For a majority of MMO players, the announcement that
Star Wars Galaxies was shutting down came as no surprise. However, many
SWG loyalists have been extremely upset by the turn of events, blaming everything from the
hacks on Sony earlier this year to the impending release of
Star Wars: The Old Republic.
SOE CEO
John Smedley stated in
his interview with us that the security breach and
SWG's shutdown were unrelated. Furthermore, Community Manager of
SWTOR,
Stephen Reid, stated emphatically on the
TORWars podcast that there was no relationship between the date of
SWG shutting down and the release of
The Old Republic. Lastly,
GamePro posted a statement directly from
LucasArts about the efforts put into keeping the MMO alive:
The decision to shut down the game has not been an easy one. SOE and LucasArts investigated every option to keep the game open, including taking it to a free to pay model. However, that model just isn't financially viable. Changing the business model for an experience like Star Wars Galaxies takes a major investment and overhauling of the existing infrastructure of the game. We're unfortunately at a point in our life cycle where a change of this magnitude is just not possible. The harsh reality is that we've reached a point where the game is no longer a sustainable business. None of us wanted to see this point, but we're extremely proud of the last eight years of the game and the community that has supported it.
We have a lot planned between now and December and we want to make sure that from now until then, we send off Star Wars Galaxies in a style befitting such a great game. We'll be right there in the game with everyone else, counting down until the end, making sure we connect with all the friends we've made over the past eight years. It may be bittersweet, it may feel like it's happening before it should, but we have approximately five months remaining where we can all enjoy the game together. We sincerely hope the community will join us.
Read
the article on GamePro and check out Massively's
full interview with Smedley for more information.
