Right now EA is happy with the game's performance.

No one can tell you how they will feel, how the market will be, or if BioWare will even still be around in 2023. Especially with BW's past failures (Mass Effect, Anthem) and the looming Dragon Age 4.

Down, Down, Down, To A Burning Ring Of Fire

Nonsense...Disney and EA are perfectly happy with SWTOR, they have a MMO that is already complete with a engine that can be easily upgraded, even the major events have become Canon.

The games expansions have also become much cheaper to produce due to the sheer amount of voice over work that has already been done. I personally see the game continuing at least another decade.

And like I have said before the day the servers sunset a emulator will take it's place and there is no way EA will lose that potential capitol.

Something very, very unspectacular is going to happen: they're just going to renew the license. Seriously, that's the most probable course that Disney is going to take with EA and this game. Since SWTOR has proven to be quite the moneymaker for EA, they're not going to want to give up on this game and will try to hold onto it for as long as possible. It's likely there's a whole team of lobbyists already working over at Lucasfilm and Disney to make sure that EA's license gets renewed, just so they can keep earning money from SWTOR.

And if the license will go to someone else, I doubt they'd just pull the plug on this game. SWTOR makes money, so any business will want to keep it generating money. Besides, this is the only Star Wars MMO currently out there, Disney and Lucasfilm are not so stupid to get rid of their only finger in the MMO Market pot.

So, if you're concerned over whether SWTOR will be shut down: don't be. This game is not going to get shut down for years to come, no matter how loudly some posters profess it will. They have been repeating the "SWTOR is going down" narrative for years and not once they were true thus far. I am convinced they're not going to be right anytime soon either, but it's inevitable that one day in the far future, this game is going to get shut down. That may be in five years, ten, maybe more, we can't know for sure. But until that time, I suggest you just play and enjoy the game, as that's its primary purpose, to give us enjoyment

Something very, very unspectacular is going to happen: they're just going to renew the license. Seriously, that's the most probable course that Disney is going to take with EA and this game. Since SWTOR has proven to be quite the moneymaker for EA, they're not going to want to give up on this game and will try to hold onto it for as long as possible. It's likely there's a whole team of lobbyists already working over at Lucasfilm and Disney to make sure that EA's license gets renewed, just so they can keep earning money from SWTOR.

 

And if the license will go to someone else, I doubt they'd just pull the plug on this game. SWTOR makes money, so any business will want to keep it generating money. Besides, this is the only Star Wars MMO currently out there, Disney and Lucasfilm are not so stupid to get rid of their only finger in the MMO Market pot.

 

So, if you're concerned over whether SWTOR will be shut down: don't be. This game is not going to get shut down for years to come, no matter how loudly some posters profess it will. They have been repeating the "SWTOR is going down" narrative for years and not once they were true thus far. I am convinced they're not going to be right anytime soon either, but it's inevitable that one day in the far future, this game is going to get shut down. That may be in five years, ten, maybe more, we can't know for sure. But until that time, I suggest you just play and enjoy the game, as that's its primary purpose, to give us enjoyment

I remember in beta when this game was dying.

Real slow death, that.

Nonsense...Disney and EA are perfectly happy with SWTOR, they have a MMO that is already complete with a engine that can be easily upgraded, even the major events have become Canon.

Source for this statement? Everything I've ever read or heard has stated the engine is notoriously hard to work with. The Hero engine this game is built on was so heavily modified that it's unrecognizable as the original Hero engine they started with--so much so that the developers of Hero washed their hands of it and refused to support it.

Are they gonna give up the license and shutdown the game or renew it XD, i know it is a bit far off, but one should think of the future sometimes.

SWTOR came out BEFORE this deal was conceived. There is no reason to assume that even if this deal ends with EA and someone else gets it that it will mean that SWTOR will be affected by it. Older SW games still exist and are allowed to be. Only SWG was shut down but that probably made sense because they didn't want two games fighting over the same customers.

And that's the thing, will someone want to make another SW MMO? You have to figure though that in 2023 someone would get the new license and can then start on it. That means there won't be a new SW MMO for another 8 years or so. The only reason why SWTOR would shut down is if it no longer is profitable or indeed a new game is supposed to replace it. That scenario is very unlikely in the near future but also who has the license won't matter for that because EA might at some point decide to do that themselves when SWTOR has outlived its usefulness for them.

EA and Bioware, and Disney are NOT going to be the deciding factors here.

Whether or not the license gets renewed is going to depend on one thing: game revenue.

Game Revenue depends on ONE THING: Player Satisfaction.

That is at an all-time low, and is still heading down.

Unless Bioware start listening to the players there'll be too few players left to warrant the expense of renewing a license.

