EA's Betting That Bashing WoW Will Sell More Old Republic

[ZombieGenesis]

I have to say, am I alone in thinking that TOR is going to appear and then just be completly forgotten within a few months? I'm not saying it's going to fail, or close, just that it's nothing close to a WoW killer from anything we've seen- plus the whole 'Star Wars MMO' thing has been done before and the franchise really didn't lure in impressive numbers.

So far the biggest contender seems to be Guild Wars 2, and I doubt that could contest with WoW either, even if it does seem like the most original MMO in some time...

 

[Krythe]

Gotta say, I'll definitely be leaving WoW for at least a while to try TOR.

On the other hand - old republic had some pretty serious balance issues: anybody who didn't deck themselves in heavy armor in the first and spam force lightning in the second wasn't playing it right.

I hope they make the non-force-user classes actually worthwhile (since, in the star wars universe, every force user without exception has been a pretty colossal idiot.)

 

[Venereus]

the mistake they are making is thinking about releasing it too close to guild wars 2

I agree with this statement.

Too bad you're both wrong. GW2 doesn't have a relase date yet. ToR is scheduled for Q2 2011, the closest GW2 has is alpha and closed beta, for sometime during 2011 (we hope). Besides, it's awesome no monthly fees bussiness model makes it's purchase more akin to buying a regular SP game you can play as long as you want, and the gameplay it's designed to allow solo playing. Guild Wars is clearly not planning on taking players from other MMOs, and it doesn't need to.

 

[constantcompile]

Just please, no WoW references in the banner ads. WE'RE NOT IN AZEROTH ANYMORE wasn't even charming the first time I saw it, let alone the thousandth.

 

[Sixcess]

I know it's hard for people to believe, but it's very likely that SW:TOR will actually surpass WoW. Not immediately, mind you, but over the course of 2-3 years.

Never going to happen.

BioWare is catching the market at the perfect time, with the perfect product. EA isn't stupid, even though they might seem it at times. The reason that "development" has been taking so long is that EA/BioWare is waiting for players to get tired of Cataclysm. There really has been no better time to enter the market, except for when WoW entered it.

Just looking at the titles that have gone F2P in the last 12 months (DDO, LOTRO, Champions) this is far from the perfect time. It's becoming more and more difficult to justify a monthly sub, and whilst I have no doubt TOR will be able to do so for a while my feeling is that the pool of players who are willing to pay subs is not increasing. In the competition for their business the titles that already have player loyalty start with an immediate advantage.

Sure, LOTRO and Guild Wars placed a sizeable emphasis on the storyline, but that's essentially as far as the genre has come in terms of storytelling. People underestimate the value of a well-told story on keeping people playing. Text boxes just don't do it in this day and age. By introducing a strong storyline with full voice acting, BioWare will be able to keep players interested in what goes on in their world.

This, I think, is going to be what breaks TOR. Every time I read something about TOR's emphasis on full voice acting and (presumably cutscene heavy) story telling, I just wonder how the hell they're ever going to push out fresh content at a decent rate. A story, no matter how good, will only last so long, and once it's been completed once there's only so many times most people will want to run it again.

No MMO developer can ever keep pushing out content at a rate faster than players can burn through it - that's true of them all, but TOR seems to be really setting itself up for content updates that will be either have inferior production values to the launch content, or come out at a pace that could be painfully, dangerously slow for a subscription game that has to keep justifying people paying for it month in, month out for (according to EA's strategy) up to ten years.

Combine BioWare's famous dialogue/storytelling with the absurd marketing power of the Star Wars license, and you have the only type of game with the ability to usurp WoW's position as the top MMO on the market. I have very little doubt in my mind that we're going to see a huge shift in WoW's playerbase within a year of SW:TOR's release.

If Star Wars is so powerful then why has SWG been on life support for years? The disastrous changes to gameplay are of course well known, but the fans who left SWG once everyone could be a Jedi are unlikely to flock en masse to TOR, where everyone can... be a Jedi. As for Bioware, as others have said their previously stellar rep has taken a hit from DA2, and besides they are a single player game developer, and single player and MMOs are very different beasts.

Of course, SW:TOR could definitely be knocked out by Titan. No one really knows what Blizzard has up their sleeves, and it is very possible that they're developing Titan as a direct counter to The Old Republic. I wouldn't doubt it at all.

The only MMO that's going to influence Blizzard's strategy with Titan is WoW. Nothing else will even register on their radar.

Disclaimer: I am not a WoW fan. I've played it for a month or two but never got near the level cap and it's just not my thing. Regardless, I think it's unbeatable in the MMO field and any new title that even attempts to take it on is going to fail miserably.

 

[Worgen]

"Publisher Electronic Arts is gambling a lot of money and clout that the first MMO from story-based RPG experts BioWare will be able to unseat World of Warcraft as the Subscription King. "

I doubt it somehow - EA aren't stupid, they know they're not going to get anything like 12 million for a long old time.

