'Was' being the operative term. At the end of its lifetime it was not profitable enough to continue. DCUO was a fresh game, and the IP lease wasnt up for renewal.
SWG was profitable enough to continue. SOE would not have wasted time updating the game near the end otherwise. There was plenty to do in SWG even without updates, so could have easily gotten by with no updates.
SWG > Vanguard
As soon as they announced SWGs shutdown, updates for Vanguard resumed, which they wished they did beforehand, and even now, both servers are rock bottom
Plus the TCG was getting more money
SWTOR will be less profitable than SWG by the end of the year
SWG only got shut down because LA got greedy and wanted all SWG players to play SWTOR, and they would be rolling in enough profits from SWTOR which would make SWG profits negligable. Now it is showing how wrong they are, with the mass rapid fall of SWTOR
The difference being that SoE owns the IP rights to Vanguard. The only costs they have is keeping the server up and any manpower they want to devote to it. Vanguard will pretty much only shut down when the number of subscribers (or profit when it goes F2P) drops below the amount it costs to keep the servers up.
SoE does not own the rights to the Star Wars IP. It was borrowing the IP with a lease. If they wanted to continue operating SWG they had to pay a hefty renewal for the IP lease. It wasnt profitable for them to do so. They did the updates at the end as a sign of good will towards the SWG vets who stuck with them, so they didnt think so badly of SoE in the future and would try their other games. Before the shutdown announcement they didnt have many updates at all. Its really not rocket science, its just basic business.
Just because you liked SWG more than Vanguard, doesnt make it more profitable or potentially profitable.
By the way, even if SWTOR drops to 300k subs by the end of the year, it will still be more profitable than SWG. I mean, the box sales alone means its probably made more money than SWG did in its entire lifetime.
Originally posted by superniceguy Originally posted by evilastroOriginally posted by AirtaeeOriginally posted by evilastro
The fact that SoE is still operating another Star Wars MMO speaks volumes. One was profitable, one wasnt. Biowares new MMO had nothing to do with it, just coincidental timing.Keep your facts straight , The clone wars adventures is not a MMO, is a browser game. Just a bunch of mini games you can play from your web browser.SWG was much more profitable than 75% of the mmorpg's still running. A f2p switch would worked for it as well as DCUo is. But the bad press from NGE and sites like the cave of the "vets" from this page nailed his coffin. The same bad press is killing the SWTOR, sadly this time, SWTOR is 20 times worst than SWG. SWG has a good system, economy, innovative ideas, professions not based in the "trinity", explorable worlds...the game was pretty good but too hard to catch for newbies and casuals. SWTOR is just boring'Was' being the operative term. At the end of its lifetime it was not profitable enough to continue. DCUO was a fresh game, and the IP lease wasnt up for renewal.SWG was profitable enough to continue. SOE would not have wasted time updating the game near the end otherwise. There was plenty to do in SWG even without updates, so could have easily gotten by with no updates.
SWG > Vanguard
As soon as they announced SWGs shutdown, updates for Vanguard resumed, which they wished they did beforehand, and even now, both servers are rock bottom
Plus the TCG was getting more money
SWTOR will be less profitable than SWG by the end of the year
SWG only got shut down because LA got greedy and wanted all SWG players to play SWTOR, and they would be rolling in enough profits from SWTOR which would make SWG profits negligable. Now it is showing how wrong they are, with the mass rapid fall of SWTOR
It's easy to let something on life support when you keep the project around for interns that don't get paid a dime. It was never in the interest of SOE to keep it and I'm sure they are glad to see it go. Now you, you need to let go. It's not coming back, cry about it and lets move on. It was already announced, Star Wars 1313 nothing near SWG.
[[ DEAD ]] - Funny - I deleted my account on the site using the cancel account button. Forum user is separate and still exists with no way of deleting it. Delete it admins. Do it, this ends now.
The fact that SoE is still operating another Star Wars MMO speaks volumes. One was profitable, one wasnt. Biowares new MMO had nothing to do with it, just coincidental timing.
Keep your facts straight , The clone wars adventures is not a MMO, is a browser game. Just a bunch of mini games you can play from your web browser.
SWG was much more profitable than 75% of the mmorpg's still running. A f2p switch would worked for it as well as DCUo is. But the bad press from NGE and sites like the cave of the "vets" from this page nailed his coffin. The same bad press is killing the SWTOR, sadly this time, SWTOR is 20 times worst than SWG.
SWG has a good system, economy, innovative ideas, professions not based in the "trinity", explorable worlds...the game was pretty good but too hard to catch for newbies and casuals. SWTOR is just boring
'Was' being the operative term. At the end of its lifetime it was not profitable enough to continue. DCUO was a fresh game, and the IP lease wasnt up for renewal.
SWG was profitable enough to continue. SOE would not have wasted time updating the game near the end otherwise. There was plenty to do in SWG even without updates, so could have easily gotten by with no updates.
