You might expect Blizzard to be a little wary about Bioware’s entry into the MMORPG market with Star Wars: The Old Republic (SW:TOR). After all, SW:TOR has a lot going for itself on paper: a highly respected developer at the reins, it’s based on the world’s ultimate science fiction IP, and EA has reportedly spent more on its development than any of its previous games.
Speaking to MCV Blizzard co-founder Frank Pierce has explained that the publisher has high hopes for SW:TOR. “This is a game that has an opportunity to grow the MMO market if done right and therefore is very important to the industry as a whole, not just EA,” said Pierce, who was echoed by CEO Mike Morhaim who believes that “It’s certainly a strong franchise and BioWare’s a great developer.”
“We’ve talked about this internally and from our perspective we hope they make an enjoyable game because they’re going to bring in a lot of new players to the MMO genre, and those players’ idea of whether or not they like this type of game is going to be determined by that experience.”
There are a few ways to read this. In my books, it’s just a polite way of saying “We hope that SW:TOR is good so that it introduces loads of new people to MMOs so that we can steal them for WoW later.”
Blizzard is also hard at work on a brand new MMO, which is currently codenamed Titan and is scheduled for release in 2013.
EA had less kind words to say about WoW earlier this month, saying that SW: TOR will not share the world’s biggest MMO’s “shopping list gameplay”. Of course that comment came off the back of a another statement which said that SW: TOR will not “break WoW rules”, so go figure.
Either way, SW: TOR is currently one of 2011’s most anticipted titles, with around 1.5 million gamers already signed up for the incoming open beta.
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