BioWare Insider Says Fan Feedback is Responsible for The Old Republic’s Failings

News about Star Wars: The Old Republic hasn’t been very good lately, with strong indications the game might be going free to play due to a lack of subscribers, EA’s declining share prices, and the departure of key personnel involved in its development.

Now, an anonymous BioWare insider has written that many of the game’s failings are the result of fan feedback. Specifically, he/she states that many of the game’s features, including the focus on dialogue, were the result of fans asking for a more story-driven and engaging experience that didn’t necessarily mesh well with the MMO-style gameplay. Continued interest in Knights of the Old Republic even years after the last title was also a factor, as many players wanted The Old Republic to be a KotOR III, something that perhaps was never meant to be.

(EA blames us and to some extent they’re right to. But it was fan feedback from the day we opened the forums that encouraged us to design it for the fans the way it is and that included making it more like Kotor then an MMO like Wow,) he stated mentioning that gamers actually wanted SWTOR to be more like Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR), a single player role playing game by Bioware before it was acquired by EA, rather than World of Warcraft (WoW).

Fans have called him out and claim that Bioware is just pointing fingers for their own failure as they opened the official forums on September 12, 2011 where as the game came out three months later on December 20, 2011. It is hard to believe that three months worth of fan feedback could influence the game that was in development since 2006.

Considering the story originates from a comment on a Joystiq article, it might be worth taking them with a grain of salt, but it’s certainly likely that focusing heavily on storytelling only added to the game’s budget and development time.