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It seems BioWare's Austin studio has taken a short break from filling its airways with the Imperial March 24/7 to blast disco anthem “I Will Survive.” Or at least, that's how we imagine these sorts of things – and until someone proves to us that Willy Wonka isn't a documentary about chocolate factory labor conditions, we'll stand by our beliefs. At any rate, BioWare's got big plans, and it's not afraid to let the world know. In short, the master of all things RPG is hoping that its Old Republic will live on until it's downright ancient.
"Well, I can say that we have 19 major worlds," senior creative director James Ohlen said during a Comic-Con panel (as reported by Darth Hater). "Then we have an indeterminate number of minor worlds. And our goal, obviously this being an online game, that we're hoping is going to last for decades, we're going to be, obviously, adding more to the galaxy map as the game progresses. We want to add dozens of worlds. Hundreds of worlds eventually.”
Jokingly, he added: “In 2025, we'll hopefully have 500 worlds," to which production director Dallas Dickenson – tongue also firmly in cheek – replied “Guaranteed! In year 2025!”
All of which sounds about as wacky as “UNLIMITED POWER,” except not at all, seeing as games like EverQuest and Ultima Online have moved past the decade mark with no signs of slowing down. If normal games are common house flies, MMOs are roaches – seemingly immortal and probably planning to construct tiny cities out of Twinkies after the world ends.
The question, then, is whether TOR specifically can break out of the initial sprint and transition into marathon mode. Is it novel enough to grab jaded MMO addicts' attention? Will it continue to evolve enough to hold it? Time will tell. But, seeing as TOR's reduced EA's checkbook to naught but a pile of ash and sadness, we doubt the publisher will let its massively expensive MMO investment go down without one hell of a fight.
Comments are closed on this article
bling581
July 26, 2011 at 9:43am
Decades is pushing it a little. It will be an accomplishment if they can stay popular for at least a decade. Most MMO's die off after a few years and you don't really hear about them anymore. Lately a lot of the failing ones have gone with the free to play model to try and boost interest.
legacy2013
July 26, 2011 at 7:47am
I watched the Q&A where this was said, while I'm pretty sure BioWare, LucasArts and EA would love to have the game around for decades, I believe most of the comments in the section were light-hearted jokes, especially the 500 planets by 2025 joke.
Vernak
July 26, 2011 at 8:33pm
I also watched the panel and the article makes it sound like the "for decades" comment is taken in context and the 2025 and 500 planets comments only were "tongue-in-cheek" and "jokingly." The entire article is embellishment for this reason.
kixofmyg0t
July 26, 2011 at 7:34am
It has to. God forbid someone closes down a Star Wars game....no matter how old and outdated it is. Youtube is FLOODED with douchbags literally CRYING over SOE"s Star Wars whatever game. That's pathetic.
Darkside
July 26, 2011 at 6:29am
Unless the beta is out for TOR, there's really not a whole lot of informed discussion. We can give opinions based on what we hope the game will be, but that's about it until some actual gameplay comes in. As for TOR surviving for decades, it is certainly possible so long as there is content that is engaging, there are multiple ways to interact with the other players (trading, PvP, etc.), and the cost for a monthly subscription is either non-existent or very reasonable. So, for the people that want TOR to succeed, hope that the beta comes soon and the gameplay is everything you dreamed of.
TerribleToaster
July 26, 2011 at 6:17am
When you said TOR, I thought of Tor and not TOR and was confused as to what Tor had to do with TOR. It's so confusing, since I'm use to TOR meaning Tor and not TOR meaning TOR. It would be interesting though if TOR used Tor by default, wouldn't it?
TOR's Tor would torrific, I think.
...
Tora Tora Tora.
Keith E. Whisman
July 26, 2011 at 4:36am
I always thought that Willy Wanka would make a great James Bond villain.
Holly Golightly
July 26, 2011 at 12:21am
I hope it does succeed that long. It is very rare a game can keep on going for so long. It is about quality. I do not know how well this game is, but one thing is certain, I hope it is free to play. You expand the games exposure if you do not charge a monthly fee like WoW. With that said, I am rooting for EA!
AndrewEgel
July 25, 2011 at 11:52pm
Before you read my opinion below, please read: I WANT THIS GAME TO SCUCCEDE! I WANT TO ENJOY THIS GAME.
That being said, the videos I’ve seen of the combat look very bland, and boring. Nothing more than stand-and-fight tactics that I've seen a billion times in other games. Perhaps I need to play the beta and even the game when it comes out. But I don’t see the hype that EA’s been saying is going to match up to the game when it comes out. And its arrogance like this news (that its going to be around for 15 years) that makes me weary of believing it.
