Is Bioware the next Blizzard?
November 27, 2008 by Patrick
Filed under .Articles, Patrick's plog
A few weeks ago, Bioware and Lucasart “revealed” to the world their next big project: a Star Wars based MMO called Star Wars – The Old Republic. Or SWTOR, for short (good luck on pronouncing that one).
Many companies have claimed to be building Wow killers in the past four years. And most have failed, some miserably. Even if some of them seem to remain healthy, I never thought any of them would actually succeed in rivaling Warcraft. And here is the reason why : they came from companies that made MMOs.
People get into patterns, accept rules and thought processes. The problems that plagued MMOs before Wow came along were numerous: tedious gameplay, penalty for failure, limited solo experience, and of course lack of polish. All these have been well documented and mostly adressed in the games that came out after Wow did. But that’s not enough to change the way people actually do things. You can’t tack a solution on an already plagued process. To really make something new, you have to start with a blank slate, and none of these company could really do that, no matter how much they claimed they would. They came with their own experience, which was ultimately detrimental to the product. Sure; there were a few good ideas along the way, and some great ones even. But none of them really broke away from the “MMO model” they had inherited.
Wow is not an MMO first. It is, first and foremost, a fun video game. Blizzard thinks in terms of games. This one just happens to be an MMO. Companies like Tubine or Mythic think in terms of MMO, because that’s what they know.
Back to SWTOR and Bioware.
Some people might think of Star Wars and MMO and immediately go to Star Wars Galaxies, which was a incredible failure by Sony Online Entertainment. You might think I’m being harsh, but making an MMO in the Star Wars Universe that wouldn’t be incredibly successful was an almost impossible task. It was so deliciously geeky that the only thing more difficult to not make a resounding success out of was a Lord of the Rings MMO.
And Star Wars Galaxies was not a success. It didn’t breach the MMO ghetto when it so clearly should have. Because it was more of an MMO than it was a video game. But that doesn’t mean anything for SWTOR. Quite the contrary: the Star Wars loving crowds are still very much untapped, and the huge potential for success is still there.
Some people might think that Bioware is a small company that didn’t do much, and that they are no match for Blizzard. Again, they couldn’t be more wrong. Bioware has a lot of experience. Not making MMOs, but making highly praised niche video games. Note that the “not making MMOs” part is a good thing, as I said earlier. Where others would approach a new MMO with “traditional” vision and try to slap “modern lessons” on the formula, Bioware has the potential to start with a new vision altogether. And they know how to do that. I’m not going to list all the games they did here; suffice it to say that the Knights of the Old Republic series is widely regarded as the best Star Wars games ever. It was a vast and complex single player RPG, with storyline at its core. And they are being smart about this. Blizzard is a gameplay focused company, Bioware is an storyline focused company. I won’t get into the details of how they are doing it; you can go to their website to learn more. But while I’m sure they will do everything we expect from an MMO (good gameplay included), they will still focus on what they know and expend in that area, which is a great thing.
Finaly, some people might think that SWTOR is going to be “just another wannabe”. I see things differently: to me, Bioware isn’t all that different from what Blizzard was a few years ago. A second tier developer, with strong core values, devoted fanbase and highly praised catalog. I wouldn’t say something as silly as “Wow killer” here (especially since SWTOR won’t be out for a few years). But I have been following the industry pretty closely for the past few years, and I have never said this about any other company or MMO project before:
I see the potential for multi-million subscriber base here. Wow-like numbers, for the first time.
I’m not one of those people who clamors that greatness is coming every time something shinier comes along. I never believed AOC or WAR or LOTRO would rival Wow, because I knew the shortcomings of their developpers. But Bioware is different, and SWTOR might very well rival Wow… I’ll definitely keep my eye on them. And so should you.
yoda: The Star wars Bias clouds his post dose not
With Bioware’s quality of development and the large amount of Star Wars nerds this game does have a chance to do well vs Blizz.
A well reasoned post, Patrick. Though I’ve been WoW free for several months, I have to say that this is an insightful commentary on the position that SWTOR could have. The problem with new MMO’s though, I believe stems from the attachment to your character. It’s difficult to go to a different game if your WoW character has been in service for several years.
Another “fresh” MMO set to come out in a few years? This is going to be an interesting time. Personally, I’m waiting for the Otherland MMO, but I’d bet a well designed Star Wars game would do very well.