SWG > Vanguard
As soon as they announced SWGs shutdown, updates for Vanguard resumed, which they wished they did beforehand, and even now, both servers are rock bottom
Plus the TCG was getting more money
SWTOR will be less profitable than SWG by the end of the year
SWG only got shut down because LA got greedy and wanted all SWG players to play SWTOR, and they would be rolling in enough profits from SWTOR which would make SWG profits negligable. Now it is showing how wrong they are, with the mass rapid fall of SWTOR
Profitable with what? 10k subs? 20k subs? Your insane.
'Was' being the operative term. At the end of its lifetime it was not profitable enough to continue. DCUO was a fresh game, and the IP lease wasnt up for renewal.
SWG was profitable enough to continue. SOE would not have wasted time updating the game near the end otherwise. There was plenty to do in SWG even without updates, so could have easily gotten by with no updates.
SWG > Vanguard
As soon as they announced SWGs shutdown, updates for Vanguard resumed, which they wished they did beforehand, and even now, both servers are rock bottom
Plus the TCG was getting more money
SWTOR will be less profitable than SWG by the end of the year
SWG only got shut down because LA got greedy and wanted all SWG players to play SWTOR, and they would be rolling in enough profits from SWTOR which would make SWG profits negligable. Now it is showing how wrong they are, with the mass rapid fall of SWTOR
The difference being that SoE owns the IP rights to Vanguard. The only costs they have is keeping the server up and any manpower they want to devote to it. Vanguard will pretty much only shut down when the number of subscribers (or profit when it goes F2P) drops below the amount it costs to keep the servers up.
SoE does not own the rights to the Star Wars IP. It was borrowing the IP with a lease. If they wanted to continue operating SWG they had to pay a hefty renewal for the IP lease. It wasnt profitable for them to do so. They did the updates at the end as a sign of good will towards the SWG vets who stuck with them, so they didnt think so badly of SoE in the future and would try their other games. Before the shutdown announcement they didnt have many updates at all. Its really not rocket science, its just basic business.
Just because you liked SWG more than Vanguard, doesnt make it more profitable or potentially profitable.
By the way, even if SWTOR drops to 300k subs by the end of the year, it will still be more profitable than SWG. I mean, the box sales alone means its probably made more money than SWG did in its entire lifetime.
The fact that SOE owns the IP rights to Vanguard should mean that they would more likely do updates to Vanguard than SWG. The reason why they kept updates going for SWG means it was more profitable. Before the shutdown announcements there were plenty updates. Vanguard had NO updates what so ever.
Not doing updates for Vanguard makes SOE look worse as LA called the shots with SWG.
If the intellectual property of Galaxies was wholly owned by SOE, then the decision might have been moot because the game would likely continue to make money for a long time, even with TOR lurking. "That's the problem with licenses: they end," Smedley said. "We're going to continue to do some licensed work, but we're largely going to stick to original IP [going forward] because then we won't have this issue. We'll never have this problem with EverQuest."
I really don't see how anyone can argue against SWG getting shutdown because of ToR. It was pretty obvious that LA at that time did not want 2 SW MMO's. Why they didn't want two is open to specualtion.
I dunno, I think it's debatable, actually. Don't forget, we're talking about a company that has released the same movie trilogy, what, in a dozen different versions now? More?
If SWG had still been pulling in big bucks, I am quite certain LA would have had no problem with both being in operation.
But we do not know the terms of the license agreements held by SWG or by EA/BW.
In the end, I think it's probably a combination of things that we will never probably know about.
If SWG had been pulling big bucks there would not have been a need or want for ToR. Remember when LA released that statement saying they were going to keep both games going and then they changed their minds? If it had been a contractual issue they would have never released that. The contract between BW/EA and LA would have been finalized long before that statement was made.
I believe that LA figured with the BW name behind this MMO they just couldn't lose. Shutting down SWG would eliminate any kind of confusion between the two games. Considering it was the holiday season it was an understandable move.
In the end you are right. We will probably never know why Lucas does the crap he does with this IP.
The fact that SoE is still operating another Star Wars MMO speaks volumes. One was profitable, one wasnt. Biowares new MMO had nothing to do with it, just coincidental timing.
Keep your facts straight , The clone wars adventures is not a MMO, is a browser game. Just a bunch of mini games you can play from your web browser.
SWG was much more profitable than 75% of the mmorpg's still running. A f2p switch would worked for it as well as DCUo is. But the bad press from NGE and sites like the cave of the "vets" from this page nailed his coffin. The same bad press is killing the SWTOR, sadly this time, SWTOR is 20 times worst than SWG.
SWG has a good system, economy, innovative ideas, professions not based in the "trinity", explorable worlds...the game was pretty good but too hard to catch for newbies and casuals. SWTOR is just boring
'Was' being the operative term. At the end of its lifetime it was not profitable enough to continue. DCUO was a fresh game, and the IP lease wasnt up for renewal.
SWG was profitable enough to continue. SOE would not have wasted time updating the game near the end otherwise. There was plenty to do in SWG even without updates, so could have easily gotten by with no updates.
