to BioWare." Though the source in question must remain anonymous, Shacknews spoke with Primotech and received further information that adds validity to the report.
Shacknews attempted to verify the news directly by contacting the gamut of companies that would be involved in such a project, including studio owner Electronic Arts, Star Wars license holder LucasArts, Star Wars Galaxies publisher Sony Online Entertainment, and of course, BioWare itself. Those that responded were, unsurprisingly, non-committal. When asked about the rumored title, a LucasArts representative could neither confirm or deny the claims.

Today's report comes on the heels of Electronic Arts' purchase of BioWare and sister studio Pandemic, for which the publisher paid an exorbitant combined sum of $860 million. "In fiscal 2009 and 2010, we expect the BioWare and Pandemic properties to deliver revenue in excess of $300 million annually," said EA CFO Warren Jensen at the time. The potential earnings of an MMO from a well regarded developer, based on as lucrative a license as Star Wars, would lend credence to such a figure.

A Star Wars setting has been long-rumored for BioWare's debut MMO title, with rumors picking up steam in recent weeks. Citi industry analyst Brent Thill recently told Gamasutra that, "based on past development work," he believes the game to be a Star Wars title. Such a project could have been a major motivator in EA's decision to spend $860 million on the acquisition of BioWare and Pandemic.

BioWare developed the LucasArts-published Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on Xbox and PC, which was released in 2003 to critical and commercial success. Set 4,000 years before the Star Wars films, the RPG took place in that "civilized age" of which old Ben Kenobi spoke so fondly in the first Star Wars film. An Obsidian-developed sequel followed, though it did not quite receive its predecessor's unanimous acclaim. Fans have been clamoring for BioWare to return to the franchise ever since.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/49557

http://www.primotechnology.com/2007/10/ ... -universe/

[Dekklen]

Sounds pretty cool...I'll wait till official word from bioware before thinking this is legit.

[Anach]

Indeed. It's interesting that this rumour hasnt died though.

[Toucan]

swg -rip if this happens

[A'Ton Sands]

This rumor, has been around for years.

Now, I think think its time, SWG is getting old (in MMO terms) so it might be time.

oth, I'm quiet fearful, that LA want a WoW killer, if they go in that direction, it will be terrible.

Anyway, I'll need something more than, than an un-attributed source to convince me its true.

[gelfling]

Hmm... prior to EA's purchase of Bioware I would have treated this as a rumour and really hoped that it was true.

Now I'm just cautiously hoping for a good outcome. Bioware would do something wonderful with it. EA would frell it up and paint it in adverts. EA-Bioware? Fingers crossed.

[Iakimo]

Interesting that EA thought BioWare was capable of producing some $300 million (US) in income within the next couple of year -- which would more than justify the otherwise seemingly-exhorbitant price of some $630 million EA paid for them. But I'd always thought that a well-done Star Wars MMORPG would be capable of attracting a worldwide subscriber base of tens of millions.

Hopefully, they will do three things, if their plan is to publish a KOTOR-based MMORPG: (1) combine the instant-audience name recognition of the Star Wars franchise with the long-term gameplay value (or so I hear) of EVE Online; (2) make this a SKILLSET-based game, rather than a level-based WoW clone; and (3) actually TELL its newbie subscribers how different subsystems work. My experience with things like crafting and the advanced professions and food buffs and doc buffs, was that NONE of those systems were particularly difficult to comprehend; the only problem with them was that SOE did nothing to explain how they worked, other than refer people to the SWG Forums.

[Molten Prominence]

I'd drop SWG in a second. I came back to this game, re-activated both my accounts, and any spare time I get from RL I spend on online poker or researching stocks.

I'd probably deactivate now but I spent a lot of time setting up all my stuff (ie. vendors houses)

[Anach]

Whatever MMO they were going to make, it wouldnt surprise me if they changed their minds to a KOTOR MMO, after LA and BW realised the potential of all the hype relating to the KOTOR MMO.

[A'Ton Sands]

Whatever MMO they were going to make, it wouldnt surprise me if they changed their minds to a KOTOR MMO, after LA and BW realised the potential of all the hype relating to the KOTOR MMO.

I aggre, its also time for it as well, SWG is getting old, it needs a new engine and new graphics.

If they do this, I prey its not based on the new SW cartoon series, with cartoon characters, I think I'd cry if it were.

[Dekklen]

Whatever MMO they were going to make, it wouldnt surprise me if they changed their minds to a KOTOR MMO, after LA and BW realised the potential of all the hype relating to the KOTOR MMO.

I aggre, its also time for it as well, SWG is getting old, it needs a new engine and new graphics.

If they do this, I prey its not based on the new SW cartoon series, with cartoon characters, I think I'd cry if it were.

Yeah. The world already has a cartoon like MMO in WoW. We don't need another one!

[Lores]

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/6 ... KOTOR.html

Hot rumor of the day: The MMO that Bioware is working on is based on the Knights of the Old Republic universe.

Validity: We really can't speak either way for the rumor's source--we hadn't heard of Primotechnology.com before this morning, and the story is attributed to an unnamed source--but we do know definitively that Bioware is working on an MMO, and Knights of the Old Republic is their property...and if that were all there was to the story, we might be like "probably true!"

But it's not all. There's also the debacle that is Star Wars: Galaxies. TheFeed wonders whether any sane person would sink tens of millions into another Star Wars MMO... yeah, yeah, we known KOTOR isn't Star Wars Galaxies, but we find it hard to believe that financial backers, who most likely don't care about gaming except as a way to make a profit, would be willing to back a second shot at a Star Wars MMO after the failure of Galaxies.

So for now: Undetermined, if spicy, rumor.

[gelfling]

Reviving this thread to say that misgivings re. EA and LA aside, I've been playing KOTOR II again this week and it's making me want a thoroughly complex and absorbing KOTOR MMO. Right now Please