Will Disney Change The Old Republic?

Have you heard? Disney is buying Lucas Arts. It’s been the big topic of conversation this week, not only because the house of mouse will be taking the world’s best loved sci-fi franchise out of the hands of its creator but also because they’ll be funding a new trilogy of Star Wars films – episodes 7-9. If you’ve been on the internet in the last few days, you’ll already know all of this. But have you considered the changes that might happen in The Old Republic? Could Disney have the stuff to put it back on top again?

Darth Donald

The first question is whether Disney will be able to have any effect on The Old Republic in the first place. It was difficult to pin down exactly who did what in creating this world as it was, even before adding Disney to the mix. Although Bioware developed the game, EA published it – alongside Lucas Arts. So what does that mean exactly? The chances are that Lucas Arts acted as a sort of executive producer, overseeing the galaxy and the things that happened within it (and providing sound effects, etc. as well). EA, I imagine, provided the money and as a result it was them that had the final say on what made it and what didn’t. Bioware “only” made the game, but it was their creativity that turned it into what it was.

From past experience, it’s probably fair to say that Disney won’t try to change or control Lucas Arts. They handled Marvel incredibly well and I think they’ll do the same with any new acquisition: allow them to do their thing under the watchful eye of Mickey and co. Even if they did try to control content, however, it seems unlikely that they’d have a big enough say in The Old Republic to do any more than just advice in the direction of the plot and characters. It seems that things will stay exactly the same for the Star Wars MMO that was supposed to change everything, including its current state in the eyes of fans as “failing” (although that isn’t exactly true).

Chances

Of course, Disney has an awful lot of money to throw around. In the eyes of the developers and in the eyes of the people playing the game, Star Wars: The Old Republic is a success. It could be a bigger success, but it’s certainly not going anywhere any time soon. This makes it unlikely that Disney will want to step in and pay their way into more than an advisory role while EA seems to be doing a pretty good job, but they could, and I think that’s likely to be the biggest effect on players. If it made business sense, if things went dreadfully wrong for EA, it’s perfectly conceivable that Disney could become the publisher on this one.

That means little more than an assurance that this is an MMO that won’t be shut down in the dead of night because the publisher wants to splash out less money on servers. By Lucas Arts getting a parent company with enough power and influence to make or break more or less anything they want, it guarantees that the success of the three labels on the box – Bioware, Lucas Arts and EA – has little to do with the longevity of The Old Republic itself. Maybe it’ll last twenty years after all.

Going to the Dark Side

As I said above, the Lucas Arts acquisition is probably going to have very little effect on players of The Old Republic. Lucas Arts isn’t suddenly becoming Disney-Lucas Arts and they’ll be allowed to continue on as they have been. It doesn’t mean there’s likely to suddenly be a return to the point and click adventures of the late eighties and early nineties; it doesn’t mean The Force Unleashed 3 will suddenly be cancelled in place of something with more “hard-core appeal.” It definitely doesn’t mean that The Old Republic will suddenly be made perfect and that Mickey Mouse will suddenly be a key character in the Star Wars canon, as some have jokingly suggested.

Other than the security that Lucas Arts (and fans of their output) are currently feeling, you won’t suddenly wake up to Star boat Willy quests and cartoon galaxies far, far away. With Disney’s less direct effect on Lucas Arts however – mostly in regards to their funding the next Star Wars films – you can guarantee that there will be changes in game. Presuming that Episode 7 will be set after Episode 4-6 (not a great presumption, but we’ll go with it), it’ll be set thousands of years after The Old Republic, but there’s no reason to think there won’t be elements made in-game to advertise the new films. There’s no reason to think that The Old Republic won’t be mentioned in the credits of the film perhaps, to boost people playing, or in the press releases and advertisements released concerning the films between now and 2015.

With renewed interest in the brand from casual fans, The Old Republic will benefit. With more players (and more people buying things), Bioware will be able to build onto their world, they’ll be able to expand further than perhaps they would have done otherwise and, as a result, will be able to hold the interest of core players for even longer. Add to that that any cool things added to the new films – like Darth Maul’s double-ended light sabre before it – could be added to The Old Republic, allowing you to live out parts of the film in an MMO setting probably at release. That’ll be a huge deal for the kids and teenagers (and the child in all of us) that will no doubt get the Star Wars bug over the next few years.

Conclusion

The changes coming to the Lucas Arts brand, and to The Old Republic specifically, will not be obvious. Storm troopers are not going to suddenly burst out into a song and dance routine whenever a new character boards their ship (which is almost a shame, actually, because it’d be hilarious). But it’ll work for the player in other ways. It’s nice to know that your favourite MMO has options and, unless there are less than 10 players per server or something ridiculous like that, probably isn’t going to disappear with only a little warning. Excitement over the next series of films is guaranteed to increase interest in the game, and I can promise you here and now that EA and Bioware will be doing absolutely everything they can to cash in on that excitement.

The question isn’t whether things will change for the better, but if the developers can keep up with renewed interest and deliver content that will appeal to new fans and those suddenly finding their Star Wars excitement again after all these years.