Should SWTOR be transitioned to Consoles?

A little more than a week ago, the company behind Star Wars: the Old Republic, BioWare, got around to making what seemed like a major announcement at the EA Gamescom Press Conference. Indeed, those who attended the conference could rightfully hope for something huge to be announced, like the porting of SWTOR to consoles…a console version of the 2-year of MMO…Alas, those who had their hopes up would be inevitably disappointed, as the announcement so carefully hyped and set up turned out to be nothing more than one concerning Galactic Strongholds, and it ended up delivering no relevant new information at all.

[Godmars290]

I think the MMO engine should be retooled for single player titles for both PCs and consoles, but then that's just me.

[KentBlake]

Me too.

[guitarded77]

That would be cool. But I also thing the MMO could do well on consoles. FFXIV is awesome on PS4.

[Alexander1Nevermind]

It would be excellent but they have to let PC and Console play together. It would freshen up the community. And its not like it hasn't been done b4 (see FFXIV).

[nX]

I played SWTOR when it first came out (I should've known it goes F2P someday -.-) and I would not play it again. I'd rather wish they focus on something new, I would be even ok with a sequel.

[Consoldtobots]

slippery slope IMO, what sets consoles apart is their ability to filter and deliver top flight experiences. Let PC be the dumping ground for every lame gameplay idea that comes down the pike and only those who have proven value should make it to consoles. My kid stopped playing SWTOR after 2 weeks.

[awi5951]

They dont need consoles they are pulling in 150 to 211 million dollars a year with their crazy free to play model so console isnt needed.

[G20WLY]

Getting money isn't always about 'need', sometimes it's about 'want'.

They probably want to drive their business forward, keeping the fat cats fat and generating momentum, more revenue for the funding of future projects.

I think this is a good way for them to achieve that, now the consoles are capable of doing this game justice.

[OpieWinston]

@G20WLY
They don't WANT to abandon their PC community
They don't WANT another port to have to update
They don't WANT SWTOR to die.
They don't WANT to have to spend resources refocusing a heavy portion of the game engine...It's not designed for consoles.

[CorndogBurglar]

Call of Duty games aren't needed every year either, but they keep getting made.

Business isn't about only earning what you need.

[Chrischi1988]

That doesnt change the fact, that a game like SWTOR is not playable with a controller only. You have so many Skills you have to be able to use at any time, do you take to long, you die. Chatting would be a pain in the ass. MMOs are just not meant for consoles.

[Chrischi1988]

You all can disagree all you want, but tell me, how you would choose a skill, during a fight, from over 40 skills, if you cannot take longer than like 2 secs to use it or you die. You could do that on the Wii U, with the gamepad, but have fun with the other crap controlls. It is just not really playable that way^^

They would need to change the whole system to make it work, just like they did with Diablo3, it has nothing to do anymore with the skill system of Diablo2 for example.

[Volkama]

Don't really understand that. The game runs the Hero engine, with some modifications from Bioware. It is not a particularly impressive engine. Why would you want them to retool it?

They will do better work in Frostbyte (or Unreal Engine 4 if they are not tied into EA's engine).

[Panthers]

I love SWTOR, but that engine they used should never be retooled or used again. It should be hurled straight into the sun. Its a terrible engine. Even powerful PCs had a hard time running this game on normal settings and it regularly felt jittery and laggy.

[3-4-5]

Will it be free though, as in NO subscription ?

[Volkama]

It isn't a real thing at this point so can't answer that for sure. But the PC version is "free", and I imagine the console version would be "free" too. But as free to play models go, it has just about everything I hate.

You can subscribe if you want for some perks and a monthly allowence of cash shop currency, but that is optional.

Archage is "free" too. They were selling pre-order founders packs on Steam for £114 the other day.

[Godmars290]

Talking about a full single player title like prior entries.

And didn't this start off as subscription based, but went free because no one was paying/playing for it?

