A former SWTOR screenwriter revealed how blind copying of someone else's hit and EA's greed destroyed the old BioWare

Former Star Wars: The Old Republic lead writerRob Chestney spoke on the Pembridge podcast about the internal struggles of studio BioWare during the creation of a large-scale online role-playing game. According to him, that entire era in the industry was overshadowed by the general desire of publishers to create the next World of Warcraft killer. Management and investors looked at the project solely with the expectation of enormous profits, which led to a series of extremely questionable decisions. The combat system caused controversy within the team even in the early stages, and after the release it was harshly criticized by players for being secondary and too straightforwardly copying the mechanics of a competitor from Blizzard. Chestney noted that it was the desire to make money by repeating someone else's triumph that became the determining factor in the purchase of BioWare by the Electronic Arts corporation.

The bloating scale of development and tight contracts between publishing giants like Electronic Arts and LucasArts quickly pushed the project into the grip of deadlines. The studio employed more than 300 people, so the team costs were enormous. When the developers requested additional time to polish the content, the publishers demanded a detailed description of the risks. Releasing the game on time threatened to release an unfinished product, and allocating another 1 year required gigantic financial investments. Corporate management agreed to postpone the release, but along with new millions of dollars, the studio received exorbitant financial obligations.

As a result of the prolonged production around Star Wars: The Old Republic, unrealistic requirements for the number of paid subscribers have formed. For many years, there was an opinion in the community that the project suffered due to an outflow of users and a drop in their number below 1 million people. Chestney emphasized that the key problem lay elsewhere.Since its launch, the game has not even come close to the astronomical indicators that the publisher has set as the minimum threshold for payback and success.

The unattainability of inflated targets turned into a disaster for the entire internal structure of the studio. The company began a series of layoffs of ordinary employees, and soon BioWare left its permanent founders, Ray Muzika and Greg Zeschuk. For Chestney, their departure was a grave shock, since it was they who personified the spirit of the studio. Soon after, the publisher quickly switched the multiplayer game to aFree-to-Playmodel. If at the start the management tried to copy the monthly subscription of a successful competitor, then after failure the vector immediately shifted to microtransactions and the pursuit of new market trends.

According to the screenwriter, these events forever changed the studio and destroyed previous values. Previously, BioWare remained a place where creativity was at the forefront, but corporate demands and investor pressure have completely replaced the former quality standards. Despite the ensuing criticism and a difficult ending for the team, Chestney remained proud of the work done on the script and lore. The developers sincerely believed in the created world and sought to give players a high-quality story in the universe of a distant galaxy.

After leaving the team, Chestney continued his career in the gaming industry and spent 5 years developing the online project New World in the Amazon Games division. According to him, production there was also accompanied by serious difficulties and did not lead to triumphant awards, but it brought valuable experience in understanding corporate realities. Star Wars: The Old Republic itself still remains afloat, serving as a reminder of the times when the authors tried to combine the classic role-playing story with the gigantic ambitions of the multiplayer genre.