Electronic Arts Spent Almost $200 Million Building Star Wars: The Old Republic

@ahaisthisourchance said:

This is freaking hilarious. 6 months and this will be F2P.

See people... incredibly stupid comments like this being posted CONSTANTLY is why I "defend" this game so much.

This is freaking hilarious. 6 months and this will be F2P.

@Buzzkill said:

@DoctorLazy said:

It's the most polished MMO ever released and the launch has been smoother than any other launch. It has more complete content than WoW did at launch, and most MMOs ever have. The negativity about the game is ridiculous.

The game's an absolute disaster and now ruined by exploiters. It doesn't even live up to the expectations of single player RPGs let alone come close to a Bioware quality title. The negativity about The Old Republic is massive because it's not just Star Wars nerds to bash on, it's not just EA to bash on, it's not just another MMO to bash on. You have the highest expectations possible from a AAA studio using a flawless IP that prints money, and they still managed to screw it up so badly that even meta critic is correct for once. Just look at all those sellout journalists who review The Old Republic based on its potential and not substance. Then, you've got the customer reviews who give it a 6.0 based on how the game actually feels and plays. This is one for the history books folks and I hope young aspiring developers are taking notes on how not to release a MMO.

So to sum things up you've got:

• people pissed at bioware
• people pissed at EA
• people pissed the game is a disaster
• delusional fanboys who attract haters
• haters who hate on anything
• people like me who love a good train wreck

Goddamn you're an annoying poster. You've just been going on and on about nothing for months when it comes to this game. You don't like this game, we get it. It's laughable that simply because you don't like it you say "Even the metacritic user score is right for once" ... The game is far from a disaster for fucks sake, you trolls need to stop spouting this nonsense. it's not perfect either, but it's not a disaster, it's not even bad.

We get it Buzzkill, you hate EA, so in turn everything associated with them sucks to you, and everybody who disagrees is wrong. You've been telling us this for months on end.

@Sooty: cmon bro thats low

They spent half the money on paying C160 for his work defending the game.

Andraste's tits!

@SlashDance said:

So much hate... Jesus, chill the fuck out people. If you don't like the game why do you feel the need to bash the hell out of it every time you get the occasion ? I don't remember so many people whining about LOTRO or Star Trek Online, or even for shitty games like DC Universe Online or APB.

I'm starting to think TOR's problem is the fact that it's actually good.

I've been feeling this way since Rise was patched in.

@Buzzkill: Not that I've got any kind of investment in this other than seeing Bioware succeed, which is naturally a good thing, but I'm confused as to how "expectations of single player RPGs" can even be compared with this game. Also, positing that SWTOR didn't "come close to a Bioware quality title" doesn't take into account the fact that no MMO has ever been jank- or bug-free at launch, and that no MMO has the type of content that Bioware single player RPGs are known for. Sure, they said they'd totally do that, but did anyone actually expect it to become a reality?

Guess I'm lucky I'm loving the game atm, although I'm not level 50 yet and I probably won't be anytime soon I've had more fun in the ~4 days played then I've had in the first ~100 in WoW. At the time I liked the WoW experience but now that I've played SWTOR I wouldn't be able to play a WoW like anymore.

I guess it all comes down to giving context and combat smoothness for me.

@DoctorLazy said:

It's the most polished MMO ever released and the launch has been smoother than any other launch. It has more complete content than WoW did at launch, and most MMOs ever have. The negativity about the game is ridiculous.

The game's an absolute disaster and now ruined by exploiters. It doesn't even live up to the expectations of single player RPGs let alone come close to a Bioware quality title. The negativity about The Old Republic is massive because it's not just Star Wars nerds to bash on, it's not just EA to bash on, it's not just another MMO to bash on. You have the highest expectations possible from a AAA studio using a flawless IP that prints money, and they still managed to screw it up so badly that even meta critic is correct for once. Just look at all those sellout journalists who review The Old Republic based on its potential and not substance. Then, you've got the customer reviews who give it a 6.0 based on how the game actually feels and plays. This is one for the history books folks and I hope young aspiring developers are taking notes on how not to release a MMO.

So to sum things up you've got:

• people pissed at bioware
• people pissed at EA
• people pissed the game is a disaster
• delusional fanboys who attract haters
• haters who hate on anything
• people like me who love a good train wreck

@leebmx said:

@CL60 said:

Most irrationally hated game of the last decade.