All The Best

Down, Down, Down, To A Burning Ring Of Fire

I actually like

Something very, very unspectacular is going to happen: they're just going to renew the license.

That's definitely my hope, and hopefully, whatever price negotiation Di$ney makes with EA over the cost of the renewal won't scare EA off in terms of overall profitability.

Not too many other software houses have as deep pockets as EA to acquire a massive franchise like Star Wars, but that's only half the equation. EA still has to turn that expense into a profit.

Let's hope it's indeed unspectacular.

I remember in beta when this game was dying.

 

Real slow death, that.

I know it sounds rather gloomy, but aren't we all slowly headed towards death?

No but really, ever since I arrived here in 2012, I have seen "the game is dead/dying" posts almost weekly on the forums. It kind of reminds me of how many apocalypses I have survived too, because every time those professing the end is near are absolutely sure of their convictions. The same is with the SWTOR doomsayers. Sure, eventually one day in the future they will be right, because it's inevitable that the game will one day end. Just see how loudly and jubilantly they will express "told you so", after having been wrong a billion times.

EA and Bioware, and Disney are NOT going to be the deciding factors here.

 

Whether or not the license gets renewed is going to depend on one thing: game revenue.

 

Game Revenue depends on ONE THING: Player Satisfaction.

 

That is at an all-time low, and is still heading down.

 

Unless Bioware start listening to the players there'll be too few players left to warrant the expense of renewing a license.

 

All The Best

Then you seem to have missed how SWTOR is one of EA's biggest revenue generators, right now. I believe the article talking about it said that the game has already generated more than 1 billion dollars? And it keeps growing, as seen from the numbers that EA presented. So, I think game revenue is doing excellently right now, as EA reported to be highly satisfied with SWTOR's performance that way.

That's definitely my hope, and hopefully, whatever price negotiation Di$ney makes with EA over the cost of the renewal won't scare EA off in terms of overall profitability.

 

Not too many other software houses have as deep pockets as EA to acquire a massive franchise like Star Wars, but that's only half the equation. EA still has to turn that expense into a profit.

 

Let's hope it's indeed unspectacular.

My expectation is that it will be indeed unspectacular. EA is really happy with having SWTOR in their pocket, so they'll definitely try to keep it in order to generate profit and revenue. If anything, if the price of the renewal indeed will be high, I actually expect we'll see resources and money increase for SWTOR's team. Why? Because they'll want to turn SWTOR's profits to be even higher to compensate for the license renewal price. A renewal of the EA license for Star Wars might actually be the grand revival that SWTOR needs, so, perhaps I'd even hope they would renew the license!

The license will get renewed, there are many reasons to expect this. As much as we all dislike EA's business practices and how popular it is to drag them for everything, they publish for many talented studios with a very wide variety of genre specialties, with the largest reach and dedicated fan bases in the world. I can't think of a single company that has access or reach that EA has, or even comes remotely close and this is what Disney is ultimately interested in because profit and brand growth matters, EA also makes the most sense for a lot of reasons.

If EA were to lose the license, you can expect even fewer Star Wars titles, with significantly less genre variety. EA has multiple Star Wars titles in active development as we speak that haven't even been formally announced outside of the acknowledgement of their existences. Be very careful what you wish for. I think EA has very much under-utilized the Star Wars IP over the years, but that is all prior to Disney's acquisition. With Disney really utilizing the Star Wars IP, so has EA.

Disney has also met with BioWare, and they were very happy and excited about that meeting afterward, and they have also been talking about bringing The Old Republic era to life in movies or TV, which also is a pretty good indicator that they have no intention on not renewing the license with EA, unless they intend to grant BioWare a very specific license to create The Old Republic games, which is always possible but I kind of doubt they will do that.

Lastly, Fallen Order comes out soon and is looking to be a very good game. If it is successful at all, you can pretty much look at it like EA securing the license renewal, if nothing else.

The license will get renewed, there are many reasons to expect this. As much as we all dislike EA's business practices and how popular it is to drag them for everything, they publish for many talented studios with a very wide variety of genre specialties, with the largest reach and dedicated fan bases in the world. I can't think of a single company that has access or reach that EA has, or even comes remotely close and this is what Disney is ultimately interested in because profit and brand growth matters, EA also makes the most sense for a lot of reasons for a lot of reasons.

 

If EA were to lose the license, you can expect even fewer Star Wars titles, with significantly less genre variety. EA has multiple Star Wars titles in active development as we speak that haven't even been formally announced outside of the acknowledgement of their existences. Be very careful what you wish for. I think EA has very much under-utilized the Star Wars IP over the years, but that is all prior to Disney's acquisition. With Disney really utilizing the Star Wars IP, so has EA.