[Volkama]

@Godmars yes it started off as a subscription game. It went free because free games make more money (which is kinda funny when you think about it).

[Magicite]

I think all successful MMO games should come to consoles as well.

[Christopher]

Would require K&M support first.

[gamerguru111]

Yes it should, having SWTOR on consoles would be awesome, they should do a next gen. only version with better graphics though

[SilentNegotiator]

I would prefer a KOTOR game, and think that would go over a LOT better than an MMO on consoles.

[Str8Chaos74]

Could not agree more.

[LaserEyeKitty]

I second that!

[ForgivenZombie]

I was going to say the same thing, fans have been waiting for a new KOTOR for a long, long time. Listen for once BioWare.

[Aloren]

Swtor is basically kotor 3 though, you should try it.

[LightDiego]

Exactly, imagine KOTOR 1 and 2 remade for this generation, how i miss these games, way better than any mmorpg, in my opinion.

[Consoldtobots]

MMOs are like a comedy telethon, tons of content that bores the crap outta ya.

[megatron00733]

Exactly, Video Game in next generation console will be awesome.

[ShaqSoda]

No. Just wait for Battlefront 3.

[CorndogBurglar]

Yeah, because Battlefront and The Old Republic are basically the same game, right?

[WeAreLegion]

You can if you want, but I doubt it will do that well. It's nowhere near as great as it should have been.

[curtis92]

After Diablo 3's successful port to consoles I'm convinced everything on pc should be brought to consoles. RTS games are still weak with controllers though.

[DonDon]

Next gen consoles can use mouse and keyboard. Also ps4 has touch pad and wii u has touch screen. Finally, ps4 and xbox l8ve allow use of cell phones and tablets as second screens (for touch). Anyone who doesn't have a cellphone but has a next gen co sole has their priorities screwed up. So there are many ways to bring the RTS to next gen. Just need devs to think of these ideas too.

[aliengmr]

D3 is FAR from an MMO.

Not a simple matter of "porting" things over. Consoles are closed platforms, PC games by their very nature are designed for an open platform.

That... and there aren't any "PC games" just indie side-scrollers, that's the word on N4g anyway.

Far as SWTOR, well okay, but I really don't think its worth the port TBH. KOTOR 3 would be better.

[awi5951]

How will consoles deal with 36+ buttons on your hotbar from MMO's and thats just a basic setup some have 60 buttons on their hotbar. I can only deal with 3 bars of skills in MMO's i cant deal with more but some people run with 5 bars. And i played old republic for awhile its a 3 bar game and it had skills to fill all those bars up. Actually i had to leave some skills off because it had too many skills to place on my bars unless i wanted to add another row i didnt.

[Chrischi1988]

Diablo3 was only playable, because the drastically changed the whole skill system, letting you only use 6 skills at a time, perfect for controller input. In an MMO you got over 40 Skills in the endgame, which you will have to use at any time, depending on the situation. Controller controls will not be enough to be able to play those. Wii U gamepad might, but Sonys Touchpad not, as you cannot see, where you are clicking, you can only hover over to a skill.

MMOs are just not really made for consoles. They need better controlls for that.

[kingduqc]

"should an mmo go on a console?"

short awnser: no

long awnser: nooooooooo

controles are just ban for any mmo. Just go play ff mmo and you can tell witch is playing on pc and who is on a controller because of how bad they are.

[MRMagoo123]

Odd that you say that because when I play wow I find really bad players all the time and that is just pc players.

[CorndogBurglar]

There's a witch playing on PC?!?! Burn her! BUUUUUUUURN THE WITCH!

[Dynasty2021]

No.

There's a reason the game tanked and had to go free-to-play. It's pretty rubbish, with no end-game.

[Jilokle]

It would be nice, but I prefer KOTOR3. People have been asking for this game for many years. EA should listen to the fans...but it's EA :(

[Daniel_Potter]

Pretty sure it was up to Lucas to give the greenlight, considering that he owns the Star Wars IP. Well at least he did, now it's Disney.