That seems to be the impression I am getting. I haven't played it but I find it hard to understand why so many people want it to fail so badly. Is it just because people think Bioware's attention is going to the wrong places, or do they hate Star Wars (i'm not a fan but i don't want it to fail) or do people just like to see something really big and expensive fall on its arse for the lulz?

I think it's because they wanted KOTOR 3 and didn't really get it.

@Alwaysrun said:

We need a new "Leave Brittany alone" youtube video for Bioware and SWTOR. How dare we expect a finished product, bugfree with innovative, entertaining end-game content and balanced PvP.

SWTOR teaching the MMO masses about lowered expectations since 2011.

It's the most polished MMO ever released and the launch has been smoother than any other launch. It has more complete content than WoW did at launch, and most MMOs ever have. The negativity about the game is ridiculous.

I thought I heard it was closer to 300 million...kind of relieved now.

I resubbed for 3 months because I'm not at endgame and still enjoying the game at this point. Although all of Jeff's criticisms are 100% valid.

After I hit endgame, it'll depend on how good and frequent new content is, because I am not one of those people who plays a MMO just because I have nothing better to play. 2011 was a really strong year for games, and I need to justify all that money I spent in the Steam sale...

Man, the schadenfreude is getting out of control when there are more people hoping a game will fail than there are hoping it will be good.

@Gargantuan said:

@k4el said:

@patrickklepek said:

@doomocrat said:

The big story is EA removing a cancellation option from their page here at the end of the free month, and then banning forum users (From Origin? unknown) who posted the direct link. Klepek, get on this!

Not sure it's a real story. Jeff quit just fine.

Has anyone else noticed that Patrick is the batman of the video gaming world? If there's an injustice he gets an email or tweet. I propose we need a gigantic light with a silhouette of his hair on it.

@SlashDance said:

So much hate... Jesus, chill the fuck out people. If you don't like the game why do you feel the need to bash the hell out of it every time you get the occasion ?

Fanboys and or neckbeards, it's just how it is.

@SlashDance: It's just a fustercluck of shit that is trendy to hate on amongst GB'ers, primarily EA and Star Wars.

Slow news day? Run a story on large numbers!

So much hate... Jesus, chill the fuck out people. If you don't like the game why do you feel the need to bash the hell out of it every time you get the occasion ? I don't remember so many people whining about LOTRO or Star Trek Online, or even for shitty games like DC Universe Online or APB.

I'm starting to think TOR's problem is the fact that it's actually good.

well with the 2 million subs they claimed to have, and 60 dollars for the game and another 15 for a month, not even counting all the special editions and shit. they'll be positive cash wise in 2 months.

I really wanted to get this, i do love Star Wars, but it just seems a bit too removed from the films for it to even be considered Star Wars IMO. But then again iI haven't really delved into the lore, so I am probably missing out. I'm not a massive MMO fan in all fairness, but some of the other options like a LOTR or Game of Thrones or even Mass effect version, as someone previously mentioned, would have been far more attractive personally.

What a waste.

Hopefully Mythic finally gets shut down. Hey, I love Paul Barnett, but the studio is horrendous and has a shitty history to say the least..

We need a new "Leave Brittany alone" youtube video for Bioware and SWTOR. How dare we expect a finished product, bugfree with innovative, entertaining end-game content and balanced PvP.

SWTOR teaching the MMO masses about lowered expectations since 2011.

@patrickklepek said:

@doomocrat said:

The big story is EA removing a cancellation option from their page here at the end of the free month, and then banning forum users (From Origin? unknown) who posted the direct link. Klepek, get on this!

Not sure it's a real story. Jeff quit just fine.

Has anyone else noticed that Patrick is the batman of the video gaming world? If there's an injustice he gets an email or tweet. I propose we need a gigantic light with a silhouette of his hair on it.

Ill be around for the duration of the games life, if nothing else the folk in Kesslers run are worth the money alone lol. Honestly i can see why folks wouldnt want to pay for anything monthly, but im getting my moneys worth and enjoying it so until i stop having fun ill be there.

200 million dollars, and all they currently have to show for it is a competently done mirror image of the World of Warcraft, only without the 8 years of MMO-development experience.

