Star Wars KOTOR MMO announced soon !

From a CVG article :

KOTOR MMO to be revealed soon
Friday 3-Oct-2008 4:41 PM
BioWare's online Star Wars game to be unveiled in a matter of weeks

BioWare's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic MMO game is set to be 'officially' unveiled later this month, CVG has learnt.

The long-awaited online Star Wars - perhaps the games industry's worst kept secret - is being developed by BioWare Austin, which has been tinkering away behind the scenes on the title for over two years.

Officially the company hasn't admitted to any sort of Star Wars link with its MMO, but EA boss John Riccitiello let slip earlier this year that the RPG developer was in fact working on the online KOTOR, claiming that it is "quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry."

But it looks like the game won't (officially at least) be a secret for long. LucasArts and BioWare look set to lift the lid on a KOTOR MMO within the next 30 days.

Backing up all this is the strongest confirmation yet (other than EA's boss saying it's in the works, of course) from UK newspaper, The Daily Star, of all places.

A column that appeared last Saturday reports that the rag is soon off to San Francisco to "file an exclusive report on the game", after stating that BioWare is working on "a MMO of Knights of the Old Republic".

Look for more in the coming weeks then.

Investment analysis : "EA may climb to the top of the MMO game market"

From a Seeking Alpha article :

However, EA may climb to the top of the MMO game market with the acquisition of VG Holdings, the parent company of game developer BioWare and Pandemic Studios. Although no official press released has been made, BioWare is developing a MMO based in the Star Wars universe that is based on the Knights of the Old Republic video game series. A video game that has requires a monthly fee to play on top of a initial $50 investment plus any future expansion packs based on an intellectual property as popular as Star Wars will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue by itself.

Source

LucasArts recruiting MMO tester(s)

From Computerandvideogame.com :

"LucasArts has advertised for a QA Online Tester working out of the Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco, which just confuses the heck out of us.

John Riccitiello confirmed back in July that a KOTOR MMO was on the cards, but so far no official word from either LucasArts or BioWare has emerged.

But BioWare - presumably the lead developer on the project - is making the game in Austin, Texas.

The job application continues to confuse. It calls for the applicant to "to test MMO games for bugs" and "Test the assigned LucasArts games for defects." MMO Games? Plural?

Whatever is going on in the house of Lucas, it's got us beat."

(source)

Former LucasArts employee : KOTOR 3 will be a MMO

From a Kotaku article :

One former employee has told us not only how he was immediately sacked after six years of service, but how wide-ranging the layoffs appear to be, and the impact they'll supposedly have on many of Lucasart's upcoming projects. Some of them as-yet-unannounced. Projects like KOTOR 3, a Wii Star Wars title and the non-Lego Indiana Jones game.

[...]

Some of the titles they report Lucasarts apparently have in this stacked pipeline, whether as publisher or developer, include:

- KOTOR 3 (They say it's an MMO: most likely a joint project between Lucasarts and BioWare)
- Battlefront 3 (which we've already heard about)
- "The Official Indiana Jones" game (probably this one)
- "another LEGO game based on the Indy universe"
- "a lightsaber game for the wii (sorry, no lightsaber peripherals)"

Related : LucasArts Leak Shows KOTOR 3 As MMO News

Rumor over the rumor : KOTOR MMO cancelled ?

From a Kotaku article :

We've continued to receive e-mails throughout the day from folks who it seems are now formerly in the employ of Lucasarts, telling us this and that about the circumstances behind their departure from the company. But few are as revealing as one we were sent earlier this evening. One former employee has told us not only how he was immediately sacked after six years of service, but how wide-ranging the layoffs appear to be, and the impact they'll supposedly have on many of Lucasart's upcoming projects. Some of them as-yet-unannounced. Projects like KOTOR 3, a Wii Star Wars title and the non-Lego Indiana Jones game.

The source tells us that the sackings are spread across the company, and involve (as we were told earlier) everyone from testers to head producers. They also re-iterate earlier reports that the number of staff affected is around 100, and that the cull actually began on Wednesday, and continued through into Thursday.

Most interesting, however, is the information they provide on how the layoffs leave the company severely short-staffed as they approach a packed development schedule, one which it appears may be increasingly outsourced. Some of the titles they report Lucasarts apparently have in this stacked pipeline, whether as publisher or developer, include:

- KOTOR 3 (They say it's an MMO: most likely a joint project between Lucasarts and BioWare)
- Battlefront 3 (which we've already heard about)
- "The Official Indiana Jones" game (probably this one)
- "another LEGO game based on the Indy universe"
- "a lightsaber game for the wii (sorry, no lightsaber peripherals)"

Two internally-developed games apparently far enough along to be unaffected by the sackings are The Force Unleashed (which they say has already "passed approval with SCEA and is ready to ship") and Fracture, which they say is described by team members as "an absolute piece of garbage".

