At least, we're not seeing too much of this:

http://www.dumpaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/the-end-is-near-sign-meme.jpg

Back on topic, as long as we don't get an announcement about a new Star Wars MMO, swtor is safe. But, we have to see what happens in 2023 when EA loses the exclusivity deal. Maybe this means that they won't be able to add any content to swtor without Lucasfilm Games' approval. Or maybe they can continue to earn money by selling bootleg star wars virtual merch, like they did with the near identical armor from The Mandalorian. That we can't really know.

I suppose the question should be asked, who owns the visual and audio assets from the SWTOR game? Sure the game code itself it property of EA, but do character models, sounds, music, settings, and story belong to Disney? Surely they'd want to be able to use Darth Malgus, Satele Shan or a multitude of other characters (not to mention bootleg Mandalorian armor) spawned by this game in other projects down the road.

I suppose the question should be asked, who owns the visual and audio assets from the SWTOR game? Sure the game code itself it property of EA, but do character models, sounds, music, settings, and story belong to Disney? Surely they'd want to be able to use Darth Malgus, Satele Shan or a multitude of other characters (not to mention bootleg Mandalorian armor) spawned by this game in other projects down the road.

Some of the music was made by a composer hired specificaly for swtor, while some other was just indeed bits from known themes, which may be an issue down the road. Same goes for the sound FX. From what I gather, and the fact that there is no actual "official name" on the most recent outfits like the one from The Mandalorian, and also the fact that they're not exactly the same (just like many, many other reference to star wars on the CM), I'd bet that this is more or less an unofficial "hommage", meaning that I doubt they asked for permission and just did something that closely ressembled what others made. But since it's not "exactly the same", I'd wager that they don't risk much, as sad as it is.

The swtor storyline however depends solely on Bioware from what I've gathered, as they already released Kotor 1 and 2 before said exclusivity deal or even before Disney bought the licence. And tbh, I doubt that even Disney would want to reuse Zakel somewhere. :')

I'd be on the side of "what was released is fine, but you need to get approval before releasing new stuff". This would seem like the most... logic way to build said contracts.

The swtor storyline however depends solely on Bioware from what I've gathered, as they already released Kotor 1 and 2 before said exclusivity deal or even before Disney bought the licence. And tbh, I doubt that even Disney would want to reuse Zakel somewhere. :')

I think the KOTOR 1 & 2 stories were approved by LucasArts when they contracted the Bioware and Obsidian studios to create those titles. Therefore, one could argue that SWTOR is a derivative work of the original concepts, no?

Also, fair point about Disney ever using Zakuul or the Eternal Empire, though the look of the planet was amazing in my opinion even if the story was underwhelming and made little sense for non-Force users to be involved in. This is a bit off topic now, but I think if we're not going to see individual class stories anymore, then at least variants for Force sensitives and non-Force sensitives would be very welcome.

I suppose the question should be asked, who owns the visual and audio assets from the SWTOR game? Sure the game code itself it property of EA, but do character models, sounds, music, settings, and story belong to Disney? Surely they'd want to be able to use Darth Malgus, Satele Shan or a multitude of other characters (not to mention bootleg Mandalorian armor) spawned by this game in other projects down the road.

Traditionally, any content added to a universe then belongs to the root owner of the IP (ie Disney). In the same vein, there are (usually) also usage clauses and whatnot that assign royalties to the creator of said content, regardless of who the IP owner is (or will be), if/when it is used again at a later time.

But, again, this is all down to specific wording and what clauses the contracts were based on, or even changed (renegotiated) at a later time as either an addendum or new contract.

So far, our first 'known' measure was the vented lightsaber that BW/EA designed for the CM, but was delayed at the 'request' of D because they liked the design and wanted it for Kylo Ren.

However, so far, the flow has not been 100% reciprocal. We get similar Mandalorian CM armor's to what was in the show, but the difference in details is either down to 'permissions' and/or that SWTOR is in a prior era (~3000 years BBY) and as such they wanted an 'older look'.

We can speculate all we want, but unless D releases the exact wording of all relevant contracts (which I would put out there as somewhen coinciding with the heat death of the known universe), that is all it will ever be: speculation.

So far, our first 'know' measure was the vented lightsaber that BW/EA designed for the CM, but was delayed at the 'request' of D because they liked the design and wanted it for Kylo Ren.

 

However, so far, the flow has not been 100% reciprocal. We get similar Mandalorian CM armor's to what was in the show, but the difference in details is either down to 'permissions' and/or that SWTOR is in a prior era (~3000 years BBY) and as such they wanted an 'older look'.

I mean, we know Swtor is trying really hard to surf on the wave of hype. Case and point being an awfull lot of Mandalorian-related story and cosmetic getting released recently. However, it is again fair to assume that they probably failed to get the rights to reuse the exacts and correct assets from the related show, even when we look at the housing decorations that were released. This could be bad for the game in the long road if there is ever an analysis by Disney or Lucasfilm Games about what swtor accomplished, like some other mentionned.

Things could go even worse if we see that some "random" cosmetic gears were inspired directly from a lot of other star wars work without autorization. I'm thinking about cartel market items specifically, seeing how expensive some of them can be, if there was indeed a tentative to "replicate" the work of other artists without asking for permission or even giving some form of royalties or anything of the sort.

I'm not saying that Bioware stole designs to fill up its cash shop, but one could definitely see this as a possibility when looking back at the game from a juridic point of view, if there is a gray area meaning that they released content without approval. But we're (or I am) stretching the line a bit here.

Also, what's that with the Kylo saber ? Is that a true story ? I haven't seen it anywhere so I'm curious

On 1/15/2021 at 2:09 PM, Tsillah said:

if another company gets the ok from Lucasfilm Games, to make another SW MMO,

God, I could only wish. I want another company to take a crack at a SW MMO -- with the ambition that SWTOR originally had until EA decided to strip all but the barest of funding for the development team; kill the class-based stories that Bioware was actually good at; decided that voice actors were far too expensive for their small indie company to afford and made some conversations more KOTOR-like in the later expansions (camera panned at who you're talking to; no player voice just a list of responses that they reply to).

Some miracle with SWTOR ambition, proper funding, and the enjoyment that Galaxies once had (especially with its class system being more detailed and even having specifically non-combat classes like Entertainer or Merchant or whatever it was).

SWTOR is still fun, don't get me wrong, but it really kills my buzz to wanting to finish the class stories that I keep putting off for restarting or whatever reason - knowing that I'll be leaving 8 class-unique storylines houses under an umbrella of the main storyline;  just to go to Imperial vs Republic storylines that make it so I only need a 'single' character from each faction to really get the full story of everything instead of playing all 8 classes through the expansions....

Although I really enjoy Swtor, SWG will always be my favorite Star Wars game. That said, Starfield is now on my radar because of it's modding community and the more than likely Star Wars conversion. 

This reminds me of that old saying - "Be careful what you wish for, you might get it."

There's nothing to say that any 'new' SW MMO would be any good. 😅