To introduce myself:

I posted 4 weeks before the NGE launched in 2005 that SOE was planning the combat upgrade 2 with jedi as starter profession and compressing 32 professions into 9, a system similar to the 9 classes in World Of Warcraft, which looked like this:

http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=412290

People on the SOE boards called me a liar and asked me for proove and so on and I said I can't just wait 4 weeks and you will see.

Now we all got to know that a few weeks ago that BioWare and LucasArts signed a new contract which you can read here:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6181948.html?sid=6181948

Since then people are speculating what this has to mean because SOE had the actual license for a StarWars mmo.

On Saturday we got this news about SOE:

http://www.reuters.com/article/mergersNews/idUSBOM22006020071223

The Indian Company Zapaks statement:

""Buying out Sony will not only give us access but also expand our reach in the global market." The deal is expected to be finalised by next week, the paper said citing unnamed sources.

John Smedley who is about to loose his job at SOE in 2008 of course already denied the news, just like he denied that there was no NGE, 4 months before the NGE got launched.

And now back to the license pullout:

LucasArts made a new contract about a StarWars MMO with BioWare because they knew about the indian takeover of SOE and as soon as its offical they will pullout the StarWars license off Sony Online Entertainement.

And LucasArts is absolutlely not amused about the subscription numbers of SWG since 2005, they see no future for StarWars Galaxies. 250.000 - 500.000 subscribers pre-cu and pre-NGE were not enough for LucasArts and SOE which made them to release the CU and NGE, now you can figure out how satisfied LucasArts is with below 15.000 active players?

I think this time I dont have to proove anything, since everyone who can calculate 1 + 1 knows what the result is.

So much from me, prepare yourself for some entertaining 2008, thats all I can say :)

And when asking one of my friends at the SOE office of why there is no rollback to pre-cu he said:

"our management at SOE hopes to the very last chance, that one day all the veterans return to the game again from nothing and the truth is they're really confused which way is the right: keep the current, rollback or imrpove, they just don't know what to do..."

Now this statement made me stun and I really didn't know what to reply except shaking my head.

BioWare is the future of StarWars Online.

Sony Online Entertainements time has run out and Smedley is finally getting what he deserves.

Since I know that we are all humans and everyone can make a mistake, I wish John Smedley the best health and a happy life, far far away from the gaming industry.

interesting,

I guess only time will tell, but the above makes pretty much sense to me.

Why else should LA and BioWare sign a starwars contract? and why is BioWare waiting so long with details about their new mmo?

I think both Lucasarts and bioware are blocked with information about a mmo, until the SOE takeover is offical.

time will tell

 the most funny thing is john smedley's reply to the takeover:

"We aren't for sale and never have been. Nothing like this has ever been discussed with the Zapak guys. The truth is we were talking to them about distribution rights to one of our games. And we have no idea how this story got started."

they have no idea how the story got started, just like the have no idea of what your player base enjoys, right john ?

maybe you have an idea if you look at your current subscription numbers for star wars galaxies and compare them to pre-cu/ pre-NGE hm ?

John Smedley reminds me of this guy:

"there is no combat upgrade, there is no NGE, SWG is doin fine and there is no takeover !!!11 1 1..."

That would be so funny, after all these years.  Can you imagine ? lol Everquest 2 GMs and CS from Bangladesh :D

anyway, why would he care about "damage control" as it were. if they were going to can him, and they actually were doing this, he wouldnt bother to tell everyone it wasnt true. i cant believe it one way or the other, but we will see in time.

All very interesting stuff. Either way 2008 should be a much more entertaining year for MMORPG's than 2007 has been.

Its Breaking news on the Rodo Report  - NEW DELHI: Zapak Digital entertainment, the online gaming company promoted by Anil Ambani-led ADAG group, is all set to buy out Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) for around $300 million (Rs 1,200 crore).

According to sources close to the development, the deal will be finalised within the next few days. Sony Online was on the block for the past two weeks and Zapak, which has been looking for acquiring international studios, is finally said to have reached a consensus over the valuation of Sony Online.

“The deal is almost through. It is in the final stages of negotiations and by next week, Zapak will have a full right to all content, owned and published by Sony Online,” sources told SundayET.

Sony Online Entertainment is the game development and game publishing unit of Sony and posts revenue of around $ 150 million (the company doesn’t reveal the exact details for the division). It has in the past come out with popular games such as Everquest, PlanetSide, Star War Galaxies and Vanguard. SOE’s headquartered at San Diego, California, with additional game development studios located in Austin, Texas, Denver, Colorado and Seattle.

It makes the Bioware/LucasArts Star War MMO rumor more real by the second.

Originally posted by JestorRodo

Its Breaking news on the Rodo Report  - NEW DELHI: Zapak Digital entertainment, the online gaming company promoted by Anil Ambani-led ADAG group, is all set to buy out Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) for around $300 million (Rs 1,200 crore).

According to sources close to the development, the deal will be finalised within the next few days. Sony Online was on the block for the past two weeks and Zapak, which has been looking for acquiring international studios, is finally said to have reached a consensus over the valuation of Sony Online.

“The deal is almost through. It is in the final stages of negotiations and by next week, Zapak will have a full right to all content, owned and published by Sony Online,” sources told SundayET.

Sony Online Entertainment is the game development and game publishing unit of Sony and posts revenue of around $ 150 million (the company doesn’t reveal the exact details for the division). It has in the past come out with popular games such as Everquest, PlanetSide, Star War Galaxies and Vanguard. SOE’s headquartered at San Diego, California, with additional game development studios located in Austin, Texas, Denver, Colorado and Seattle.

It makes the Bioware/LucasArts Star War MMO rumor more real by the second.

I knew it and everyone else was against me...

thank god 2007 is over, let the good times roll :D

According to Smedley, this story is completely false.

http://www.eq2flames.com/382432-post7.html

Best news of the decade if this would be true and this  stinker  $OE who cursed alot of people would be separated from the MMO market so we MMO customer have no more to deal with such greedy  people and times will come again were innovative ideas , fun and community ideas rule the market and not such stinkers from $OE.

Nah, Smed would just start a new company. The guy can't take a hint and just go away....