Star Wars Galaxies may be no more, but its legacy lives on in memories, discussion, and hindsight analysis. Sony Online Entertainment's John Smedley had a frank talk with Industry Gamers in which he owns up to the mistakes of how the studio handled the title, particularly surrounding the much-maligned Combat Upgrade and New Game Enhancements.
What would Smedley do if he could go back and give it another try? His first regret is launching the game before the space combat system was done, and his second is that SOE didn't talk and listen to its players more. "We would have encouraged more in-depth discussion with the community surrounding the idea of any game modifications," he said.
Smedley is highly optimistic for the studio's future, particularly in its fervent belief in the free-to-play business model: "We think that 'Free to Play, Your Way' is our future. Giving players choices is the theme of how we're moving forward as a company, which means greater flexibility for our player base."
Reader Comments (54)
Posted: Dec 22nd 2011 3:44AM Fabius Bile said
@SKYeXile
I give it 3 years top. In that time all F2P games will have cannibalized each others.
The F2P model isnt self sustainable, its a huge pyramid scheme that HAS to crumble at some point in time.
Reply
I give it 3 years top. In that time all F2P games will have cannibalized each others.
The F2P model isnt self sustainable, its a huge pyramid scheme that HAS to crumble at some point in time.
Posted: Dec 21st 2011 5:38PM AlienFanatic said
I'm just hoping they learned their lesson well enough to make EQ:Next worth playing. I was, and remain, a huge fan of the original EQ. When EQ2 came out, I struggled to enjoy it, but I couldn't. The frame rates were terrible, the animations choppy, and the character models were clunky. The world felt lifeless and flat, with enemies just standing in clusters amid muddy textures. I just felt hugely let down.
I played WOW because it was more fluid, more interesting to look at, and ran better on my hardware. Over time, I've gotten very used to WOW's systems. I've recently tried TOR, but from the little I've played, I didn't enjoy it. (I don't really get into the story lines much, and the concept of making conversation choices annoys me more than entertains me.)
I see the timing as ripe for a great, full-bodied MMO with excellent classes (namely EQ) to make a comeback. Again, if Smed & Co. get it right, I think they can do well. Otherwise, SOE should just hang up their WACOMs and let the other MMO companies do the heavy lifting.
I played WOW because it was more fluid, more interesting to look at, and ran better on my hardware. Over time, I've gotten very used to WOW's systems. I've recently tried TOR, but from the little I've played, I didn't enjoy it. (I don't really get into the story lines much, and the concept of making conversation choices annoys me more than entertains me.)
I see the timing as ripe for a great, full-bodied MMO with excellent classes (namely EQ) to make a comeback. Again, if Smed & Co. get it right, I think they can do well. Otherwise, SOE should just hang up their WACOMs and let the other MMO companies do the heavy lifting.
Posted: Dec 21st 2011 5:41PM (Unverified) said
"expect lame cash stores in planetside 2 and EQ3" now that WOW has a cash shop, you should expect most new mmo's to have one
Posted: Dec 21st 2011 6:11PM Lucidus said
Well Smedley, I and a lot of SWG beta testers can now rightfully say: "we told you so!"
Posted: Dec 21st 2011 6:17PM Lateris said
Either way its over. Make an online memorial. Lets move forward.
Posted: Dec 21st 2011 6:31PM kahnbloodbane said
wow took him long long time to express regrets for having taken the wrong choiches... or even recognized he did the wrong choiches. let's hope blizzard will take the cue and never release... panda. and go back to a more complex style of specializations like rifts.
Posted: Dec 21st 2011 6:45PM SkuzBukit said
@kahnbloodbane
I clearly remember an apology coming from Smedley back several years ago, around 2007 orf so at Fan Faire, & it seems so every year since then, but somehow there are still people that "have never heard it till now".
Truth is people only hear what they want to.
Reply
I clearly remember an apology coming from Smedley back several years ago, around 2007 orf so at Fan Faire, & it seems so every year since then, but somehow there are still people that "have never heard it till now".
Truth is people only hear what they want to.
Posted: Dec 21st 2011 7:12PM kahnbloodbane said
@SkuzBukit oh really? I will look it up! I apologize for my statement then when I did turn my back to SWG I did it pretty hard and kinda.. didn't follow it anymore. :) yet.. if he apologized why he didn't take off the CU?
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Posted: Dec 21st 2011 6:39PM Shadanwolf said
How many millions does a company have to loose before they figure out where their pay check comes from ?
Posted: Dec 21st 2011 7:03PM Furdinand said
@Shadanwolf What makes you think SOE has lost one dime on its games, let alone millions? Right now their biggest "failure" is a game that sold a million copies, had 300k subs, and lasted eight years, shutting down not due to revenue but due to a lost license. The beta testers now saying "I told you so" don't sound prophetic, they sound farcical.
Reply
Posted: Dec 21st 2011 7:36PM stealthrider said
@Furdinand
This.