Once the honeymoon wears off, i'm not sure a dialogue wheel is enough incentive to keep people paying.

@patrickklepek said:

@doomocrat said:

The big story is EA removing a cancellation option from their page here at the end of the free month, and then banning forum users (From Origin? unknown) who posted the direct link. Klepek, get on this!

Not sure it's a real story. Jeff quit just fine.

Has anyone else noticed that Patrick is the batman of the video gaming world? If there's an injustice he gets an email or tweet. I propose we need a gigantic light with a silhouette of his hair on it.

@WinterSnowblind said:

@Peanut: People were complaining about the game long before Jeff was and it's not simply because people want to see it fail.

It's because it's an antiquated WoW clone, with no originality or redeeming features past the presentation.. Yes, it's nice that there's a lot of voice acting, but the dialogue system forces you to play fully good or fully evil characters, removing any need for having choices or consequences anyway. The gameplay is dull and other players do nothing but impede you.

If you like WoW, it's a passable game, but that was a game made in 2005, this is 2012. Even as a Star Wars and a Bioware fan.. there's nothing good to be found here. I don't like WoW and a lot of others don't either. Why it it surprising or just "following Jeff" if we don't like this either?

The story and voice acting is the best thing going for SWTOR. Since there was apparantly so much cross team support with the Warhammer Online guys I don't get why there aren't more things from WAR that made it unique, like public quests, the codex thing, public / open area PVP with objectives (not just arena style stuff), MORE arena style stuff...

WAR launched with a much more fully fleshed out architecture, which I really hope they build into this SWTOR.

I like the game a lot when I find time to play. So many games on my to play list since Christmas.

@BNB82: For something slightly different for the Star Wars IP, do a L4D in a Star Wars sci-fi setting. Character Creation. Skill Trees to spec in. Horror/Survival. Sounds immensely fun to me.

@Grissefar said:

that's million bucks

And boy have EA betted betted on the wrong horse. Going up against WoW? No way in hell they are making profit from this game ever.

haha Just hearing this game was coming out made me go back to WoW after 6 full years away. If they made it Mass Effect instead of Star Wars I would have bought it too.

I just canceled my subscription. It is a good game, but I don't understand why they didn't just make a kickass single player game with 4-player co-op.

I think its a big step forward that video games get this kind of financial support for both development and marketing. EA provides. They do a lot of good for gaming, but get picked off every single time they misstep.

@CL60 said:

Most irrationally hated game of the last decade.

That seems to be the impression I am getting. I haven't played it but I find it hard to understand why so many people want it to fail so badly. Is it just because people think Bioware's attention is going to the wrong places, or do they hate Star Wars (i'm not a fan but i don't want it to fail) or do people just like to see something really big and expensive fall on its arse for the lulz?

I see on MarketWatch as well as being reported on various video game sites that EA's stock has dropped significantly Thursday over concerns regarding The Old Republic's stability as a money-maker for the company.

Shares of Electronic Arts Inc. fell nearly 3% to $17.75 on Thursday morning after an analyst with Brean Murray Carret & Co. cut his price target on the stock to $22 from $28, citing concerns about the recently released online multi-player game "Star Wars: The Old Republic."..."Specifically, initial sales appear to be below expectations, and casual observation of early play is causing us to rethink our churn assumptions."

The following day, Friday, it regained 2% of that loss. (source: MarketWatch) And, EA is still trading higher than Activision-Blizzard as a point of reference.

I'm not going to speculate "doom and gloom" for the game or the company just yet, however with a $200 million dollar price tag plus additional costs for maintenance and new content, if this thing doesn't pay off big, it could mean trouble for John Riccitiello eventually. Let's see how things look 6 months from now.

What a waste of money.

That is a pretty big gamble. I worry it will further the mistreatment of Bioware by EA by attaching the brand onto more properties where it shouldn't be in (if TOR is successful) or they would starting cutting staff or even Bioware studios to cover the costs (if it fails).

Not getting the hate for this game either ...

Played WoW for 3-4 years, burnt out on it about a year ago.

TOR looks interesting, It's basically WoW with more story and at the same time something "new" - there is only so much you can take of the WoW universe and it's increasingly nonsensical lore. No one has any "real" complains about it either.

But I won't be getting into it with it's $60 startup cost. I'm just not as big a gamer as I used to be. I'm getting too old for this shit.

