While gamers are charting their way through the galaxies of Star Wars: The Old Republic, BioWare thought they would give them a brief taste of the MMO that could have been or, more specifically, what properties they were looking into before settling on Star Wars. It seems like a no brainer, BioWare once again working in the Star Wars universe, especially after Knights of the Old Republic, but the developer had some other clever ideas as well.
First off, BioWare knew they wanted to license a well-known property. It wasn’t about starting from scratch with their first foray into the MMO world, but about injecting that formula with the elements that BioWare does so well: story and character.
Star Wars was initially thrown out as an idea, and was being pursued for licensing, but in the mean time BioWare also thought about venturing into the world of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice series. There are, of course, several TV and game properties that have incorporated the Game of Thrones into them, so it’s probably best that plan never came to fruition. Still, it would have been interesting to see BioWare’s interpretation of a world filled political intrigue with dragons (kind of like Skyrim).
The other property being tossed around as a potential MMO candidate was Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, another anthology of books that involve an epic world and many diverse characters. But, unlike A Song of Fire and Ice, Dark Tower focuses on one character as its protagonist, and probably would have taken too many liberties in service of the genre.
It’s actually pretty interesting to consider the MMOs that could have been, but ultimately delivering a Star Wars MMO feels like the perfect choice for BioWare. It not only gives fans the KOTOR follow-ups they have been clamoring for, but it allows them to tell a wide variety of stories while keeping true to their design sensibilities.
What do you think about Song of Fire and Ice or Dark Tower as MMOs? Would you have rather seen one of those options instead of The Old Republic?
Star Wars: The Old Republic is out now for the PC.
Source: PC Gamer