 

Disney has also met with BioWare, and they were very happy and excited about that meeting afterward, and they have also been talking about bringing The Old Republic era to life in movies or TV, which also is a pretty good indicator that they have no intention on not renewing the license with EA, unless they intend to grant BioWare a very specific license to create The Old Republic games, which is always possible but I kind of doubt they will do that.

 

Lastly, Fallen Order comes out soon and is looking to be a very good game. If it is successful at all, you can pretty much look at it like EA securing the license renewal, if nothing else.

I completely agree with everything you said here, as it's very much in line with I am thinking as well. EA is the biggest entity out there that is capable of being able to produce content for a massive IP like Star Wars. And especially what you said with "be careful what you wish for" rings true, because as flawed as many of EA's decisions and business plans were, if they lose the license, then the amount of Star Wars game titles released will drop significantly.

From what I have seen and heard, Fallen Order is expected to be a really big success and I think it will be. Perhaps the commentary from social media and other places has finally reached the heads over at EA and a turn is being made to work with their players, not against them.

And yes, I think that Disney is having bigger plans in the works to include SWTOR and the Old Republic Era into the franchise more. There's more and more hints being made, references to the lore from the Old Republic era, in new Disney lore content. If you ask me, it isn't a question of 'if' Disney is going to grant a bigger role to SWTOR in their franchise, but 'when'. I hope that 'when' will be rather soon, as it would be absolutely amazing to see this game go through a major revival

Wildstar got shutdown. I Heard Marvel Heroes got shutdown.

But there is Always champions online and DC universe online

This game is as good as dead. Maybe if they went on Steam and pulled it another 5m new players and actually proved they wanted those 5m new players but until then this game will be replaced. If a starwars mmo is not the #1 mmo then it's a failure and most likely this is how Disney sees it, as a failure.

Judging as to how Disney is working on bringing the Old Republic into their new canon, I believe you are mistaken. This game is anything but dead and won't be dead for years to come. After Onslaught alone the amount of players ingame has increased, I've seen it on Korriban, the Fleets and various other planets. There's sometimes 4 or 5 separate instances to accommodate all people when there were only 1 or 2 active before Onslaught's release. I don't call that a failure.

Source for this statement? Everything I've ever read or heard has stated the engine is notoriously hard to work with. The Hero engine this game is built on was so heavily modified that it's unrecognizable as the original Hero engine they started with--so much so that the developers of Hero washed their hands of it and refused to support it.

Idea Fabrik and Hero still support SWTOR the game is listed on their homepage,(not that there is that much support needed other than upgrading to version 2.1 in 2020 which will give D3D11 support) if the company washed its hands it would no longer be listed, also no developer would ever modify a engine so much that it couldn't be expanded upon or upgraded, there have been several graphic updates over the years, and custom tools to more easily create quest and story line content as was discussed before Rise of the Hutt cartel was released.

Right now EA is happy with the game's performance.

 

No one can tell you how they will feel, how the market will be, or if BioWare will even still be around in 2023. Especially with BW's past failures (Mass Effect, Anthem) and the looming Dragon Age 4.

DOOMING Dragon Age 4, if Andromeda is any indication....

I can think of a few scenarios in order of likelihood:

(1) Disney buy over BW from EA and redo SWTOR entirely (basically a case of Disney see more potential in SWTOR than EA and feel they can do better).

(2) Disney discontinue the licensing agreement and award it to another game developer. Probably for this case, you should be seeing from now till 2023 Disney inviting other game developers for their proposal to create another SW MMO which I believe there will be keen and interested game studios out there if not a new studio will spring up from crowdfunding or traditional investment just to create the next gen SW MMO.

(3) Disney discontinue the licensing agreement and set up a new company to create the next gen SW MMO. Disney has a long term view in terms of its investment and they can see how big a revenue MMO market is and they probably will be eyeing the one billion dollar revenue over 10 years (as revealed by EA themselves) at the worst case and the potential of earning 10 times that amount (i.e. one billion dollar revenue per year).

(4) License not renewed because they cannot agree on the pricing --> SWTOR get shutdown forever. End of the era of Star Wars MMO.

At any rate, I doubt SW MMO will be a staple in EA portfolio given the slowing momentum you see with regards to SWTOR atm. EA is showing sign of preparing for soft landing exit of SWTOR in the next few years possibly not wanting to pay the premium price for continuing the license with Disney. You should also be seeing more contenders talking to Disney on securing the SW licensing to create the next SW MMO (look at how much money Star Citizen manage to get through their crowdfunding and anyone with an idea of space-theme MMO will know what extra premium SW lore carries over and above what Star Citizen can secure).

Are they gonna give up the license and shutdown the game or renew it XD, i know it is a bit far off, but one should think of the future sometimes.

2023 is confirmed VR expansion but you have to be a Disney+ sub first.