H EA αδειάζει το SWTOR

Είναι πολιτική του Blog να μην μεταφέρουμε άρθρα και ειδικά ξένα άρθρα καθώς στόχος μας είναι η ανάπτυξη συζύτησης γύρω από τα αγαπημένα μας MMO και όχι η αναμάσηση ειδήσεων . Εδώ και μέρες παρακολουθούμε την εξέλιξη του SWTOR προσπαθώντας να δούμε φως στο τούνελ και περιμένοντας μια καλή είδηση (ουσιαστική) για να ξαναζωντανέψουμε την επιθυμία μας. Δυστυχώς συνέβη το ακριβώς αντίθετο ... Παρά την ελπίδα μας οι ειδήσεις που βρίσκουν το φως μας αποκαρδιώνουν.


Παραθέτουμε άρθρο από το έγκυρο TOR - Talk . Για όσους δεν ξέρουν το TOR talk έιναι αφιερωμένο στο SWTOR, υπάρχει λόγο του SWTOR και μόνο που δεν θέλει είναι να δει το SWTOR να αποτυγχάνει . Τα σχόλια δικά σας .........



Rewinding time a little bit, on May 7th 2012 we found out that EA made over $1.2 Billion in “digital revenue” for their fourth fiscal quarter. Digital revenue can be classified as games sold via Origin, iTunes (E.g. Angry Birds), DLC, etc. That’s an astounding amount of money. Full game downloads we’re up 76% 2011-2012 thanks to titles like Star Wars: The Old Republic and Mass Effect 3. This is great news for our three companies (EA, LucasArts, and BioWare) developing and publishing our Star Wars: The Old Republic; but good things never last and sure enough the bad news hit.

John Riccitiello (Electronic Arts Executive)

It has been about a week since the most recent EA Conference Call, a meeting that had mixed controversy. EA’s top executive John Riccitiello made the following statement which caused a little animosity with players in the SW:TOR Community.

The Old Republic is in EA’s top 10 franchises in terms of profitability, “but it’s not in our top five”. “So it’s a business contributor, while important, is not as important as Medal of Honor or Battlefield or FIFA or Madden or The Sims or SimCity, but it’s more important than Tiger Woods PGA Golf.” “So while I understand there’s an enormous amount of interest, I don’t know that it warrants as much as what we’re seeing right now. But we love the franchise, we’re going to grow the franchise and just like we want to see Tiger Woods Golf grow or SSX grow, or Madden for that matter, we’re going to drive this one for growth.”

You don’t need to take “Business 101” to know that the statement above was not “PR-smart” and to a point, un-professional. The fact that SW:TOR’s publisher came out and told the masses they were prioritizing their games is un-wise, especially after taking the WIN for being voted the “Worst Company In America of 2012“ The Consumerist. I’m sorry, but I still can’t get over how Medal of Honor is above SW:TOR in priority; I can hardly tolerate Battlefield 3…but Medal of Honor? Regardless, there’s over 1 million players paying $15 a month for Star Wars: The Old Republic and to hear that your game isn’t at the top of the priority list and demeaned by games like Medal of Honor is irritating. I don’t mean to beat up on Medal of Honor, but I’m just trying to stress the principle of this whole controversy. EA never should’ve said or inferred that some of their games are more important then others…

In that same conference call we also learned that the SW:TOR player base had a large drop from 1.7 million to 1.3 million players. Keep in mind these numbers are “active” player accounts. Active accounts are not only subscribed accounts but also weekend trial accounts; I wonder what that new number would be if BioWare didn’t count those weekend trial accounts to the final roster? The statement shown below was made as an explanation to the 400,000 player decline in Star Wars: The Old Republic. EA’s Frank Gibeua said…

“When we launched the product back in December, it was an event launch. We brought in a lot of users, and with a brand like Star Wars, it reaches out much past the hardcore MMO fan base into the broader market. And as the service evolves from here, what we’re seeing is that some of the initial casual customers have gone through a billing cycle and decided not to subscribe to the game.”

I agree with this statement to a point. There were a lot of gamers who never touched an MMORPG ever. They went out and purchased SW:TOR because they were fans of Star Wars or other BioWare games. But that’s solely not the reason for this decline and I understand that Mr. Gibeua was trying to put a positive spin on this negative news. But sadly I think this is only the calm before the storm. I am no market analyst, but  as a gamer who has experienced so many MMOs and seen competitive trends impact the games I love,  I really think the number of subscriptions are going to continue to decline for SW:TOR if BioWare doesn’t make a radical change. Guild Wars II and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria are on the horizon. Tera, or as I like to call it: Tera-ble, just launched and now we have this Elder Scrolls MMO, Titan (Unannounced Blizzard Project), and so much more MMORPG competition coming out. I’m nervous for TOR and it stinks because this game has so much potential!

These past two months have been rough on our guild community and server, watching “The Exodus” of players leave the game/guild because of the absent implementation of ranked warzones was devastating. Another blow to the PvP in TOR, strike #2 for some, following strike #1(Ilum). To make matters worse, servers won’t merge, because there is a reluctance to confront PR controversy in the MMO industry. Which in the short-term may seem like the “smart” decision to make, but in the long-term it won’t be. Server transfers are going to become available this summer, but it’s not going to solve the universal population issues in Star Wars: The Old Republic, in fact it may get worse because many guilds want to transfer as a whole.

Ilum Failure weeks after launch. Lines of players exploiting and kill-swapping.

From what we’ve “seen” **CAUTION  MAJOR SPOILERS** the future of SW:TOR is primarily focused on PvE-related content, like more flashpoints and operations. This information cannot be confirmed, but what was “data-mined” can hint to what is coming in the future. As a player who wants SW:TOR to not just succeed, but to also to be “The” MMORPG of choice, I hope BioWare innovates more. Shown below is a few brief ideas on how BioWare can prepare for this storm!

• Currently Open-World PvP is absent in the game, there’s little to no incentive to do it. Strategic objectives can be placed on many other planets besides Ilum, providing buffs, bonuses, or rewards for PvP dailies. Players who focus mainly on PvP will have a reason to come back to SW:TOR, rather then the W vs.W vs.W. Also when is Ilum set to return? It’s been in limbo for nearly two months.

• Add more mini-games! Holy smokes, that was huge for SW:TOR. A lot of the players in the community we’re upset with how Space Combat was implemented, but a lof of players we’re relieved to take a break from their questing and earn some awesome looking social items. Swoop racing, Pazaak (Which I believe BioWare has plans for), and so many other unique features can be added to enrich the Star Wars experience and go “against the grain” with the typical MMO experience. World of Warcraft is implementing Pokemon to compete with BioWare’s space combat. They’re two totally different game mechanics, but they are foreign to MMORPG gameplay, which makes them enjoyable to the playerbase.

• General upgrades on the GTN (Galactic Trade Network) and Guild Systems are needed. The guild interface and GTN options are so basic and arguably under the Triple AAA MMORPG standard that competing MMOs have set. Revise, innovate, and add to these utility gameplay aspects that have an incredible impact on the player communities and game.

In conclusion, the calm before the storm has passed, but the next few EA earnings calls are going to be interesting. The new competition is so near and there’s going to be a lot of different options for a lot of PvP players to choose from. Will Star Wars: The Old Republic be able to stay the course? Or will they continue to decline? Only time will tell.