SWG > Vanguard
As soon as they announced SWGs shutdown, updates for Vanguard resumed, which they wished they did beforehand, and even now, both servers are rock bottom
Plus the TCG was getting more money
SWTOR will be less profitable than SWG by the end of the year
SWG only got shut down because LA got greedy and wanted all SWG players to play SWTOR, and they would be rolling in enough profits from SWTOR which would make SWG profits negligable. Now it is showing how wrong they are, with the mass rapid fall of SWTOR
Profitable with what? 10k subs? 20k subs? Your insane.
Well SWG had at its height around 250-300.000 subs which was great before WoW became the yardstick. After the decline with NGE (yes CU lost them people but not as much as NGE did) there was just a skeleton staff with minor updates so costs were minimal. It still chugged along for 6 more years. SWG cost less to develop a lot less than TOR.
Let's see how much relative profit TOR has in 7 years (assuming they don't put it in maintenance mode like SWG for the last 4 years).
If the intellectual property of Galaxies was wholly owned by SOE, then the decision might have been moot because the game would likely continue to make money for a long time, even with TOR lurking. "That's the problem with licenses: they end," Smedley said. "We're going to continue to do some licensed work, but we're largely going to stick to original IP [going forward] because then we won't have this issue. We'll never have this problem with EverQuest."
Basically they didnt think it was profitable to renew the license when competing with another Star Wars MMO.
That is just taking what Smedley says out of context and twists it
It still does not mean it was not profitable. It takes 2 to secure a licence, and it sounds like LA made it a pain for SOE, when he says he is largely going to stick to original IP [going forward]. If LA were easy going, he probably would have done more outside IP stuff.
SOE seemed to be well keen to continue with SWG, but LA had other ideals. Smedley himself said that LA called the shots with SWG, which is linked in a locked topic of mine on these forums.
This is what makes it show that it was profitable, from a respected level headed person, who is in the know of these things.. You n the other hand have a rep for just bashing SWG. Nothing on the internet can be believed but I take what Fishermage knows to be more accurate than what you think
The fact that SOE owns the IP rights to Vanguard should mean that they would more likely do updates to Vanguard than SWG. The reason why they kept updates going for SWG means it was more profitable. Before the shutdown announcements there were plenty updates. Vanguard had NO updates what so ever.
Not doing updates for Vanguard makes SOE look worse as LA called the shots with SWG.
SoE did update Vanguard and tried to relaunch it under the subscription model. It failed. So they stopped developing it.
As a business, why would they keep pumping development costs into a game that wasnt growing?
They are going to try again with F2P model, if this doesnt work I am sure the game will go into life support mode again until it stops making a profit.
To be honest, Vanguard and SWG had so much content in it that they could never update them again and some people would still play them. They own the Vanguard IP so they can afford to let it sit there stagnant and bring in a small amount of cash from the hard core fans. But they dont own the Star Wars IP, so they couldnt do the same thing. It would cost them more money to renew the license than they thought they were going to make back.
Also there were not plenty of updates before the shutdown announcements. The game had been stagnant since 2008. In the year leading up to the shutdown announcement there were only 3 content updates, and not even significant ones. True Vanguard was getting no updates for 2 years, but as I said, SoE dont need to update Vanguard. They own the IP and can sit on it if they want.
If the intellectual property of Galaxies was wholly owned by SOE, then the decision might have been moot because the game would likely continue to make money for a long time, even with TOR lurking. "That's the problem with licenses: they end," Smedley said. "We're going to continue to do some licensed work, but we're largely going to stick to original IP [going forward] because then we won't have this issue. We'll never have this problem with EverQuest."
Basically they didnt think it was profitable to renew the license when competing with another Star Wars MMO.
That is just taking what Smedley says out of context and twists it
It still does not mean it was not profitable. It takes 2 to secure a licence, and it sounds like LA made it a pain for SOE, when he says he is largely going to stick to original IP [going forward]. If LA were easy going, he probably would have done more outside IP stuff.
SOE seemed to be well keen to continue with SWG, but LA had other ideals. Smedley himself said that LA called the shots with SWG, which is linked in a locked topic of mine on these forums.
This is what makes it show that it was profitable, from a respected level headed person, who is in the know of these things.. You n the other hand have a rep for just bashing SWG. Nothing on the internet can be believed but I take what Fishermage knows to be more accurate than what you think
Its not taking what he said out of context at all. He very clearly says "The game would have continued to be profitable IF we didnt have to pay the license". There is no other way to read it.
Also I have a rep for bashing SWG? Thats laughable considering that I played the game for 5 years. What I am presenting to you is reality. You seem to live in some magical fantasy world where SWG was the most successful MMO ever and every corporation in the world is desperate to revive it due to its massive money making potential. You need to get a grip son. Its dead, go play on the servers that shall not be mentioned if you want to live in the past.
Also I love how someones post with no proof or backing whatsoever is proof that it was profitable and would continue to be profitable after paying the license. But because he agrees with what you want to believe that makes him respected and level headed. You really are delusional.
