The desire for a “Star Wars” MMORPG is great. But can SWTOR still satisfy that desire?
The “Star Wars” franchise is one of the largest in the world with a long history and numerous fans. However, despite its size, there are relatively few games in this field. For those who enjoy exploring MMORPGs, there is only a single title: Star Wars: The Old Republic.
The game has been running for several years, and in recent months, fans’ doubts have become increasingly evident. While there are no official numbers, players report servers feeling emptier as new content is released only in small bites. Major expansions have been missing for a while.
For many players, it is clear: EA has scaled back funding for SWTOR, and the MMORPG is now running on “low flame” – occasional, small updates are the result, and that is now being felt.
Petition to Save SWTOR
The concern surrounding SWTOR has led one player to start a petition. Here, players can participate if they believe that EA should partner with Disney to financially rebuild Star Wars: The Old Republic. Development should be pushed forward, and more personnel should be hired to create new content.
According to the creator, SWTOR has “great and fantastic stories that have amazed players.” With the current funding and resources of the developers, SWTOR is, however, “only a shadow of what it could be.” For instance, the latest patch contains only a single boss.
So far, the petition is still quite small and has gathered around 1100 signatures – however, it has more than doubled since yesterday. So it could very well be that the petition gains more support than initially thought.
Whether the petition and the resulting discussions and attention will ultimately have a noticeable effect remains to be seen. Because at the end of the day, that’s exactly what it is: for now, just an internet petition.
Two Different Hopes – Revival and Death
Another part of the players still holds on to the hope that very soon a new expansion will be announced that will bring SWTOR back to life, attract new players, and bring back old veterans. This would be particularly favorable timing, as other MMO giants like World of Warcraft are struggling, and players are looking for alternatives.
Some players, however, are sure that SWTOR’s time has long since passed and find that to be a good thing. Because as long as SWTOR is still “operational,” there would be no new MMORPG in the Star Wars realm. The old game must disappear first to make way for a new one – even if that might still be years away.
In general, many players lament the old engine of SWTOR, which caused errors and problems even at the launch of the MMORPG. Since then, engines have improved significantly, allowing for a more stable and fluid gameplay experience with more action components. Because although in SWTOR you wield lightsabers, blasters, and force lightning, the combat system is classic and lacks significant action elements.
Do you hope that SWTOR will recover financially? Would you like to see a new MMORPG set in the Star Wars universe? Or is the time for MMORPGs simply over?