PS: As someone else in this thread has already mentioned. $200 million dollars and they can't port the client to the Mac?

@WinterSnowblind said:

@Peanut: People were complaining about the game long before Jeff was and it's not simply because people want to see it fail.

It's because it's an antiquated WoW clone, with no originality or redeeming features past the presentation.. Yes, it's nice that there's a lot of voice acting, but the dialogue system forces you to play fully good or fully evil characters, removing any need for having choices or consequences anyway. The gameplay is dull and other players do nothing but impede you.

If you like WoW, it's a passable game, but that was a game made in 2005, this is 2012. Even as a Star Wars and a Bioware fan.. there's nothing good to be found here. I don't like WoW and a lot of others don't either. Why it it surprising or just "following Jeff" if we don't like this either?

And as someone in the same boat, I'll disagree and say I'm enjoying it. Either way I'm not talking about people simply disliking the game and neither was the guy I was replying to. We're talking about the seemingly endless stream of people who absolutely loathe and shit all over the game just because. You can't deny there isn't a lot of it surrounding TOR.

Isn't that much money a drop in the well for Blizzard at this point?

@Peanut: People were complaining about the game long before Jeff was and it's not simply because people want to see it fail.

It's because it's an antiquated WoW clone, with no originality or redeeming features past the presentation.. Yes, it's nice that there's a lot of voice acting, but the dialogue system forces you to play fully good or fully evil characters, removing any need for having choices or consequences anyway. The gameplay is dull and other players do nothing but impede you.

If you like WoW, it's a passable game, but that was a game made in 2005, this is 2012. Even as a Star Wars and a Bioware fan.. there's nothing good to be found here. I don't like WoW and a lot of others don't either. Why it it surprising or just "following Jeff" if we don't like this either?

@echo13791 said:

No clue why SO many people hate on this game so much--I personally find it amazing and I've played almost every mmo that's come out in the last 5 years. None of them have engaged me as much as this one (aside from WoW which I've been consistently playing since 2006).

People outside of Giant Bomb seem to just want it to fail because it was a huge undertaking and everyone likes to see a train wreck, or they're fanboys who can be as vicious as console war kids where their MMO of choice is concerned. On Giant Bomb it's mostly because this community parrots the opinions of the GB crew to an almost sickening degree. Jeff bitches about the game, so the community does. They all make jokes about dubstep, the community does...ad nauseum.

It honestly kind of bugs me how much people seem to dislike this game. I myself have subscribed for the next 6 months, and so have all my friends. And none of us could ever go back to WoW, because really, why would you take big slabs of text being thown at you rather than a Bioware crafted dialogue system? Mechanically the game is sound, it had one of the best launches of an MMO to date, and yet the way people talk about it you'd think it were Deadly Premonition Online or something. There are worse things to complain about, people!

Halo 3 had a 60 million dollar budget.

Hey guys. This game is pretty good.

No clue why SO many people hate on this game so much--I personally find it amazing and I've played almost every mmo that's come out in the last 5 years. None of them have engaged me as much as this one (aside from WoW which I've been consistently playing since 2006).

it's not as good as WoW, but it says Star Wars....

@xbob42 said:

@CL60 said:

@xbob42 said:

You spelled "majority," wrong. Look at all those low-population servers... Mergers incoming!

What? The majority of servers right now are Standard, and later on today the majority of them will be heavy/very heavy. Like it has been every single day..

If you'd have followed the game on the official forums (You may have.) you'd have heard that "standard," is basically "light." Many of these servers can't even get a BG queue up, especially for level 50s.

I don't like server mergers, but Bioware made a big mistake by overcompensating for so many during launch. They're gonna have to merge within the next several months and that always sends up red flags to players/potential players, even if it's not as big of a deal as it seems via a news story. That was a serious mistake on their part, I think.

The forums aren't really a good place to get any correct information..since I posted that, 1 server is now Full. 1 is Very Heavy, and 23 are Heavy and there's only 1 server on light.(This is NA only obviously)

@CL60 said:

Most irrationally hated game of the last decade.

Would you like to put that into context, Mr. Hyperbole? I know that you're the biggest champion of the game on Giant Bomb, but even you have to understand that the game isn't perfect and could very well have legitimately disappointed people.