If the intellectual property of Galaxies was wholly owned by SOE, then the decision might have been moot because the game would likely continue to make money for a long time, even with TOR lurking. "That's the problem with licenses: they end," Smedley said. "We're going to continue to do some licensed work, but we're largely going to stick to original IP [going forward] because then we won't have this issue. We'll never have this problem with EverQuest."
Basically they didnt think it was profitable to renew the license when competing with another Star Wars MMO.
That is just taking what Smedley says out of context and twists it
It still does not mean it was not profitable. It takes 2 to secure a licence, and it sounds like LA made it a pain for SOE, when he says he is largely going to stick to original IP [going forward]. If LA were easy going, he probably would have done more outside IP stuff.
SOE seemed to be well keen to continue with SWG, but LA had other ideals. Smedley himself said that LA called the shots with SWG, which is linked in a locked topic of mine on these forums.
This is what makes it show that it was profitable, from a respected level headed person, who is in the know of these things.. You n the other hand have a rep for just bashing SWG. Nothing on the internet can be believed but I take what Fishermage knows to be more accurate than what you think
Its not taking what he said out of context at all. He very clearly says "The game would have continued to be profitable IF we didnt have to pay the license". There is no other way to read it.
Also I have a rep for bashing SWG? Thats laughable considering that I played the game for 5 years. What I am presenting to you is reality. You seem to live in some magical fantasy world where SWG was the most successful MMO ever and every corporation in the world is desperate to revive it due to its massive money making potential. You need to get a grip son. Its dead, go play on the servers that shall not be mentioned if you want to live in the past.
He also said , "It was time to turn it off." No one says something like that about a game that is making money.
The fact that SOE owns the IP rights to Vanguard should mean that they would more likely do updates to Vanguard than SWG. The reason why they kept updates going for SWG means it was more profitable. Before the shutdown announcements there were plenty updates. Vanguard had NO updates what so ever.
Not doing updates for Vanguard makes SOE look worse as LA called the shots with SWG.
SoE did update Vanguard and tried to relaunch it under the subscription model. It failed. So they stopped developing it.
As a business, why would they keep pumping development costs into a game that wasnt growing?
They are going to try again with F2P model, if this doesnt work I am sure the game will go into life support mode again until it stops making a profit.
To be honest, Vanguard and SWG had so much content in it that they could never update them again and some people would still play them. They own the Vanguard IP so they can afford to let it sit there stagnant and bring in a small amount of cash from the hard core fans. But they dont own the Star Wars IP, so they couldnt do the same thing. It would cost them more money to renew the license than they thought they were going to make back.
Also there were not plenty of updates before the shutdown announcements. The game had been stagnant since 2008. In the year leading up to the shutdown announcement there were only 3 content updates, and not even significant ones. True Vanguard was getting no updates for 2 years, but as I said, SoE dont need to update Vanguard. They own the IP and can sit on it if they want.
There were updates before the shutdwon announcement, I can not remember them now, as all links to offivcial forums are now gone, but I know that they did updates every other week, as the downtimes for EU were annoying.
The last two were the Bounty Hunter space update and the GCW 2 Space update, and something else which got cancelled because of the shutdown. They were also updating the professions. These were being done as SOE themselves did not know the game was going to be shut down. There was also talks of merges coming in late 2011/2012.
The only updates they did to make the ending sweeter was Atmostpheric Flight, bringing back spice to Smugglers and the final battles.
The fact they were still updating the game kept people thinking the game had at least 1 year left in it. I wish they did not updates whatsoever then it would have been obvious, and would have gotten me and others cracking on getting stuff done, before the end. When it shut down, there was still plenty of stuff I wanted to do, even playing it for the solid 8.5 years it was active.
So basically ff they stopped updating it, it would not have bothered me, in fact it would have been better. There was just not enough time to enjoy the final build. I have unfinished business with SWG because of them still updating until the end and just before the shutdown announcement.
If the intellectual property of Galaxies was wholly owned by SOE, then the decision might have been moot because the game would likely continue to make money for a long time, even with TOR lurking. "That's the problem with licenses: they end," Smedley said. "We're going to continue to do some licensed work, but we're largely going to stick to original IP [going forward] because then we won't have this issue. We'll never have this problem with EverQuest."
Basically they didnt think it was profitable to renew the license when competing with another Star Wars MMO.
That is just taking what Smedley says out of context and twists it
It still does not mean it was not profitable. It takes 2 to secure a licence, and it sounds like LA made it a pain for SOE, when he says he is largely going to stick to original IP [going forward]. If LA were easy going, he probably would have done more outside IP stuff.
SOE seemed to be well keen to continue with SWG, but LA had other ideals. Smedley himself said that LA called the shots with SWG, which is linked in a locked topic of mine on these forums.
This is what makes it show that it was profitable, from a respected level headed person, who is in the know of these things.. You n the other hand have a rep for just bashing SWG. Nothing on the internet can be believed but I take what Fishermage knows to be more accurate than what you think
Its not taking what he said out of context at all. He very clearly says "The game would have continued to be profitable IF we didnt have to pay the license". There is no other way to read it.
