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Star Wars Galaxies - Fastest Selling MMOG Ever

Thanks to several readers for pointing to a LucasArts press release announcing Star Wars Galaxies has attracted more than 125,000 users in its first week, an all-time MMORPG sales record, and something LucasArts call "..the single most successful introduction of an MMO to date." This PC MMORPG is thus far proving extremely popular, despite teething troubles, and the press release also mentions the development team "..is working on a variety of new features, such as player-owned ground vehicles and player cities, along with substantial new content to be added on a regular basis throughout the coming months."

11 of 66 comments (clear)

  1. Wow ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    who knew there were so many people living in their parent's basements ... this can't be good for the economy!!

  2. So they sell it fast. Big deal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The whole point is to keep the players in game so you can feed off them like some cheap crack dealer.

    Give it 6 months then look at the figures. A lot of friends who left the MMORPG I play in have since come back to the game (Neocron), so the taste of the game is going to appeal more to SW Fanbois and EQ junkies. :)

    1. Re:So they sell it fast. Big deal by Pengo · · Score: 3, Interesting


      Hmm... i have left DAoC to play it. I find that it's better suited for those with lifes. It's the first MMORPG I have played that a casual gamer can enjoy. I protested the game first when my friend talked me into getting it just for the reason it was full of fanboi's.

      I think that the people screaming that it stinks the loudest are the people trying to convince those that are leaving their current games. That's at least been my experience.

  3. And if this was surprising.... by analog_line · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...you obviously don't live on the same planet as I do.

    Not only that, it's likely to take a lot from Everquest, as so far as I've seen, it's designed to be the single most addictive thing on the planet next to crack and refined sugar. Everything seems to be designed to make it harder than ever to put the thing down for a few hours and go to sleep, never mind holding down a job.

    Staying WELL away from this bugger. I am SO not interested.

    1. Re:And if this was surprising.... by saden1 · · Score: 3, Funny

      I have addiction phobia so count me out. I don't smoke, drink, or gamble because of my fear of getting addicted. now you can add games to my not-to-do-list. I am already addicted to prOn as it is but I am working to resolve it.

      --

      -----
      One is born into aristocracy, but mediocrity can only be achieved through hard work.
  4. "Job"? What is thing you call a "job"? by perfessor+multigeek · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ahh, I'm just waiting for the VR universes to provide easier ways to make real money.
    When I can design a new piece of gear for, say, EverQuest XX, the 2011 edition, upload it, sell the rights through in-game links to ebay, and then distribute the money I make between "pieces of gold" and RL folding money.
    Well, at that point I'm puttin' on my goggles, pluggin' in the feeding tube, and never ever coming back out.

    Sure I'll be spherical and I'll smell bad, but online nobody will know or care.

    Rustin

    --
    Data is the lever, rigor the fulcrum, brains the force that drives it all.
  5. Fast selling...but can they maintain it? by deanj · · Score: 4, Informative

    You'd have to be living under a rock not to have heard about this game in the first place. It's been a long time since they starting hyping it, and it's finally out. It should be no surprise that a franchise like that would make a lot of money initially.

    I've been playing since Beta 3. Initially, I was most worried about the graphics performance of the game, seeing how bad it was near the end of Beta 3. I was pretty happy to see they seem to have cleared most of that up.

    I've been playing for a week now (off and on...mostly off, since I have a real life), and initially I was pretty happy with it.

    But right now, I'm sitting here wondering... "Well, what next"? I'm not sure how they're going to maintain people's interest in this game. I've made my way to the first tier of exp in the game, (one of initial professions you have to start with), and now I'm on my second tier.

    Unlike Everquest, in which it was pretty clear what getting more experienced in something would get you, it's not all that clear in SWG.

    They've always said that this was a game where you could "live Star Wars". Well, I can tell ya, it must be pretty damn boring most of the time down on Tatooine....

  6. And the sheep return in thier flock... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It doesn't matter how crappy this game is or what the bugs and shortcomings are. Media has proven once again that the idle minded player will flock to their beloved franchise name like a bull to a red flag without thinking.

    I really wish people would take a critical view of the content before shuffling over to a store and handing over their money because "Duh... it's Star Wars! Dats da best!"

  7. Re:People are buying it at that price? by Shazow · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes, the collector's edition is about $130 CDN, but the regular one is just over $50. (Which is what I bought.) It includes a relatively-thick manual, a little booklet, three-cd case (with cds, of course) and a couple of advertisements to Earthlink and such.

    I'm happy with it. Plus it has that new-game smell which puts me beyond the joy of extacy.

    - shazow

  8. Yeah, it would be nice if it actually worked. by JavaLord · · Score: 4, Funny

    I post this now, because the servers are down on Star wars Galaxies. I blocked off a section of my time (ie this whole weekend) to play but the servers have been down as much as up. What you aren't hearing is that they pull down the servers for 4 hours a day every day for maintaince. On top of if something goes wrong (ie today.) They've had about 7 hours of DOWNTIME for my server today and when I try to go into my character select screen, my almost uber guy is standing there NAKED with none of his items and his HAIR is gone. It looks like he was the victim of a prison rape. Needless to say, I don't think they will be getting my money when the free month is up. It's nice that they have a built in macroing system though. It's almost like building an aimbot into a first person shooter.

    1. Re:Yeah, it would be nice if it actually worked. by @madeus · · Score: 3, Informative

      If you're quitting because of downtime in the first month of play and not because you dislike the actual gameplay then you're being foolish.

      If you think it's going get beter soon you've no idea about how SOE do business - PlanetSide (another SOE game, that's been running for longer) has constant down time issues, they STILL reboot the servers daily and take them down during peak times and they still have lots of problems when they are running.

      Doors frequently don't open in the game, you can get stuck in the game until they servers are rebooted, you can shoot through some objects (like trees), people can shoot and kill you even when they are facing the *opposite* direction (which makes using stealth suits to sneak up on someone a joke), the killer client side hit detection means you can - for example - get run over and killed by a vehicle (like a tank), even if it seems to you that you were 10-20 feet away from where you are standing - all issues that have been knowen about for a month, but not fixed.

      A couple of months won't be long enough for them to even nearly sort it out, trust me (or read the the SOE Station.com forums). It might be sufficently useable to be considered ready for release in 6 months, but not in 8 weeks.

      I say people are right not to go beyond the first month if it narks them, the bugs in SOE games such as SWG and PS can be really annoying, and the issues are NOT going to go away anytime soon - the developers don't even know what's going on with there games.

      For example, the developers of PS recently said they didn't know sticking doors were an issue, despite the numerous bug reports submitted by players (including myself) and forum topics dedicated to the subject.

      The games are not ready for release by a long shot (and many of the issues are not specifically to do with it being massive multiplayer, simply that the game has had too short a development cycle).