Star Wars: The Old Republic Is Filling a Void in MMO Market, says BioWareStar Wars: The Old Republic finally has a release date and IndustryGamers chatted with BioWare doctors Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk about launching the company's first ever MMO and how they feel about being labeled by SOE President John Smedley the last ever big MMO to utilize a subscription model.
Regarding Smedley's comments, Zeschuk told us, "Those are very kind words in a way. It's interesting – I think there will always be a place for premium content at a premium price and that's one of the differences. Free to play is very much about trial, about 'Hey, I don't know what this is, I don't have confidence that it's any good, but I'm willing to take a look at it,' versus 'I know this is good, from a trusted source, and it's the biggest license in the world.' So it's a different value proposition."
Indeed, BioWare believes that SWTOR offers plenty to gamers to justify a full subscription, so don't look for a free-to-play model for the game anytime soon.
"We have research that shows that a lot of people have been waiting for this game. We're seeing huge demand for it, and we plan to support it long term.
Muzyka chimed in, “There's more competition for entertainment dollars now than ever before from social and play for free, and all sorts of entertainment, which I think is actually really healthy from an entertainment industry perspective. But I agree with Greg that there's a space for a certain number of premium products that are subscription based or whatever the premium pricing model is. But they have to merit it, they have to earn that from a consumer trust perspective and delivering and exceeding expectations. I think The Old Republic is definitely in that triple-A premium category. That's the feedback reading from the players and data testing."
The BioWare duo then got slightly off track, comparing the "death" of subscription gaming to the proclaimed "death" of single-player gaming.
“Going forward, what's interesting about that is it's too early to call any business model dead. It's like the line, 'Oh single-player games are dead.' They've morphed and they've changed into something different, but they're still there," noted Zeschuk.
Added Muzyka about the experience in SWTOR, "The feedback we get is that despite MMOs being one of the most connected experiences, players still enjoy a solo experience. 60 percent of players like playing a solo experience in a massively multiplayer online title. So we have to accommodate and enable that, and we also have to enable fluid grouping at anytime. It's a big challenge, but we understand the goals and have to deliver against them."
Ultimately, both Muzyka and Zeschuk view SWTOR as a major opportunity to boost the MMO market by filling a void. They believe they're truly bringing something to the table that hasn't been done before and gamers are reacting very positively, according to BioWare's playtesting.
"It's exciting to be launching this now. It's not that far away now and we see it as a huge opportunity – we think the market is ready for it. There's a lack of something new and fresh and really powerful; we have research that shows that a lot of people have been waiting for this game. We're seeing huge demand for it, and we plan to support it long term," said Zeschuk.
Muzyka concluded, "WoW's been around for 7-8 years, which is a long time. We have a lot of respect for the work that Blizzard does, which is inspirational, but we do believe that we have genuine points of innovation and differentiation. And also, we think we've got the best of breed features of great MMOs and some things that will surprise and delight the fans. And the player feedback has been amazing – after playing The Old Republic, they've been saying it's really hard to go back to the traditional MMOs, which don't have the emotional engagement, and the story and the choice and consequence that's woven throughout our game."