Also I have a rep for bashing SWG? Thats laughable considering that I played the game for 5 years. What I am presenting to you is reality. You seem to live in some magical fantasy world where SWG was the most successful MMO ever and every corporation in the world is desperate to revive it due to its massive money making potential. You need to get a grip son. Its dead, go play on the servers that shall not be mentioned if you want to live in the past.
He also said , "It was time to turn it off." No one says something like that about a game that is making money.
Yeah because the contract was up for renewal, and LA did not want to renew the contract. SWG shuts down DEc 15th, SWTOR releases 20th. If there was a time to shut it down then Dec 15th was it, but still does not mean it was not making money.
SWTOR was predicted to eclipse SWG in the making money dept. If they were right then shutting down SWG would have been the time to turn it off, and these threads would not exist.
This is the effect produced by killing this game. They martyred it. Because it's not a person it has the possibility (however improbable and impractical) of coming back in some form, so for those who were forced out and have no game to go to, it feels more satisfying to just try and find neverland.
If the intellectual property of Galaxies was wholly owned by SOE, then the decision might have been moot because the game would likely continue to make money for a long time, even with TOR lurking. "That's the problem with licenses: they end," Smedley said. "We're going to continue to do some licensed work, but we're largely going to stick to original IP [going forward] because then we won't have this issue. We'll never have this problem with EverQuest."
Basically they didnt think it was profitable to renew the license when competing with another Star Wars MMO.
That is just taking what Smedley says out of context and twists it
It still does not mean it was not profitable. It takes 2 to secure a licence, and it sounds like LA made it a pain for SOE, when he says he is largely going to stick to original IP [going forward]. If LA were easy going, he probably would have done more outside IP stuff.
SOE seemed to be well keen to continue with SWG, but LA had other ideals. Smedley himself said that LA called the shots with SWG, which is linked in a locked topic of mine on these forums.
This is what makes it show that it was profitable, from a respected level headed person, who is in the know of these things.. You n the other hand have a rep for just bashing SWG. Nothing on the internet can be believed but I take what Fishermage knows to be more accurate than what you think
Its not taking what he said out of context at all. He very clearly says "The game would have continued to be profitable IF we didnt have to pay the license". There is no other way to read it.
Also I have a rep for bashing SWG? Thats laughable considering that I played the game for 5 years. What I am presenting to you is reality. You seem to live in some magical fantasy world where SWG was the most successful MMO ever and every corporation in the world is desperate to revive it due to its massive money making potential. You need to get a grip son. Its dead, go play on the servers that shall not be mentioned if you want to live in the past.
Also I love how someones post with no proof or backing whatsoever is proof that it was profitable and would continue to be profitable after paying the license. But because he agrees with what you want to believe that makes him respected and level headed. You really are delusional.
He also promotes SWTOR here which is not what I want to hear. I have seen his posts on the Official SWG forums, and talking about merges or free transfers. I know him well. I know you well too
Yeah because the contract was up for renewal, and LA did not want to renew the contract. SWG shuts down DEc 15th, SWTOR releases 20th. If there was a time to shut it down then Dec 15th was it, but still does not mean it was not making money.
SWTOR was predicted to eclipse SWG in the making money dept. If they were right then shutting down SWG would have been the time to turn it off, and these threads would not exist.
These threads exist because crazy people like to believe in conspiracy theories rather than dealing with reality.
This is the effect produced by killing this game. They martyred it. Because it's not a person it has the possibility (however improbable and impractical) of coming back in some form, so for those who were forced out and have no game to go to, it feels more satisfying to just try and find neverland.
I am not going for SWG 2 as chances are uit will just turn into a generic piece of crap like SWTOR.
SWG is already written, and requires no development cost, it just needa agreeance by someone to officially host it.
Why bother with another game, when it will get shut down anyway.
Yeah because the contract was up for renewal, and LA did not want to renew the contract. SWG shuts down DEc 15th, SWTOR releases 20th. If there was a time to shut it down then Dec 15th was it, but still does not mean it was not making money.
SWTOR was predicted to eclipse SWG in the making money dept. If they were right then shutting down SWG would have been the time to turn it off, and these threads would not exist.
These threads exist because crazy people like to believe in conspiracy theories rather than dealing with reality.
What like you? All my posts are based off people who are reasonable about the situation and do not hate on SWG
People like you just fuel these threads into arguments and twist the facts to suit your own needs which makes them last longer
Yeah because the contract was up for renewal, and LA did not want to renew the contract. SWG shuts down DEc 15th, SWTOR releases 20th. If there was a time to shut it down then Dec 15th was it, but still does not mean it was not making money.
SWTOR was predicted to eclipse SWG in the making money dept. If they were right then shutting down SWG would have been the time to turn it off, and these threads would not exist.
These threads exist because crazy people like to believe in conspiracy theories rather than dealing with reality.
This is the effect produced by killing this game. They martyred it. Because it's not a person it has the possibility (however improbable and impractical) of coming back in some form, so for those who were forced out and have no game to go to, it feels more satisfying to just try and find neverland.
