Anonymous Bioware Insider blames fans for SWTOR – Video Games Update
A Bioware Austin employee has lashed out at fans regarding the state of the recently launched massively multiplayer online (MMO) Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) according to GamerTechTv.
SWTOR or ‘Tortanic’ is being called one of the biggest blunders of this generation as Electronic Arts (EA) has thrown away over $500 million of development and marketing funds for the project and will now have to make it free to play because of the rapidly
decreasing player count.
The failure of the MMO has caused a significant drop in EA’s share price and has lead to major layoffs at Bioware Austin. The Bioware employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, has stated that fans are in part responsible for how the MMO turned out.
“EA blames us and to some extent they’re right to. But it was fan feedback from the day we opened the forums that encouraged us to design it for the fans the way it is
and that included making it more like Kotor then an MMO like Wow,” he stated mentioning that gamers actually wanted SWTOR to be more like Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR), a single player role playing game by Bioware before it was acquired by EA, rather
than World of Warcraft (WoW).
Fans have called him out and claim that Bioware is just pointing fingers for their own failure as they opened the official forums on September 12, 2011 where as the game came out three months later on December 20, 2011. It is hard to believe that three months
worth of fan feedback could influence the game that was in development since 2006.
This news has also confirmed what every gamer could see coming a mile away. EA is finally about to swallow the bitter pill and make Star Wars: The Old Republic completely free to play. It’s either that or let the game die and be forgotten as the user base
dwindles until there is no one left.
The employee also commented on the current situation at Bioware Austin as the layoffs mean that the remaining team is short handed and is having problems coping with the major changes required to make the game free to play. There has been no official announcement
regarding SWTOR going free to play from EA so far but gamers can be certain that it is coming soon.
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