MMORPG.com Star Wars Galaxies Correspondent Jef Reahard writes this overview of the recently added Trading Card Game in Star Wars Galaxies.

While many a disgruntled Galaxies vet will no doubt see a conspiracy to further tea-bag the player base, the reality is actually much less sinister. Sony is doing what companies do, namely trying to maximize profit and squeeze every last drop of revenue from a product that has performed well below expectations. While the entire enterprise carries the distinct odor of Real Money Trade (RMT), particularly the redeeming of rare loot cards for in-game exclusives, you can't fault SOE for trying to make a fast buck, and the title has already garnered a sizable forum community that seems to be enjoying the experience.

Read the article here.

This is just lame.  Why doesnt SOE just stick a fork in SWG, cause it's been done since the NGE.

This TCG was but another cynical attempt by SOE to wring a few extra dollars from the dwindling playerbase of a dying game. The mechanics of this game are a direct copy of the Legends of Norrath card game, from one of their other titles, so their expenditure for this TCG was minimal.

What it is, is a back door RMT to make players pay real cash for items otherwise not obtainable except from "booster packs" for sale by SOE, beyond the 5 "free" pack a paid subscriber gets each month, which are non-tradable.

In another way, it has turned into sanctioned credit selling/buying. A player can (and many have) buy a few packs, at $3 USD each, go to a trade forum, and offer to "sell" the unopened packs (which CAN be traded) for ingame credits. So, the player can "buy" the credits through an SOE transaction and not a 3rd party site. And each part is legal through current terms of service.

Smed gets his RMT in under the nose of LA in the guise of a Trading Card Game.

Nice move, Smed, didn't fool anyone, though....

Smedley, the most hated person in online gaming and justifiably so. Take your RMT card game and stick it.

Smedley is grasping at straws to fund the mess he created.  His subscription numbers have dropped so precipitiously that he has no choice but to dip into funding his company with RMT.