What happens if "Old Republic" Fails?

[Antari]

Absolutely worst case scenario ... the game tanks. The programmers leave bioware and start a new programming house. Like what most failed companies do in this industry. One game can't kill a company these days when they take so little in the way of risks.

 

[Grygor]

For all those saying this can't fail: What would you have said six months ago if I told you FFXIV would be where it is now?

Honestly, I would not at all have been surprised, because I actually PLAYED XI - and while XI was moderately successful in its day, it was plagued by poor design choices and terrible community relations that simply will not fly in a more modern game.

The fact that XIV was being developed by the exact same team responsible for the horrible mismanagement of XI meant that I already had lowered expectations for the game.

Anyone who was expecting FFXIV to be a major success was either completely unaware of FFXI or unjustifiably optimistic.

 

[fix-the-spade]

But what if it flops? What is the new Star Wars MMO,

Flop and fail are relative, Bioware have a good track record for games and better quality control than most. APB tanked and Realtime Worlds failed because they spent £100m of other people's money with seemingly no clear development direction and extremely limited quality control. Which led to the release day problems that insta-killed APB. Realtime Worlds also had no other products to fall back on.


Bioware is different, they already have Mass Effect and Dragon Age generating substantial income, plus EA is their primary investor. Even if the Old Republic were to tank they would not be left without a means of generating income, nor would they be left with investors literally running them out of business to geth the money back. EA would be able to absorb such a loss, not that it would want to but it could.

Bioware's pretty huge fanbase won't hurt either. It won't get close to WoW in it's first year or even first two-three years but that's ok, it only has to make money and grow.
Lastly, it's a Star Wars game, that all but guarantees an initial burst of interest. Star Wars Galaxies was doing fine and steadily growing until the dreaded NGE threw two thirds of it in the bin, Bioware won't recreate such an epic scale fuck up.

 

[Tarranium]

I also would prefer if TOR would just be a sequal not an MMO.
I honestly dont care how many discs I would have to switch on every planet like in Mass Effect 2 I want to play it on my Xbox AND a fucking coop.
And I also hate the monthy fee, I have to buy the damn thing for about 60 euros and then Id have to pay more to actully be able to play the darn thing.

 

[Indecipherable]

It has the IP to do well even if the game isn't as good as what it should be. The combat looks robotic and terrible (typical bioware) and I'm not sure the MMO crowd is going to get what they expect out of this.

I'll definitely be playing it for the storyline and RPG elements but I have concerns about the huge investment they have made into this and if it can possibly recover those costs.

 

[GeorgW]

First off, it probably won't fail. Secondly, Bioware won't close, they're too big and loved, one game won't change that. So basically, nothing will happen if it fails. Not much will happen if it doesn't.

 

[ZombieGenesis]

It's possible. We say the fanbase might save it, but look at Final Fantasy XIV, the fan base sure as hell didn't save that game. That said, Bioware seems to be making more of an effort to offer a polished product. I can't imagine it will fail, but it won't set the world on fire.
If it does fail, I guess Guild Wars 2 has even LESS competition.
Woo, Guild Wars 2.

 

[Indecipherable]

monopoly is not the natural (or healthy) state for any market

Totally off topic, but also totally wrong.

To educate yourself try searching two quick terms:

Natural Monopoly
Economics of Scale

Natural monopoly is that absolute answer to why what you write is wrong. There's a darn good reason why you don't have 5 sewage companies with 5 lots of different piping under every home in a city. Or why you don't have 5 different power companies all providing their own underground/aboveground cabling and supply to your house so you can choose.

 

[PhiMed]

I don't think that Bioware would close because of the failure of one game. They've got a long history of pretty massive success. Besides, EA has the distribution rights to Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age 2. They have a vested interest in keeping the doors at Bioware open.

That being said, I think Bioware would probably have a lot less creative freedom in the future if TOR tanked. EA would probably have them cranking out games every year like Activision's subsidiaries have to do.

 

[PhiMed]

monopoly is not the natural (or healthy) state for any market

Totally off topic, but also totally wrong.

To educate yourself try searching two quick terms:

Natural Monopoly
Economics of Scale

Natural monopoly is that absolute answer to why what you write is wrong. There's a darn good reason why you don't have 5 sewage companies with 5 lots of different piping under every home in a city. Or why you don't have 5 different power companies all providing their own underground/aboveground cabling and supply to your house so you can choose.

You heard it here first. WoW = sewage.

 

[Lyri]

Someone's gonna get canned.

Blame the medichlorians.

 

[Burck]

Someone's The whole team's gonna get canned.

Fixed.

Well, a failure wouldn't go over well for Bioware's partnership with EA, although I'm not sure if it would shut-down the entire company. If worst came to worst, Bioware would have to find a new Publisher.

The most likely consequence of Bioware's failure however, would be their current and future publishers not allowing Bioware to develop game concepts that have a similar element of risk.

 

[Jaranja]

if it fails someone will probably buyout bioware.....it could happen.

if they dont bioware goes down the drain.

Well, that's a load of rubbish.

They're not going to go down the drain when they've got Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age 2 coming out.