As the testimony of a freshly-sacked employee, take that appraisal of Fracture with a grain of salt. And as the testimony of a freshly-sacked employee, don't expect Lucasarts or BioWare to go commenting on things like KOTOR3 or a Wii lightsaber game anytime soon. But it's certainly further food for thought.

Source

Surfer Girl : next Star Wars MMO not being developed by SOE

From a Surfer Girl article :

Next year's Star Wars MMO, not being developed by Sony Online Entertainment, will launch simultaneously for PC and consoles alongside the debut of the first Star Wars TV series in fall 2009 (or 2010 or whenever), of which the storylines of the game will tie into. Those Artistic Lucases already have a second online title planned that I've heard has nothing to do with Star Wars.

> Source : http://softrockhallelujah.blogspot.com/2008/02/hogtown.html

1up digs for evidence about Bioware MMO being about Star Wars KOTOR

From a 1up article :

The LucasArts and BioWare announcement yesterday revealed the two companies haven't been forced to stop hanging out, despite revealed plans for the Canadian developer (alongside Pandemic Studios) to be acquired by Electronic Arts. As pointed out in the previous story, both Pandemic and BioWare indicated that folding into the EA empire didn't mean a disassembling of their existing publisher relationships.

"I don't think this necessarily closes as many doors as you think. BioWare, Pandemic right now have existing publishing relations with many companies and we're excited to continue those," said Pandemic President and co-founder Josh Resnick to 1UP.

BioWare and LucasArts confirmed this again, but the release didn't detail what the collaboration is -- but signs have pointed in the direction of a Star Wars MMO. Since December 2005, BioWare has been cranking away at a mysterious MMO down in Austin, Texas. Sony Online Entertainment, the folks behind Star Wars Galaxies, are located in Austin, as well, and BioWare confirmed to us almost a year ago an unspecified number of SOE employees migrated to BioWare when they moved into the area.

Obviously, BioWare has already shown LucasArts they have a deep respect for Star Wars and ability to create compelling new characters and stories within that universe -- hello, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Employment listings for the Austin studio have listed work related to a "fantasy" project, leading some to believe the MMO is culled from BioWare's work in the D&D world. Ignoring that Star Wars could easily be construed as fantasy, a D&D MMO already exists in Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, and another team at BioWare is already hard at work on the D&D-influenced Dragon Age. It'd be a bit excessive.

It's no mystery that Star Wars Galaxies hasn't been as successful -- critically or commercially -- as hoped. Much needed gameplay reboots came months and years into the release cycle, and while expansion packs were marked improvements, it was too little, too late for many. For ages, rumors have existed that LucasArts was shopping for someone else to take over the reins, but given the heavy backlash SWG received, it's hard to discern who simply has an agenda against SOE's handling of the game.

BioWare has remained steadfast in its silence about the MMO, being especially touchy about whether it's based on an original BioWare IP, something completely new or an existing license. They were most cagey in an interview with GameSpot regarding the EA acquisition, where BioWare co-founder and co-CEO Dr. Ray Muzyka couldn't provide a straightforward response on whether the MMO was an original IP.

GS: Right, but judging by John's [Riccitiello, EA CEO] enthusiasm, it sounds pretty safe to say the MMO is an all-original IP. Would that be fair to say?

RM: [Long pause] We haven't revealed any details about the game. It's super secret right now.

That's certainly a strange answer to an otherwise straightforward question.

So far, there's no "smoking gun" that indicates BioWare is working on a Star Wars MMO, but given BioWare's past experience with the franchise, their inability to comment on the nature of the IP the title's based on and yesterday's announcement citing the collaboration between BioWare and LucasArts as covering "ground-breaking interactive entertainment product," it certainly sounds like the folks in Austin are cooking up something a bit more ambitious than just another RPG.

> Source : The Evidence for BioWare's Star Wars MMO

Anonymous source close from Bioware says the game will be about KOTOR

From a Primotech article :

A source close to BioWare confirmed to us today that the studio’s upcoming untitled massively-multiplayer online RPG will be centered around the Star Wars universe, specifically that of Knights of the Old Republic, which the developer released in 2003. The game garnered critical acclaim and spawned a less-popular sequel, released by Obsidian two years later.

The game is being developed by the company’s Austin studio, formed in 2006 and headed by BioWare Creative Director James Ohlen, whose past credits include the first KOTOR, Neverwinter Nights, and Baldur Gate’s I and II.

> Source : BioWare’s Upcoming MMO Based in KOTOR Universe - Primotech - October 19th 2007