Why Cancelling Shadow Realms Helps SWTOR
When BioWare decided to get into the arena of mmorpg games, they did so in a major way with the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic. While the online game was an immediate hit, it did fade somewhat in the months after launch. BioWare eventually turned their eye to creating another mmo, Shadow Realms, that was vastly different in design and tone from SWTOR and their other intellectual properties. This new game was a combination of high magic, technology, and creepy mythology and had some intriguing features. All that came to naught when BioWare decided to cancel development of the game. While some gamers were sad to see this result, it could have a silver lining. Let's examine why cancelling Shadow Realms helps Star Wars: The Old Republic.
To be honest, Shadow Realms was an ambitious project by BioWare. Their focus has been on fantasy (Dragon Age) and sci-fi (SWTOR and Mass Effect) with SWTOR their only true mmo. Shadow Realms was something new that featured a dark fantasy-style setting mixed with technology that could be somewhat akin to The Secret World. The game featured 4v1 action as four gamers would play as heroes battling against another player in the guise of a shadowlord, the bad guys in the mmorpg. The developers promised a lot of co-op gameplay with a good deal of new episodes being released on a regular basis. All this came suddenly ended when BioWare decided to cancel the project entirely. Some reasons could have been that the gameplay would appeal only to a niche audience or that similar multiplayer-style games were not that successful. Personally, I'm always leery of a game where you always need someone to choose to play as your opponent, which differs from mmofps games where players are assigned to one team or the other.
So how does the Shadow Realms cancellation help Star Wars: The Old Republic? The most obvious answer is resources, resources, and resources. The greatest cost of any online game is during its development. Writers are needed to flesh out the world and the people within it, artists have to be hired to create all the visual aspects of the game's virtual world, managers are needed to keep development on track, and programmers are needed to code everything into existence. All of that requires a lot of people and a lot of time, which equates into a massive amount of money needed. It is far cheaper to maintain a game than it is to develop it, which is why you always see a massive layoff after an mmo launches. Then there's the needed return on investment. If a game isn't projected to earn its development costs back (plus a healthy profit), then why continue to fund the game? It's quite obvious that BioWare came to the decision that the resources being used to create Shadow Realms was better suited elsewhere.
Some of those other projects that could benefit from the Shadow Realms cancellation are the Mass Effect sequel and an untitled Star Wars game that are both in development. Another major recipient that should benefit is Star Wars: The Old Republic for two reasons. The first is that the game has made massive strides in the last year with its f2p model. Players have come back to the game not only because it was free to do so but also because some major updates have been released for it. 2014 saw the release of Galactic Starfighter, Galactic Strongholds, and Shadow of Revan. The game is on a roll and putting more resources (money and people) into creating more updates just makes the game better and keeps players logging in to play (not to mention that it also puts more money into the pockets of BioWare).
The second reason why SWTOR should benefit from Shadow Realms being cancelled is that this will be a big year for the Star Wars franchise. The latest movie installment, The Force Awakens, will open sometime this year and should be eagerly consumed by Star Wars fanatics. The latest movie directed by J.J. Abrams is creating a massive hype for all things Star Wars, and SWTOR should be poised to take advantage of this increased publicity. It is true that BioWare is working on a new Star Wars game, but it would behoove them to have some updates ready to roll this summer and fall to ride on the coattails of the new movie. It's a sure bet that this will ensure a good return on investment (or the biggest bang for the buck). Lord of the Rings Online did something similar with the Hobbit movies, and it worked out rather well for them. SWTOR already has a sizable player base, and those players should eagerly pounce on any new update that comes along during the movie's release if the mmo chooses to capitalize upon this opportunity.
As mentioned above, the greatest cost for any online rpg is its initial development. BioWare doesn't have to worry about those costs with SWTOR as the game has already been released and has a solid framework. Cancelling Shadow Realms frees up money and people that can be shunted onto other projects such as SWTOR. Any expansions released this year while the hype for the new movie just builds and builds should do a very brisk business. It's a sure thing that BioWare is fully ready to take advantage of the release of The Force Awakens to generate a great deal of additional revenue from Star Wars: The Old Republic, and the cancellation of Shadow Realms means that they have more resources to pour into creating that new content.
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