14 DAY TRIAL // A blogger who claims that he has been working at the Mythic division of BioWare has made some significant claims about the failures of Warhammer Online and about the money that Electronic Arts has so far spent on the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic.
The EA Louse blog claims that he is part of a number of developers who have been laid off from the company and says that 300 million dollars is the price tag for the entire development process for The Old Republic, which is set in the same fictional time frame as single player role playing games in the Knights of the Old Republic series.
The problem is that all that spend money has not lead to the creation of a coherent and interesting MMO, as far as EA Louse is concerned.
The blog says, “And you know what they're most proud of? This is the kicker. They are most proud of the sound. No seriously. Something like a 20Gig installation, and most of it is voiceover work. That's the best they have.”
BioWare and Electronic Arts have emphasized the fact that The Old Republic will be the first fully voiced MMO, allowing the player to be deeper immersed in the story told.
The author adds, “The rest of the game is a joke. EA knows it and so does George Lucas, they're panicking, and so most of Mythic has already been cannibalized to work in Austin on it because they can't keep pushing back launch.”
The Mythic employee sees the future as being grim for Star Wars: The Old Republic and for creator BioWare and publisher Electronic Arts, predicting that “Old Republic will be one of the greatest failures in the history of MMOs from EA. Probably at the level of the Sims Online.”
EA Louse also believes that the failures of Warhammer Online were linked to the incompetence of some of the executives leading the project.