I am not going for SWG 2 as chances are uit will just turn into a generic piece of crap like SWTOR.
SWG is already written, and requires no development cost, it just needa agreeance by someone to officially host it.
Why bother with another game, when it will get shut down anyway.
SWG deserves the chance to be F2P.
Well if you only want SWG Pre-CU FTP then you know that exists in the form that we cannot talk about.
This is the effect produced by killing this game. They martyred it. Because it's not a person it has the possibility (however improbable and impractical) of coming back in some form, so for those who were forced out and have no game to go to, it feels more satisfying to just try and find neverland.
I am not going for SWG 2 as chances are uit will just turn into a generic piece of crap like SWTOR.
SWG is already written, and requires no development cost, it just needa agreeance by someone to officially host it.
Why bother with another game, when it will get shut down anyway.
SWG deserves the chance to be F2P.
Well if you only want SWG Pre-CU FTP then you know that exists in the form that we cannot talk about.
No, the game that was shut down on 15th Dec 2011, with 8.5 years of characters and stuff done it. I am not starting from scratch in any other game, when LA can pull the plug whenevr they want. If it was dead when it shut down, then it would be a different matter, but the there was 4 full servers in June, 3 more than there was in April. The game had potential to live on. SWG did not die, it got murdered.
He also said , "It was time to turn it off." No one says something like that about a game that is making money.
Yeah because the contract was up for renewal, and LA did not want to renew the contract.
Where has LA said that they didn't want to renew the contract?
SWG shuts down DEc 15th, SWTOR releases 20th. If there was a time to shut it down then Dec 15th was it, but still does not mean it was not making money.
No one in the world of business shuts down a project that is making money. You have provided nothing but ancedotal evidence to back up your claims. Do you have any hard evidence eg: numbers,SOE and LA statements that specifically state the game was making a profit? And no, second hand "he said" "she said" from one of your favorite posters doesn't count.
SWTOR was predicted to eclipse SWG in the making money dept. If they were right then shutting down SWG would have been the time to turn it off, and these threads would not exist.
The SIMS Online was shut down years ago and yet that forum still exists here. These threads will always exist because there will always be fans for every game. Doesn't mean that they represent a large majority of the gaming public.
This is the effect produced by killing this game. They martyred it. Because it's not a person it has the possibility (however improbable and impractical) of coming back in some form, so for those who were forced out and have no game to go to, it feels more satisfying to just try and find neverland.
I am not going for SWG 2 as chances are uit will just turn into a generic piece of crap like SWTOR.
SWG is already written, and requires no development cost, it just needa agreeance by someone to officially host it.
Why bother with another game, when it will get shut down anyway.
SWG deserves the chance to be F2P.
Well if you only want SWG Pre-CU FTP then you know that exists in the form that we cannot talk about.
No, the game that was shut down on 15th Dec 2011, with 8.5 years of characters and stuff done it. I am not starting from scratch in any other game, when LA can pull the plug whenevr they want. If it was dead when it shut down, then it would be a different matter, but the there was 4 full servers in June, 3 more than there was in April. The game had potential to live on. SWG did not die, it got killed.
Uh the servers he is talking about is unlikely to get shut down by LA since they are how shall we say... not legal.
Blame whoever you want, but SWG isnt coming back in a legitimate way, regardless of SWTORs success or failure.
This is the effect produced by killing this game. They martyred it. Because it's not a person it has the possibility (however improbable and impractical) of coming back in some form, so for those who were forced out and have no game to go to, it feels more satisfying to just try and find neverland.
I am not going for SWG 2 as chances are uit will just turn into a generic piece of crap like SWTOR.
SWG is already written, and requires no development cost, it just needa agreeance by someone to officially host it.
Why bother with another game, when it will get shut down anyway.
SWG deserves the chance to be F2P.
Well if you only want SWG Pre-CU FTP then you know that exists in the form that we cannot talk about.
No, the game that was shut down on 15th Dec 2011, with 8.5 years of characters and stuff done it. I am not starting from scratch in any other game, when LA can pull the plug whenevr they want. If it was dead when it shut down, then it would be a different matter, but the there was 4 full servers in June, 3 more than there was in April. The game had potential to live on. SWG did not die, it got murdered.
Ok well that's a different story. If you have played the (DELETED) any time recently then you can see that the game could not survive in today's world without a Vertical vector, graphics + physics updates, and a better combat system (The Queue is really boring, it takes way too long to kill even menial stuff. I like long kill times, but it's actually ridiculous and unengaging--NGE was better in this aspect).
Your stuff is gone bro, and all that it meant. They Death Star'd our achievements, time, and fun. I can't tell you to let it go, but as a sympathetic cohort I feel I should ask you to examine the probablility that you will get SWG back from SOE with the database intact from shutdown.
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The difference being that SoE owns the IP rights to Vanguard. The only costs they have is keeping the server up and any manpower they want to devote to it. Vanguard will pretty much only shut down when the number of subscribers (or profit when it goes F2P) drops below the amount it costs to keep the servers up.