"It's a big bet for my label and for EA," said Gibeau but he thinks that his game has a lot going for it. "I love Blizzard products, but they're not the entire market. There is an opportunity to come in with a new IP." He didn't stop there.

Didn't stop? He didn't start! He was only saying that WoW isn't the only one about.

""When I play World of Warcraft, you go and get your quests, and you go and do your quests, but it feels more like doing a shopping list at times," Gibeau said. "[TOR] is more about talking to characters, learning what's going on, investing in it, getting emotionally attached to it.""

Pointing out differences (and something that's true for a lot of people when trying to get into MMOs) in his game.

"Just in case you weren't clear as vodka on this subject, Gibeau wants to make sure you knew that TOR is different. "On multiple levels we're highly differentiated and different from World of Warcraft. We're not being slavish or imitating them at all. We're doing our own thing. We're doing our own unique way. BioWare and Blizzard have been around for almost the same period of time. They've built incredible audiences. They have their own unique cultures, and they do things very differently.""

Still don't see what he's saying that's wrong - he's complimented them here.

"Perhaps if BioWare showed off more character creation and the first few levels of play, that would get people more excited about the game."

They did those massive 6-hour opening previews a few months back that everyone raved about. This article is a little... off.

the mistake they are making is thinking about releasing it too close to guild wars 2

GW2 is out in 2012 last I heard, and that's as close a date as we've got. TOR is scheduled for this year, no firm date yet though.

Not really close.

last I heard they were aiming for fall or winter of this year for both games

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

I don't get it. Everything he said was completely accurate. Why call this a bash session?

 

[Gindil]

Saying ToR will unseat WoW is like saying your obscure D&D social networksite will unseat facebook. It might be more fun, but there's just too many people playing WoW.

Remember, the same could be said about Microsoft...

Then Google stole their crown.

And their throne...

Then it took their cheesecake...

Mmmm... cheesecake...

 

[rsvp42]

I can't wait until the Escapist finds some other studio to draw irrational hate towards. All these DA2 articles and now claiming that EA is "bashing" TOR... I'm starting to wonder what the angle is. The title of this article feels more inflammatory than it needs to be based on the news. Downplaying your competitor and comparing your features to theirs is not "bashing." It's exactly what they should do to sell their product.

 

[Dexiro]

TOR does have a chance, but only because WoW seems to be on a slippery slope. Since Cata I've only heard bad things about the game, and tons of people I knew as WoW addicts have just lost the will to play.

 

[Archemetis]

I think I personally will find it hard to remain as connected and immersed in the story and characters when I've decided to level more than one.

Don't get me wrong, I've played a fair few Bioware games, multiple times actually, but let's face it. After the first few times you stop noticing or caring as much.

At least with WoW as it currently exists the characters you start off as are essentially a blank-slate, the NPC's you meet at first are nothing more than introduction, and later NPCs can offload exposition if you're inclined to read it.

I seem to remember a previous IP trying this whole 'get interested' strategy, and it kind of fell into rapid obscurity, it was called Age of Conan.

 

[Baresark]

The second you start bashing a title when your developing one yourself, you will only make people compare them way too close. Don't get me wrong, I want TOR to do really well. But unless your going to have systems in place it took WoW multiple expansions to include, you shouldn't really draw attention to your game by comparing.

 

[TheDoctor455]

*sighs*
I really wish EA would just fucking grow up.

There is absolutely no point in bashing WoW or any other 'competing' MMO.

EA, try to keep in mind that the more time, effort, and money you put into bashing the competition, the less time, effort, and money you have left to actually sell us the game you are trying to sell to us.

Just tell us what makes YOUR game so bloody great.

Note:
I personally can't stand WoW.

 

[teebeeohh]

the way ea handles this is like a kid who got too much candy and now thinks they can operate from a position of having a bottomless pit of candy. problem is that at some points the candy WILL run out, in other words: yes ea you have s strong license and a very good studio but you are just overplaying your hand.

oh and one more hint: a mmo has to grow

 

[LogicNProportion]

BioWare, EA, read my lips...

"GIVE. US. A. FUCKING. RELEASE. DATE...PLOX."

I'm getting it no matter when it comes out, but seriously...guys, give us a solid release date now. You're still promising it by the end of Spring at latest...just say June, even if it's a lie. Your community needs hope...a new hope.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

 

[XShrike]

And the EA marketing department yet again embarrasses everybody in the industry.

 

[theultimateend]

Just because it worked well for the wow-like clone Rift, lets all jump on the Wow-bashing band wagon.

It didn't work well. That marketing didn't influence a single damn person.

The people who went to play rift were going to try it regardless.

Their marketing team should be beaten with rods for how terrible their marketing campaign was.

 

[Saviordd1]

And here EA goes again