[Samuel-Rodrigues]

KotOR 2 is my favorite game of all time, but i have never got to enjoy it's continuation story wise in SWTOR due to my PC being quite low end and not being able to run the game very well, so being able to play it on console with a smooth framerate and decent graphics would be a godsend for me, i've always thought the Old Republic era was the most enjoyable aspect of the Star Wars universe.

[ATi_Elite]

I think EA should fix everything that's WRONG with SW:TOR before porting to consoles.

Fix the PC issues and then maybe more Gamers will subscribe.

But I'm sure they will just abandon the PC, spend time and energy porting to consoles only to have NO ONE on PC or Consoles playing it.

I just don't understand this MAD DASH to console when the PC version isn't right.

ALSO if your gonna put an MMO on console you need to make a MMO for console from the ground up catering to the console experience.

any $300 PC can run SW:tor so no need to waste money on a port.

[RondoMachete]

Single/multi either way YES bring SWTOR to consoles.im there.

[tommygunzII]

Maybe before they ruined it when it went to F2P.

[mep69]

They need to can this game and start from scratch.

[reploid]

It´s the MMO that i still play. Abandoned wow and gw2, but swtor keeps me coming. I´d love a ps4 port.

[lemoncake]

I think it would sell very well on console, seems like this gen they are ready for mmos.

[McGamer]

Why should SWTOR be transitioned to consoles? Because SWTOR is so horrible that BW obviously can't maintain supporting their servers most likely on PC gamers alone is why.

[awi5951]

Did you not read my post EA is making money now up to 200 million a year they have made their money back from making it and now are making a good profit from it the servers have plenty of money to run on and they merged a whole lot of severs into large ones.

[pyrocloud7]

I think there would be enough interest to merit a console port.

[il-JumperMT]

I played SWTOR at Launch and porting SWTOR on consoles would be a waste of time and money.

The game is noting more than a pay to win bullcrap on life support.

[Perjoss]

It certainly is not on life support. Pay to win? maybe, I dont know.

[DarthJay]

I would absolutely love to play on console. I literally bought my PC to be able to play this game and loved my time in it, but I am just more of a console guy and would love to figure out a way to play it there.

I would much prefer a KOTOR3, though.

[Saryk]

Should SWTOR be transitioned to Consoles?

yes.

[Einhert]

you would not want it anyway, it is garbage in itself.

not enough content and it plays exactly like WoW.

Basically it is WoW with less features and content.

I think we would all much prefer a new KOTOR game over a bad MMO port to console.

[bsmith61]

Even if they ported to Xbone/Ps4 they would have to cut back on stuff. No matter what people try to say, the next gen consoles are less powerful than PCs. On top of that, people have tried MMOs on consoles before, and they never take off. This is because MMOs don't play well with a console, a game as in depth as an MMO requires a keyboard. If they ported another MMO to consoles, not only would they cut back on features, but they'd also have to dumb it down. In the end you get a game so different from the original and hardly anyone ends up playing it. MMOs are best left on PC.

[spence52490]

The PS4 is a hot bed of money. Look how well FFXIV, and DCUO are doing on the PS4. Console gamers like MMO's too, it's just recently we have a system that can actually play them as good as most PC's. I say bring it over and watch the subscription numbers increase.

[urwifeminder]

No have it on Pc and don't play it , I guess it would be good not to play it on console as well.

[TruthfullySO]

Custom ps4 macros with the touchpad is possible to get around complex options when it comes to attacks I'm surprised no one has done anything specific with it already.
Simple draw a M for one spell, W for another, O,/,#'s ect...
Not really into MMOs on consoles tho. I just feel like developers approach from the wrong direction when it comes to interactivity from a console controller. Even when there are single player games that have mechanics that would work in MMOs.