SoE does not own the rights to the Star Wars IP. It was borrowing the IP with a lease. If they wanted to continue operating SWG they had to pay a hefty renewal for the IP lease. It wasnt profitable for them to do so. They did the updates at the end as a sign of good will towards the SWG vets who stuck with them, so they didnt think so badly of SoE in the future and would try their other games. Before the shutdown announcement they didnt have many updates at all. Its really not rocket science, its just basic business.
Just because you liked SWG more than Vanguard, doesnt make it more profitable or potentially profitable.
By the way, even if SWTOR drops to 300k subs by the end of the year, it will still be more profitable than SWG. I mean, the box sales alone means its probably made more money than SWG did in its entire lifetime.
Keep your facts straight , The clone wars adventures is not a MMO, is a browser game. Just a bunch of mini games you can play from your web browser. SWG was much more profitable than 75% of the mmorpg's still running. A f2p switch would worked for it as well as DCUo is. But the bad press from NGE and sites like the cave of the "vets" from this page nailed his coffin. The same bad press is killing the SWTOR, sadly this time, SWTOR is 20 times worst than SWG. SWG has a good system, economy, innovative ideas, professions not based in the "trinity", explorable worlds...the game was pretty good but too hard to catch for newbies and casuals. SWTOR is just boring
'Was' being the operative term. At the end of its lifetime it was not profitable enough to continue. DCUO was a fresh game, and the IP lease wasnt up for renewal.
SWG was profitable enough to continue. SOE would not have wasted time updating the game near the end otherwise. There was plenty to do in SWG even without updates, so could have easily gotten by with no updates.
SWG > Vanguard
As soon as they announced SWGs shutdown, updates for Vanguard resumed, which they wished they did beforehand, and even now, both servers are rock bottom
Plus the TCG was getting more money
SWTOR will be less profitable than SWG by the end of the year
SWG only got shut down because LA got greedy and wanted all SWG players to play SWTOR, and they would be rolling in enough profits from SWTOR which would make SWG profits negligable. Now it is showing how wrong they are, with the mass rapid fall of SWTOR
It's easy to let something on life support when you keep the project around for interns that don't get paid a dime. It was never in the interest of SOE to keep it and I'm sure they are glad to see it go. Now you, you need to let go. It's not coming back, cry about it and lets move on. It was already announced, Star Wars 1313 nothing near SWG.
Profitable with what? 10k subs? 20k subs? Your insane.
The fact that SOE owns the IP rights to Vanguard should mean that they would more likely do updates to Vanguard than SWG. The reason why they kept updates going for SWG means it was more profitable. Before the shutdown announcements there were plenty updates. Vanguard had NO updates what so ever.
Not doing updates for Vanguard makes SOE look worse as LA called the shots with SWG.
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Taken from an interview with the SoE CEO:
If the intellectual property of Galaxies was wholly owned by SOE, then the decision might have been moot because the game would likely continue to make money for a long time, even with TOR lurking. "That's the problem with licenses: they end," Smedley said. "We're going to continue to do some licensed work, but we're largely going to stick to original IP [going forward] because then we won't have this issue. We'll never have this problem with EverQuest."
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111549-SOE-Bids-Fond-Farewell-to-Star-Wars-Galaxies
Basically they didnt think it was profitable to renew the license when competing with another Star Wars MMO.
If SWG had been pulling big bucks there would not have been a need or want for ToR. Remember when LA released that statement saying they were going to keep both games going and then they changed their minds? If it had been a contractual issue they would have never released that. The contract between BW/EA and LA would have been finalized long before that statement was made.
I believe that LA figured with the BW name behind this MMO they just couldn't lose. Shutting down SWG would eliminate any kind of confusion between the two games. Considering it was the holiday season it was an understandable move.
In the end you are right. We will probably never know why Lucas does the crap he does with this IP.
Well SWG had at its height around 250-300.000 subs which was great before WoW became the yardstick. After the decline with NGE (yes CU lost them people but not as much as NGE did) there was just a skeleton staff with minor updates so costs were minimal. It still chugged along for 6 more years. SWG cost less to develop a lot less than TOR.
Let's see how much relative profit TOR has in 7 years (assuming they don't put it in maintenance mode like SWG for the last 4 years).
That is just taking what Smedley says out of context and twists it
It still does not mean it was not profitable. It takes 2 to secure a licence, and it sounds like LA made it a pain for SOE, when he says he is largely going to stick to original IP [going forward]. If LA were easy going, he probably would have done more outside IP stuff.
SOE seemed to be well keen to continue with SWG, but LA had other ideals. Smedley himself said that LA called the shots with SWG, which is linked in a locked topic of mine on these forums.
This is what makes it show that it was profitable, from a respected level headed person, who is in the know of these things.. You n the other hand have a rep for just bashing SWG. Nothing on the internet can be believed but I take what Fishermage knows to be more accurate than what you think
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
SoE did update Vanguard and tried to relaunch it under the subscription model. It failed. So they stopped developing it.
As a business, why would they keep pumping development costs into a game that wasnt growing?
