Amid claims BioWare are losing Star Wars: The Old Republic, a former developer says it will be good for the game, and bad for BioWare.
IGN’s Rebekah Valentine reported that- “according to sources familiar with the matter”- Star Wars: The Old Republic- or “SWTOR” to fans- was going to change developer. EA reportedly had almost completed a deal wherein the game would move from their BioWare subsidiary to Broadsword Online Games.
The studio is partly made of former Mythic Entertainment developers (who were also an EA subsidiary), who now keep Ultima Online running. Both EA and Broadsword Online have signed a letter of intent, and Valentine reports the deal is likely to be finalized this month at the nearest.
Previously announced content updates will continue- such as patch 7.3 and the newest PvP season.
Reportedly, half of the 70 to 80 core developers of Star Wars: The Old Republic will be moving to Broadsword Online Games. The rest will have the chance to move to other positions within EA, but may also be laid off.
As for BioWare, they will be refocusing their efforts on single-player games. Valentine highlights how Mass Effect had a new game announced in 2020, but with no news. Likewise, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf has seen numerous senior staff leave Bioware- including Production Director Mac Walters and Senior Creative Director Matt Goldman to name some recent departures.
Star Wars: The Old Republic Creative Director Charles Boyd also left last year, after 16 years of working at BioWare
EA issued a statement after Valentine’s report. They only allude to having a discussion with Broadsword Online, and insist they have game’s best interest at heart. “Almost 12 years after launch, Star Wars: The Old Republic remains a success and continues to grow its dedicated and passionate community.”
“We’re so proud of the work the team has done, and the future of the game and the community continues to be very bright.” EA then admits “We’re evaluating how we give the game and the team the best opportunity to grow and evolve, which includes conversations with Broadsword, a boutique studio that specializes in delivering online, community-driven experiences.”
“Our goal is to do what is best for the game and its players,” EA assures.
The news gave Chris Schmidt- a former Design Director at BioWare and Star Wars: The Old Republic alumni- a chance to give his insight (currently a Game Director at Infinity Ward Austin). “Lots of conflicted feelings here for me, but happy the game will live on. Maybe one day I’ll be in the headspace to share some thoughts.”
That day came just under 20 hours later. “My take on the SWTOR/BioWare split: For SWTOR: This is a Good Thing. For BioWare: This is a Big Loss.” Schmidt then explained his reasoning in a lengthy thread.
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Schmidt began by delving into the history of the game’s development. “My point of view is someone who worked for BioWare Austin on SWTOR from 2009 as an Assistant World Designer through 2022 as Design Director (with some Anthem, Shadow Realms, and <NDA> years sprinkled about).”
“BioWare Austin (BWA) was its own studio for many years, founded in order to make that game. MMO’s are expensive, y’all.”
Schmidt revealed “We didn’t really collaborate with BioWare Edmonton (BWE) on the dev side much, because there was no need to (with some exceptions – they had built the original on-rails space shooting component, for example).”
“As a business, in this model all revenue and expenses roll up into the greater whole (BioWare), which then roll into EA’s Group, and so on. After many years, this model shifted and changed, for a large variety of reasons I won’t get into. BWA would no longer be a separate entity, but under the same core leadership as BWE – One BioWare (BW),” Schmidt explained.
“What this meant realistically was you had a boxed product business that had been tried and true for years, combined with a live service MMO business that wasn’t really understood by the boxed product folks. Arguably by EA either, to be fair.”
He continued. “You see, MMO’s can be fairly predictable if they run long enough. We knew the SWTOR business very well. We knew how to turn every dollar invested in the game into several more. SWTOR was (and continues to be) a very profitable business, with loads of heart behind it.”
Scmidt then explained the issue the team ran into, “But an older game isn’t sexy. It’s not new. It doesn’t get marketing orgs excited or social media teams jazzed. It’s a ‘legacy game’, despite the mountains of income coming in that other franchises are built off of. And you FELT it, as a member of the team. It’s a fantastic dev team, filled with incredible talent. How then, with such a close-knit team, did you always feel less-than?”
“Well, just take a look around. Look at BW’s social media posts and count the proportion of SWTOR game/fan/anything posts compared to ME or DA. Remember that BioWare 25th anniversary book? The beautiful 328 page recollection of BioWare’s history, and celebration of all franchises?”
“For a game like SWTOR that had been live already for 9 of those 25 years at the time of publication, how many pages, dear reader, do you think had any SWTOR imagery or content at all? Ten. Teams notice this. They feel it, and it feels like s–t,” Schmidt lamented.
Despite this, Schmidt didn’t have any ill-will to Bioware or EA. “Does BW despise SWTOR? I don’t think so – they don’t understand it, and it was someone else’s game. Does EA despise SWTOR? I don’t think so – it’s a legacy live service, and again, was someone else’s game.”
“As a dev on SWTOR, you feel like your game is a burden to all of the layers above you, but you persist. You put so much heart and passion into the game, and you thrive on the fans and tremendous partnership with LucasFilm,” Schmidt relayed.
“So to bring us back to current news, imagine a team excited about a game, with incredible plans, that have felt ‘less-than’ by their own studio and company for years, being unleashed.”
“Being part of an org that KNOWS the MMO business, and understands those player communities and the incredible stories and connections they form.” Schmidt’s high-hopes continued.
“This feels like an exciting new chapter to me, and I’m optimistic about what this means for that team and the game. SWTOR is, to the best of my knowledge, the longest-running Star Wars anything, ever. It’s a special game and I’m so happy to see where the team takes it,” Schmidt beamed.
“As far as BW, it would have certainly be in their best interest as a business to maximize exposure and support for SWTOR publicly over the years, since the SWTOR revenue has allowed for the…unusually long…dev cycles to continue for the last several games,” Schmidt recommended.
Schmidt then explained how BioWare may come afoul if they don’t have Star Wars: The Old Republic to use as a scapegoat. “But now without SWTOR, there will be less places to hide heads, R&D, and time. You’ve got blockbuster single-player experiences hitting high Metacritic scores with…2-3 year dev cycles? And the BW pattern has been…double? Triple that?”
“I think it will be interesting to see how the EA/BW relationship continues to evolve in this new world.”
What do you make of EA potentially moving Star Wars: The Old Republic to a new studio? What do you make of Schmidt’s comments?