Star Wars Galaxies

ur lengthy discussion with John Smedley yesterday focused primarily on Free Realms and the possibilities in SOE's future. We also chatted briefly about the newest surprise from the company - a collaboration between the Austin and Denver studios called Champions of the Force. Here Mr. Smedley discusses his view on the TCG, Star Wars Galaxies in general, and how reconnecting with the playerbase is really great for the company.

It seems as though the reaction impression from a lot of SWG players is that it's surprising that the company put all these new assets and resources into the game.

I think people have the wrong impression about Star Wars Galaxies. We still have a very active live team. We have a bunch of new content just out, and a bunch of new content in the pipe. Have they talked to you about what's coming? Vehicles in battles on Hoth? It's amazing. It is expansion-pack level content, and it's going to be included for free as part of the release. We could have done a straight-up expansion pack but we decided not to do it that way because of the history with the game and expansions. We want to focus on the content. I think it's a really good game now. We think the content is there, the polish is way up.

The lesson we've learned from Galaxies is, "take the time." We haven't released an MMO of our own in three years. We helped out with Pirates of the Burning Sea obviously ... looking around the room, I think you can see the level of polish we're reaching for. We've taken this up about five notches. You learn your lessons in life ... what I'm happy is that we're still making games, having a good time doing it. There has been some downsizing in our industry of late. We've been kind of on the upswing, it's a good time in the company right now. We've even got some unannounced projects that you folks haven't had the chance to hear about yet.

 Any one hear anything about this ?

also don't make me take out the tin foil hat

I don't follow developers careers but I can't believe Smedley still has a job

First I must comment that Hoth is indeed an epic win and possibly one their best ideas to date.

The trading card game however is a fail and seems like a gimick that will only appeal to a niche audience within the already niche playerbase of SWG.

As for the "unannounced projects" I have heard nothing though as is always the case with Galaxies I will keep my ears open.

Well whatever projects he speaks of, you can be sure they'll pop it out in 2 months and let us know 2 weeks before it goes live...  /sarcasm off

That guy is why I am still here...  Every word that comes from his mouth is propaganda and spin.  I think the board of directors at SOE just doesn't know how to fire him because he's such a company line man that he's good to blame for everything and keep the bad PR off every one else's back..../flail

Faxx(er)

lol...hoth...hmph!   battles in vehicles....Hmph!   A jedi craves not these things!

hoth should be a planet not some lame one time thing

another fail on the part of $OE

...what he forgot to mention was that all the new stuff would be "unlockable" done through a secret system so TRY REAL HARD....

Originally posted by swgtester1

hoth should be a planet not some lame one time thing

another fail on the part of $OE

Err no hoth is just a huge ball of ice with two maybe three creatures on the whole planet, a whole huge barron planet would be a big waste in my opinion.

Originally posted by Faxxer

Well whatever projects he speaks of, you can be sure they'll pop it out in 2 months and let us know 2 weeks before it goes live...  /sarcasm off

 

That guy is why I am still here...  Every word that comes from his mouth is propaganda and spin.  I think the board of directors at SOE just doesn't know how to fire him because he's such a company line man that he's good to blame for everything and keep the bad PR off every one else's back..../flail

 

Faxx(er)

 

lol...hoth...hmph!   battles in vehicles....Hmph!   A jedi craves not these things!

I'm told that Smed doesn't answer to a board of directors in the traditional sense.  I'm not sure what organizational paradigm they're using, but I have to question its efficacy.  No president in the organization I work for would ever survive a performance appraisal with a track record like Smed's.

P.S.  Smed's carrots are covered in b.s..  He has a history of saying things about the game's future that never materialize, and of hinting at things that are never truly considered for development (e.g. how would you like to see guild controlled star destroyers, the CU is here to stay, we're going to fast-track server mergers, etc.)  He says they've learned to take their time and get things polished before release, yes just like the 5 year celebration for SWG.  Does he even believe what he's saying anymore?  Does he think he's telling the truth?
 

As I called it in my lastest Rodo Report "Chimpanezes of the Force" will only make a monkey out of the current NGE player base - all five of them. If this is a carrot for them ,they best enjoy it quickly.

"expansion-pack level content"

lol love the new catch phrase. And I liked the explanation of why it's not going to actually be an expansion.

"...because of the history with the game and expansions."

lol, huh?? what??