Star Wars Galaxies Message Board

Star Wars Galaxies was a lot of things to a lot of people. A largely barren land of infinite possibility, a janky pile of half-finished bantha poodoo, a player-driven sci-fi sandbox, a nigh-directionless walk through an abandoned Star Wars theme park. Maybe it was a little of all those things when it first came out, but people (myself included) came to love its quirks. And yet, though war never changes, Star Wars do. The New Game Experience (NGE) took SWG in a more cookie-cutter direction, and nothing was ever quite the same after that. Then the whole universe imploded in 2011. And in the game. Flash forward to 2014: SOE president John Smedley recently claimed that SOE’s next game will be “dedicated” to longtime SWG fans. But what does that even mean? Speaking with RPS, he recently elaborated. A little. The game is still technically unannounced, mind.

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Back in my day, we played the original pre-NGE Star Wars Galaxies, and we liked it. No seriously, we really did, and I think the tide of public (or at least, gamerly) opinion has started lapping at those same shores over the years. Sure, the MMO was a mess when it first tractor-beamed money out of thousands of wallets, but it tried to be legitimately different. It set out to let us authentically inhabit the Star Wars universe, a brilliant vision hampered by half-finished, well, everything. But then the New Game Experience happened, everybody became a Jedi, and SWG was never the same again. SOE, it turns out, regrets that one big time, and they’d like to apologize. With a new game.

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So that one might live, another must die. And so it was that Star Wars Galaxies went the way of Mark Hamill’s leading man status last week, having been ushered out of existence by the dark forces of licensing in order to make way for The Old Republic. We’ve already posted news of the closure, but it’s well worth having a look at the below player videos of its final moments. As well as all the epic space battle stuff, the death of an online world makes for a strange, and sad affair, where the evident outpouring of emotion is so often hampered massively by the constraints of the game. Yet for all that the stiff animations and looped emotes somehow make these farewells all the more poignant.

Also: watch Luke Skywalker get murdered by Ron Burgundy.(more…)

There’s always something a little melancholy about a game world being shut off for the last time, but this goes doubly for the ill-fated Star Wars Galaxies, which ran its last Kessel run yesterday. The MMO, which was first launched to much fanfare in 2003, was shut down as SOE’s contract with LucasArts expired, and to make way for EA’s The Old Republic, which is now imminent. Galaxies was always a troubled beast, of course, being controversially simplified and reduced in scope by 2005′s “New Game Enhancements”, an attempt to expand the appeal of the MMO which left it a shadow of its former self. I will always remember it most fondly for my time working on PC Gamer, where the guy who sat at the desk behind me became a ruthless and enormously wealthy architect, and also for having playable Ithorians, least commercial of all the alien races.

Rest in piece, brave Galaxies.

Poor old Star Wars Galaxies will sleep the dreamless, eternal sleep in just a couple of weeks, not entirely uncoincidentally around the time EA’s The Old Republic fires up its servers. For the valiant few who’d remained with SOE’s bizzare, ambitious, messy, remarkable MMO, it will be an unhappy day. As if millions of voices suddenly cried out in annoyance and were suddenly silenced, then went to a forum to complain.

However, an enterprising few mean to keep the game alive – specifically, in the form it was before the controversial Combat Upgrade that so upset many of the faithful.(more…)

There’s been a fair bit of grumbling and grief about the upcoming closure of olden MMO Star Wars: Galaxies, with some players reckoning the decision makes no sense and wasn’t necessary. There’s a petition, of course. There’s always a petition. Whether 3000 signatures are enough to change SOE’s mind seems unlikely – especially given SOE boss John Smedley has shone a little more light on just why Galaxies was fed to the Sarlaac pit.(more…)

#rip The original MMO set in a galaxy far, far away, Star Wars Galaxies, is ending its online existence this December, making way for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Contracts expire and so too must the occasional online community. More »

#strikemedown Star Wars Galaxies, the original massively-multiplayer online role-playing game based on George Lucas' universe, will go offline later this year after more than eight years of service, Sony Online Entertainment and LucasArts announced today. More »

Galaxies, a game only a mother could love.

With Star Wars: The Old Republic maybe, possibly coming sometime later this year or earlier next year (or not?), it's not much of a surprise that LucasArts would consider winding down its last attempt at a massively multiplayer Star Wars. As of December 15, Star Wars: Galaxies will no longer exist.

"The shutdown of SWG is a very difficult decision, but SOE and LucasArts have mutually agreed that the end of 2011 is the appropriate time to end the game," said the companies in a statement.

Galaxies won't just flicker into the dark, though, with the promise of a "galaxy-ending in-game event" bringing about the conclusion of the adventure. I should start power leveling immediately.

I'm imagining a giant BioWare logo that, when touched, activates an in-game browser to pre-order The Old Republic. All (some) joking aside, apparently people are still playing Galaxies.

"We are extremely grateful to all of the SWG fans," continued the statement. "We have had the rare opportunity to host one of the most dedicated and passionate online gaming communities and we truly appreciate the support we’ve received from each and every one of you over the course of the past eight years."

Galaxies never managed to achieve its potential, with the game getting several makeovers in an attempt to make the game more palatable to the audience. Unfortunately, it just never clicked.