@EA. Just so you know. I'm not spending a dime on Anthem

Exactly. Who hears BioWare and thinks "online, co-op, microtransaction FPS"? Nobody because that's not the kind of game BioWare has EVER made let alone the kind of game that made them successful and well loved. EA has many other branches and studios that could be making this kind of thing but they choose to gut BioWare for it instead. EA bought them in the first place because of their success making single player, story and character driven RPGs and now they're chasing off all the developers that once made the company great and not letting the remaining ones play to their strengths let alone giving them the time and resources needed to make a good game.

On the face of it, just stepping back and looking at what EA is doing with Anthem, it's fairly obvious.

There is no intention -- either on the part of EA and/or Disney -- to continue the SWTOR contract beyond its original conclusion in 2023. Therefore, because EA will be losing the license to market products based on another corporation's intellectual property, EA is pursuing the most natural course in developing entirely its own IP (Anthem). No 3rd party involvement in its ownership.

So while people play SWTOR to whatever extent they will for as long as it lasts, please turn your attention to Disney.
And once you've turned your attention to Disney, consider this:

Disney will put the next company through the same intellectual property mill that it did with Sony (SWG) and EA (SWTOR).

So, with Disney's demonstrably habit-forming (twice-now) practice mentioned above, the broader question becomes:

When Disney signs yet a third, finite, limited, IP-marketing contract with yet another software house (name any you like, doesn't matter), do we -- the Star Wars-loving player base -- put ourselves through the wringer a third time?

Are we really going to walk into another situation forking over more money for another subscription, more money for more micro-transactions, all the while forking over our time by treading the hamster wheel of perpetual grind number next that the as-of-yet unselected software house will inevitably put its players through?

Block out of your mind for a moment EA and all other games from all other sources, and ask yourselves:
Will we really sit here and do all of the above again for yet another SW MMO?

Doesn't matter which software house takes on the next Star Wars MMO, doesn't matter how great anyone thinks it is, doesn't matter how fun it may become, the bigger picture to pay attention to is the confirmed, established pattern by these software houses -- a pattern forced onto them by not having an open-ended intellectual property agreement with Disney, and that pattern works like this:

7 years into the contract with Disney, that next software house will think to itself, oh, gee, we'd better get on the ball and create a product with our own intellectual property, because in one game development cycle, we lose the IP license to market our current product and therefore must shut down the current game.

Do we really put ourselves through this cycle a third time with yet another Star Wars MMO when it comes out, knowing now the finite nature of the life cycles of MMOs imposed on these software houses by the onerous nature of the time-limited intellectual property license Disney doles out to them?

Everquest launched in 1999 (19 years). Still going.
Everquest II launched in 2004 (14 years this August). Still going.
Wow launched in 2004 (14 years this November). Still going.
And others, also long-lived.

The next Star Wars MMO?
Good luck on a 7-year run and then a (maybe) 3-year downward death spiral until the Disney contract ends.

Again.

Um, Disney didn't even own Star Wars when SWG was running...I completely blame EA for this debacle. They're a studio killer, they're known for it and BioWare is next on the chopping block.

I'm aware of that. But what a world of difference an open-ended IP license would have made.

Star Wars Galaxies launched June 26, 2003, closed 2011-12
Published by LucasArts. Closed after licensing with LucasArts ceased.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daybreak_Game_Company

I'll /sign too.

The gaming world is fast becoming nothing but shooters and one more on the pile isn't going to distinguish the company in any way. Whatever happened to providing clientele with variety and choices? Many people like me don't like shooters, and those like my son for example that do, has his favorites, he plays those and he regards anything else as a 'clone' and he turns his nose up to it. He completely snubbed the idea of Anthem and says he'll never play it, he has enough of a variety of shooters that he doesn't care about it...there's nothing unique or interesting about it.

Star Wars is an amazing property and like others have said, I too, would pay for a proper and decent expansion. I've been known to shell out upwards of $60 for a decent expansion. I would happily do it, and happily demand they 'keep it coming'.

I will not buy Anthem, cause I have no interest in it and my son has had enough of them, he's had his fill, so he doesn't want it either...nor my hubby, who loathes FPS. He's gone back to Conan until SWTOR gets its act together, assuming it ever will again.

So, I say: NO TO ANTHEM.YES TO SWTOR!!

EA owns the Mass Effect IP but they still neglected and killed it without a thought in favor of Anthem.

As I said in my original post, the whole focus of the question I'm presenting has nothing to do with what EA has done in the past or will do in the future, or anyone else, for that matter.

The question -- given that Disney will dole out to the next software vendor a time-limited IP license-- is pull back and ask ourselves do we, as players, want to go down this dead-end road again?

I wasn't going to play Anthem anyway because it's not really my flavor of a game but now I'm even moreso giving it the evil eye. Let it go bust.

If it were a new IP space themed MMO, I would be giving it a go for sure, It wouldn't matter the studio.
I either like something like this or I don't, and in this particular case, I immediately switched off as soon as I found out what it was, ages ago. Who is making it didn't come into the equation in that decision for me.

It's downright sad, isn't it? They have a very popular IP, they have a fan following that is waiting to throw money at them for expansions (I would, too), and yet they're throwing it all away in favor of some mundane shooting game that might completely crash and burn.

At this point nothing from EA, including Anthem, will ever have my support again. And sadly unless they wow us with something totally amazing, I can't continue giving them subscription dollars just to feed Anthem once we get past the April flashpoint.

As for the limited license, there are still five years left before 2023 and if they invested properly in SWTOR they might have a thriving game that would impress Disney enough to extend their license for this game, at least.