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Star Wars Galaxies - 300,000 Subscribers, No Jedi... Yet

Thanks to IGN PC for their interview with the creators of PC MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies, in which it's announced the title has "surpassed 300K registered accounts", despite what they describe as "some teething problems at the initial launch", and is still "...the fastest growing MMO ever - in the Western world at least." They say they're now trying to "get players away from mission terminals and directed towards more in-depth content", with new quests being designed and implemented in-game, and as for the question of becoming a Jedi, they confirm: "We've yet to see any Jedi in the game, though there are some players that are close to unlocking that Force-sensitive slot", and hint that "ancient historical artifacts known as Jedi holocrons" are part of the path to becoming a SWG Jedi.

10 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. Impressive... by WinnipegDragon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I must admit, knowing the issues that the game had, I am sort of surprised that they are not, for lack of a better term, whoring out the 'You can be a Jedi!' or 'You can be a Sith!' aspect of the game just to sell copies. It adds some integrity to their vision of the Star Wars universe. Kudos.

  2. just another ever crack by sknja · · Score: 5, Interesting

    all 3 of my roomemates play it and I have to say.. I think I would rather have them be crack heads. All lives they once had are now brushed aside for this game, and as for school work lets just say they are on the 8 year bachelors plan at the moment.

    I dont know if its just me or do most people (students) who play this game have priority issures.

  3. How many in a year from now? by meanfriend · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Obviously MMORPGS rely on monthly fees as a stream of revenue so I wonder what sort of staying power this game will have? What will the user base be like in a year from now, when the novelty has worn off for a lot of players?

    I also find it interesting that Blizzard recently axed 400,000 battle.net accounts for cheating

    If Battle.net charged a MMORPG-type $10 monthly fees like SWG, then they would be throwing away $4 million a month in revenue (I realize that the user base for Blizzard games would not be nearly as large with monthly fees). But if a widespread exploit took hold of SWG and started ruining the game for others, would they have the guts to close thousands of accounts and throw away potentially millions of dollars a month to combat it?

  4. Re:Jedi! That's BULLCARP! by Mike+Hawk · · Score: 4, Funny

    Put on the brakes there tiger.

    If even one player succeeds in becoming jedi, out of 300,000 players, it will mean there are 100,000,000 times as many Jedi as is realistic.

    No amount of Jedi is actually realistic partner. You do know that Star Wars is just some movies for kids and not actual history right? Yes its true. Also, there are no wizards or half-elfs either. With this new information I encourage you to do outside (yes, its alright, don't believe the FUD about the outside) and go fishing. Perhaps you will even catch a bullcarp.

  5. Re:Jedi! That's BULLCARP! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ummm, wow. How did this get modded up...this guy scares me. Anyone who applies real world math to Star Wars in reference to a game based on Star Wars gets my vote for Over-the-Edge dork of the year. Your math, on top of being dorky, is also stupid. Just because some ratio exists from what ever orifice you pulled it out of, doesn't mean that one Jedi could not be in the first 300k. It's like assuming that once you hit a population of 10 trillion, then bam, that's when a Jedi appears...stupid. On top of that, you could even make bs arguments and say that certain worlds aren't implemented and those worlds have trillions of people with no Jedis and the game only implements places where Jeids appear. I don't know why I am arguing a point with you though....the true response to your post would be (and I am paraphrasing Triumph and his thoughts on Star Wars freaks): no one cares. It's a game based of a movie. They are not real...that's the nice thing about fantasy. People like you ruin games and make them in to something boring....if we had games the way you describe, there would be 1 Jedi, maybe 50 people who could fight well, and everyone else would go to a job 40 hours a week and have to run away from all conflict or die horribly.

  6. 300,000 Accounts != 300,000 Subscribers by rebill · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Many SWG players have two or more accounts in the game, now - I, for, example have a combat character and a crafting character. Of course, I paid for the game twice, but that is my perogative.

    That, and many many people have left the game for other things - they still have the year's worth of dues paid, but their accounts are inactive.

    So, I would estimate that the actual subscriber count is closer to 250,000, and the Active subscriber count is more like 100,000.

    --

    Chivalry is not dead, it's just frequently misspelt. - M. Langley

  7. Obligatory Tommy Boy... by Ieshan · · Score: 4, Funny


    > Lots of people go to school for 7 years!
    > Yeah, they're called *doctors*.

  8. Re:Jedi! That's BULLCARP! by Decaffeinated+Jedi · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Reading this, I couldn't help but think about this passage from The Hitchhiker's Guide regarding the population of the universe:
    POPULATION: None
    It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.
    More on topic, you've gotta have Jedi in a Star Wars game. Besides, if Galaxies were an actual Star Wars film (or at least a prequel), all 300,000 users would be related to, the mentor of, the creator of, the childhood guardian of, or a clone of some character from the Original Trilogy. Are a few extra Jedi running around stretching the game's credibility that much?
    --
    DecafJedi
    my weblog: apropos of something
  9. Simpler explanation by Syncdata · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Rather than get ourselves into a big Mathematical conundrum, let's go with the easiest option.:
    Jedi haven't been implemented in the game yet.
    You know, somewhere out there, there is a guy who has done nothing at all since the game came out but play galaxies. And his goal the whole time was to be a Jedi. I'd be willing to bet money that the programmers got through with the glowing sword, tried to figure out whatever other powers the jedi should have, found them dificult/unbalancing/what have you, and left them out, to be coded another day.
    There aren't any jedi yet, because you Can't be a jedi yet.

    --
    "Inattention makes clowns of us all" -Bean
  10. Re:The force is strong with you young Skywalker... by Taos · · Score: 5, Funny

    I guess collecting cubes are better than contracting some blood disease like the Mitochlorians or whatever that crap was in EP 1. They'd have players running around the game just trying to get STD's so they can become a Jedi.

    Heh, I think I just created the MMO version of Leisure Suit Larry.