They are going to try again with F2P model, if this doesnt work I am sure the game will go into life support mode again until it stops making a profit.
To be honest, Vanguard and SWG had so much content in it that they could never update them again and some people would still play them. They own the Vanguard IP so they can afford to let it sit there stagnant and bring in a small amount of cash from the hard core fans. But they dont own the Star Wars IP, so they couldnt do the same thing. It would cost them more money to renew the license than they thought they were going to make back.
Also there were not plenty of updates before the shutdown announcements. The game had been stagnant since 2008. In the year leading up to the shutdown announcement there were only 3 content updates, and not even significant ones. True Vanguard was getting no updates for 2 years, but as I said, SoE dont need to update Vanguard. They own the IP and can sit on it if they want.
Its not taking what he said out of context at all. He very clearly says "The game would have continued to be profitable IF we didnt have to pay the license". There is no other way to read it.
Also I have a rep for bashing SWG? Thats laughable considering that I played the game for 5 years. What I am presenting to you is reality. You seem to live in some magical fantasy world where SWG was the most successful MMO ever and every corporation in the world is desperate to revive it due to its massive money making potential. You need to get a grip son. Its dead, go play on the servers that shall not be mentioned if you want to live in the past.
Also I love how someones post with no proof or backing whatsoever is proof that it was profitable and would continue to be profitable after paying the license. But because he agrees with what you want to believe that makes him respected and level headed. You really are delusional.
He also said , "It was time to turn it off." No one says something like that about a game that is making money.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
There were updates before the shutdwon announcement, I can not remember them now, as all links to offivcial forums are now gone, but I know that they did updates every other week, as the downtimes for EU were annoying.
The last two were the Bounty Hunter space update and the GCW 2 Space update, and something else which got cancelled because of the shutdown. They were also updating the professions. These were being done as SOE themselves did not know the game was going to be shut down. There was also talks of merges coming in late 2011/2012.
The only updates they did to make the ending sweeter was Atmostpheric Flight, bringing back spice to Smugglers and the final battles.
The fact they were still updating the game kept people thinking the game had at least 1 year left in it. I wish they did not updates whatsoever then it would have been obvious, and would have gotten me and others cracking on getting stuff done, before the end. When it shut down, there was still plenty of stuff I wanted to do, even playing it for the solid 8.5 years it was active.
So basically ff they stopped updating it, it would not have bothered me, in fact it would have been better. There was just not enough time to enjoy the final build. I have unfinished business with SWG because of them still updating until the end and just before the shutdown announcement.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
Yeah because the contract was up for renewal, and LA did not want to renew the contract. SWG shuts down DEc 15th, SWTOR releases 20th. If there was a time to shut it down then Dec 15th was it, but still does not mean it was not making money.
SWTOR was predicted to eclipse SWG in the making money dept. If they were right then shutting down SWG would have been the time to turn it off, and these threads would not exist.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
This is the effect produced by killing this game. They martyred it. Because it's not a person it has the possibility (however improbable and impractical) of coming back in some form, so for those who were forced out and have no game to go to, it feels more satisfying to just try and find neverland.
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
He also promotes SWTOR here which is not what I want to hear. I have seen his posts on the Official SWG forums, and talking about merges or free transfers. I know him well. I know you well too
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
These threads exist because crazy people like to believe in conspiracy theories rather than dealing with reality.
I am not going for SWG 2 as chances are uit will just turn into a generic piece of crap like SWTOR.
SWG is already written, and requires no development cost, it just needa agreeance by someone to officially host it.
Why bother with another game, when it will get shut down anyway.
SWG deserves the chance to be F2P.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
What like you? All my posts are based off people who are reasonable about the situation and do not hate on SWG
People like you just fuel these threads into arguments and twist the facts to suit your own needs which makes them last longer
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
Hahahahaha. What amazing comeback will be next?
Well if you only want SWG Pre-CU FTP then you know that exists in the form that we cannot talk about.
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
well if it does come back hopefully they clean up the lag and graphics
No, the game that was shut down on 15th Dec 2011, with 8.5 years of characters and stuff done it. I am not starting from scratch in any other game, when LA can pull the plug whenevr they want. If it was dead when it shut down, then it would be a different matter, but the there was 4 full servers in June, 3 more than there was in April. The game had potential to live on. SWG did not die, it got murdered.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
Uh the servers he is talking about is unlikely to get shut down by LA since they are how shall we say... not legal.
Blame whoever you want, but SWG isnt coming back in a legitimate way, regardless of SWTORs success or failure.
Ok well that's a different story. If you have played the (DELETED) any time recently then you can see that the game could not survive in today's world without a Vertical vector, graphics + physics updates, and a better combat system (The Queue is really boring, it takes way too long to kill even menial stuff. I like long kill times, but it's actually ridiculous and unengaging--NGE was better in this aspect).
Your stuff is gone bro, and all that it meant. They Death Star'd our achievements, time, and fun. I can't tell you to let it go, but as a sympathetic cohort I feel I should ask you to examine the probablility that you will get SWG back from SOE with the database intact from shutdown.
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011