Most excellent post Patrick. Ever since I really got into WoW, I’ve told my friends that the only MMO that will has the possibility of pulling me away is going to be a KoToR based MMO done by Bioware. They’ve certainly had their success in Star Wars and in other great story driven games. While at this point I’m not sure I’ll be pulled away from WoW, I’ll most likely be subscribing to both games. At least until Blizzard releases their next-gen MMO.
I think you’re right. Bioware and SW could definately be a significant rival to WoW. As much as I love WoW, Blizzard isn’t exactly a perfect company. I loved the KOTOR games and really enjoyed Bioware’s latest hit Mass Effect. They do a great job with their games and give them depth. They have the potential and I think the market for a SciFi MMO is certainly there. Plus the learning curve for SW lore is low.
Blizz did a great job with WOTLK but it took 2 years and they really haven’t had anything else come out during that time. Look how long it’s taken for Diablo and Starcraft sequels to come out. Starcraft 2 had been one of those vaporware games for a while. Blizz isn’t exactly an agile company. I think this holding the cards to the vest attitude as to their future endeavors needs to loosen up more. They can’t afford another two years of no WoW expansions and the follow ups to Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 can’t take a generation like it has. They need to tell us now what their next MMO is and get the buzz going.
Bioware isn’t the only company going after the MMO business. Curt Schilling’s company 38 studios is working on an MMO with McFarlance and Salvatore leading the creative way. That’s a great team of people and he seems prepared to do it right. If Bio and 38 had MMO’s that had the ease of play like WoW with just as good or better storyline and better graphics. WoW could be in trouble.
WoW isn’t going anywhere for a while, I know I’m on the hook. Blizz can’t sit back and take their time as much as they could before. I for one love that the competition is heating up. I think the winners will be us the players.
After listening to you and Shawn interviewing Curt Schilling, I must say i’m really hyped now for the imminent release of the 38studios MMO.
It’s kinda funny actually. Curt Schilling has always been one of my favorite pitchers in baseball. I found out just over 2 years ago that he was a hardcore EQ player (I too was a hardcore monk FD puller in vanilla EQ). When I heard that he was starting up a gaming company to try and make an MMO all from his own wallet, I was kind of surprised and very skeptical at the same time.
I didn’t know what kind of mmo-cred he had, and I really didn’t have a reason to be excited to be playing his game.
One day this past October, I walked into my local used bookstore with my wife and was browsing the fantasy fiction section, and came upon a large 3 part volume called ‘The Dark Elf Trilogy’. 3 books in 1 for only 4.99 CDN? How could I NOT pick up this book. In short, I purchased the book and was introduced for the first time (I know it’s sad) to the character of Drizzt Do’urden, and the huge story that was penned by R.A Salvatore. From there on, I defintely fell in love with EVERYTHING the series had to offer. I’ve managed to finish every single Forgotten Realms book written by R.A Salvatore since then (October – December for 20+ books? not bad..) and umm.. what was the point of this paragraph? Ahh yes, well the point is that upon hearing that R.A Salvatore is on board with this project from 38studios, as well as Todd McFarlane, I pretty much peed my pants right there.
I know it’s a bit early to really speculate, but it does sound that they are heading in the right direction with their design systems in place. I already expect a grand backstory for this world with detailed, extravagant art to accompany it. I’m not sure how the music will match up, but I do have faith that even though this title may not be the ‘WoW Killer’ most MMO’s are touted to be, this first offering that Schilling and Co. put out might carve more than just a niche spot in the vastly growing MMO market.
I for one, don’t think that this game will be heading down the same path as RGTR. As for the new Bioware game… I’m a huge Star Wars fan, just not a huge Old Republic fan. I know it gives them way more creative freedoms in which to work with in terms of developing backstory for their characters and races, but at the same time, it feels too disconnected with the rest of the Star Wars universe that we hold so near and dear. But to each his own! I wish it the best.
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@Floor Jack
Hey Mr. Jack, and thanks for your kind words (even though this blog is really due for an update!)
Here is the site I got this theme from:
http://www.dailyblogtips.com/wordpress-themes/
Note that you can usually find a link to the designer of a wordpress theme in the footer of the page, as is the case here.