The only people that should feel stupid are those that considered the game dead after November 2005, when over the next 6 years (three times the pre-NGE game's lifetime!) SWG became hands down the most feature-rich sandbox MMO (with a themepark thrown in for good measure) ever, likely never to be rivaled.
Though they should also feel like bastards for mocking the game even as thousands mourn for it.
Reply
This.
The only people that should feel stupid are those that considered the game dead after November 2005, when over the next 6 years (three times the pre-NGE game's lifetime!) SWG became hands down the most feature-rich sandbox MMO (with a themepark thrown in for good measure) ever, likely never to be rivaled.
Though they should also feel like bastards for mocking the game even as thousands mourn for it.
Posted: Dec 21st 2011 7:08PM Seth78 said
Smed is the reason I will never, ever play another SOE game as long as I live.
Posted: Dec 21st 2011 7:51PM Graill440 said
TOR could take a bit of the info here and put it to good use. There are NO live GM's ingame, which means no help.
Bot are the rule of the day when it comes to responding to tickets by bioware and it is starting to piss people off. Live persons will not get the tickets until they have been qued in order of assigned word or phrase priority, and then the tickets are simply bot signed with a generic answer thousands of folks are getting, several screenshot showing bioware answers to different help tickets show the same canned response.
I sent an email to thes people asking about this and have submitted to the BBB a report for each infraction on biowares part in not servicing my tickets ina timely or correct manner.
Apparently bioware does not think they need to hire a massive staff (which is what they will need, we are talking a few several hundred gm's at least) but the financial bottom line rules all and bioware goes the cheapest route possible.
As fast as forum complaints about the bioware bots and piss poor customer service arise, the threads are locked or deleted.
This will bite them in the ass.
Bot are the rule of the day when it comes to responding to tickets by bioware and it is starting to piss people off. Live persons will not get the tickets until they have been qued in order of assigned word or phrase priority, and then the tickets are simply bot signed with a generic answer thousands of folks are getting, several screenshot showing bioware answers to different help tickets show the same canned response.
I sent an email to thes people asking about this and have submitted to the BBB a report for each infraction on biowares part in not servicing my tickets ina timely or correct manner.
Apparently bioware does not think they need to hire a massive staff (which is what they will need, we are talking a few several hundred gm's at least) but the financial bottom line rules all and bioware goes the cheapest route possible.
As fast as forum complaints about the bioware bots and piss poor customer service arise, the threads are locked or deleted.
This will bite them in the ass.
Posted: Dec 21st 2011 8:45PM HiroProtagonist7 said
@Graill440
What could you possibly need an in-game GM for?
Reply
What could you possibly need an in-game GM for?
Posted: Dec 21st 2011 9:41PM Ragemaster9999 said
@HiroProtagonist7
Really? Do you even need to ask? okay lets see, account issues, payment issues, chat issues (excessive racism/profanity in general), getting stuck
since theres no report button and no live GMS guess we can say WHATEVER we want in general, which alot of people have done, I cant ignore every person that trolls general chat. But its bad, worse than barrents believe me, and even WOW has a report button.
Also, if we dont need live GMS, why are we paying 15 dollar a month? That monthly fee is suppose to help pay for customer service and live updatesl and considering how single player the game feels, im a litle miffed they dont have live representives in this AAA title that even lower class games have.
Reply
Really? Do you even need to ask? okay lets see, account issues, payment issues, chat issues (excessive racism/profanity in general), getting stuck
since theres no report button and no live GMS guess we can say WHATEVER we want in general, which alot of people have done, I cant ignore every person that trolls general chat. But its bad, worse than barrents believe me, and even WOW has a report button.
Also, if we dont need live GMS, why are we paying 15 dollar a month? That monthly fee is suppose to help pay for customer service and live updatesl and considering how single player the game feels, im a litle miffed they dont have live representives in this AAA title that even lower class games have.
Posted: Dec 22nd 2011 9:40AM (Unverified) said
@Ragemaster9999
"account issues, payment issues"
Which in result, the GM would give you a number to call.. because they don't handle those things.
Reply
"account issues, payment issues"
Which in result, the GM would give you a number to call.. because they don't handle those things.
Posted: Dec 21st 2011 8:36PM HiGHPLAiNS said
R.I.P MxO and SWG. While Smed is behind the wheel at SOE, the company will never be successful.
Posted: Dec 21st 2011 9:04PM Yellowdancer said
@HiGHPLAiNS
Elaborate. The company has the most MMO's out on the market. They have the most MMO's in development. They develop and publish MMO's and Multiplayer games on the PC, PS2 and PS3. They have a Star Wars IP and DC IP. Plus all the facebook and mini-games. How exactly is that not a successful company?
Reply
Elaborate. The company has the most MMO's out on the market. They have the most MMO's in development. They develop and publish MMO's and Multiplayer games on the PC, PS2 and PS3. They have a Star Wars IP and DC IP. Plus all the facebook and mini-games. How exactly is that not a successful company?
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