EA’s Frank Gibeau Explains The Old Republic
EA Games label president Frank Gibeau has recently answered some questions about The Old Republic, including how the game will work alongside Warhammer Online.
“Well, as much as Need for Speed is a competitor for FIFA,” he said. “They compete in the same genre of videogames but they’re very diverse customer bases. The Warhammer customer base will overlap to a degree with Star Wars, but obviously you’re bringing in millions of new customers with the Star Wars universe.”
He is also confident about some players even playing both games.
“What we’re finding now is people are jumping in and out and having multiple accounts, so I’m fairly confident that when we are in a position having SW and WH in the marketplace, the market category’s going to be very big at that point and there will be plenty of room for both to be successful, as well as for competitors like WoW and City of Heroes.”
Bioware has been stressing the story aspect of The Old Republic which is usually unseen in an MMO, while Warhammer is more focused on PVP. So this separation gives EA two MMOs focusing on two different aspects we see in MMOs like World of Warcraft. Of course we do not know enough about The Old Republic to say whether PVP and other elements of MMO games will be prominent, but looking at the factions I think it is fair to say PVP will be a part of the game.
Lastly, Gibeau also commented on bringing the games to consoles once more. When asked whether he was speaking about both Warhammer and Star Wars, he replied, “They’re both under consideration. We’re not really in a place to commit or announce anything specific with regards to those.” Gibeau has commented on this before and LucasArts has denied any rumors about console versions so perhaps EA and LucasArts are not eye to eye on this issue.
Read the entire interview at Gameindustry.biz.
I personally hope this game does NOT go console. I have played too much FFXI to see the terrible consequences it comes with it. PC’s are constantly being pushed forward with what they can do, so improving graphics/game-play is VERY possible. But by sticking a console on it, you limit how much you can POTENTIALLY do over time. Every console has its limitations: speed, memory, power, etc. Something PC users rarely have to worry about.
If anything, I hope the console players get their own servers for the game. I’m tired of “We can’t update the graphics because of [console] limitations.” Or “3rd party addons are illegal because [console] players cant use it. Unfair advantage.”
ReplyI agree I would like to see this game stay PC-only (mac as well). LucasArts needs to return to their roots and with Force Unleashed and probably Indiana Jones being console only this is something PC players deserve.
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