E3 2008: EA CEO confirms KOTOR MMO

John Riccitiello tells Conde Nast Portfolio that BioWare's mystery massively multiplayer project is a third installment in the Star Wars series.

Ever since it was announced in 2006, BioWare's massively multiplayer role-playing game has been shrouded in mystery. Though the Canadian developer opened a satellite studio in Austin, Texas, just to develop it, its cofounders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk maintained an iron wall of silence. However, Electronic Arts knew enough about the title to help convince the company to buy BioWare/Pandemic for $860 million last year.

Today, as E3 2008 wound down, the fog hanging around BioWare's MMORPG appears to have dissipated. Less than 72 hours after presiding over EA's own press event--where the project was nowhere to be found--CEO John Riccitiello almost casually revealed the MMORPG in question is a sequel of sorts to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

"We've got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development," Riccitiello told Conde Nast Portfolio magazine. "The first title, based on the Warhammer property, will launch soon. And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about in partnership with Lucas [Arts is] coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry." When contacted by GameSpot, BioWare reps declined to comment further.

BioWare's first Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic game was released in 2003 for the original Xbox and PC, and was named the year's top RPG by GameSpot. An Obsidian Entertainment-developed sequel was released in 2004 and 2005 on the same two respective platforms. Both critically acclaimed games are set several thousand years before the events of the Star Wars films, and cast players as adventurers who eventually become powerful Jedi Knights.

Currently, the Knights of the Old Republic MMORPG is set for release sometime in 2009. Once it launches, it is unclear what will happen to LucasArts' current massively multiplayer title, the Sony Online Entertainment-developed Star Wars Galaxies.

902 Comments

  • candoitagain

    Posted Mar 15, 2009 7:32 pm PT

    I absolutely hate MMOs with a passion. But I do love KOTOR, Bioware, and the star wars universe. I have no idea if I am going to play this... But I am pretty sure I can't miss it if it is really well done and has significant single player content. Even if you play that content online a bit like what happened with Diablo2... But pretty please, forget about fetch and kill everything quests. Give us some originality and humorous NPCs like in KOTOR.

    But here's a fair deal. Make it so I can power farm/grind Jar Jars instead of WoW's pigs and I will buy this!

  • dannyatkinson

    Posted Feb 28, 2009 11:42 am PT

    A third KOTOR with Darth Bane would be a thousand times better. I will never buy another MMO. I hate the stupid things.

  • Zoomer30

    Posted Feb 22, 2009 7:31 pm PT

    SOE messed up SWG and they will mess this up as well. They need to learn from their mistakes. I hear they expect to have about 3M subs within a year of release?! I guess inflation even happens when making asinine predictions about how well an MMORPG will do. They thought they would get about a million subs in SWG a year after release.....never happend. Wont happen here either.

  • DavePaton

    Posted Feb 16, 2009 4:47 pm PT

    Star Wars: The Old Republic.
    Not Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic III
    Its Not The Third Kotor In A Sense.
    Its Just An Online Version Of It.... And The MMO Battle Style Stinks.
    I Know Kool Effects Of The Sabers Dueling Together May Look Awesome But Thats Not How I Play Most Of My Mmos. How Can I Tank If I Can Stand Back Or Try To Dodge Hits Then Tank.... I Better Be Able To Do Some Real MMO Styled Fighting Like In WoW. WOW Sucks So This Better Pwn Its Ass.... LONG LIVE STAR WARS AND MMOS.... DARKFALL Will oWn AlL.

  • jonathon187

    Posted Oct 20, 2008 1:48 am PT

    Oh and guild wars doesn't charge monthly fees instead they have 50 expansions and pay for extra slots, and content and blah blah, so in the end there getting there money just the same as everyone else, duh.

  • jonathon187

    Posted Oct 20, 2008 1:45 am PT

    The standard is monthly if u expect something else, your simply gonna be disappointed, 15$ a month is chump change spend more than that on lunch, I'm sorry if there are some that are financially....broke A$$ or young, best thing for u get a job loser, if your young same answer get off your fat A$$ and get a job loser, anyways hope it rocks looking forward to it peace.

  • sawyerg13

    Posted Oct 19, 2008 4:30 pm PT

    Id so play this if it was one time pay and not monthly i played ffxi and Star wars KOTOR and if they combine the 2 in a sense meaning hav9ng kick @$$ cutscenes and still keeping good single player and clooseness with other real ppl itll be a definate buy 4 sure

  • Turkeysoup1

    Posted Oct 14, 2008 9:38 pm PT

    People do realize they can easily keep a single player story in the game even if it is a mmo right? Look at FFXI and the storyline and cutscenes. It can be done and done well.

    I hope there is a monthly fee.

  • Shadow_Fire41

    Posted Oct 14, 2008 5:18 pm PT

    it would be nice if it was like guild wars in the no pay to play ****. that isn't likely, but it would be nice, oh well, im happy with Warhammer online, and as much as i love Star Wars and KotoR, im gonna pass if theres a monthly fee.

  • 1357900

    Posted Oct 14, 2008 3:54 pm PT

    I'm a little worried about them ignoring the single-player, for the MMO(the part that will continually make them money). Also the price/expense of this worries me...

  • Red_Jester

    Posted Oct 14, 2008 2:26 pm PT

    Guild Wars has proven that you can make a great MMO and not charge a monthly fee. Hopefully this game will take notice of the GW system and give us an awesome Star Wars experience without a monthly fee.

    Guild Wars is not an MMO.

  • snaggleoooo

    Posted Oct 11, 2008 3:07 pm PT

    Guild Wars has proven that you can make a great MMO and not charge a monthly fee. Hopefully this game will take notice of the GW system and give us an awesome Star Wars experience without a monthly fee.

  • spy_hellscream

    Posted Oct 11, 2008 8:07 am PT

    "LordImperius Posted: I want a KOTOR 3 and I want it to be sometime during Darth Bane's time. But atleast KOTOR 3 that doesnt require me to go online to play."

    Yeah what the heck, all of the games all focus on one spot in the star wars timeline, branch out a little bit for crying out loud, I would kill for a Darth Bane game like Kotor. He would dominate.

  • chefbabyryan

    Posted Oct 10, 2008 9:07 pm PT

    BOOOOOOO MMO. I loved the first 2 games too but I hate MMOs man thats disappointing

  • darth_mage

    Posted Oct 7, 2008 12:05 pm PT

    I would way prefer an rpg to an mmo. Changing the type of game part way through a series is just annoying in the extreme. What was strong about the first game was the story, it had a start a mystery a revelation and more importantly a conclusion, you can't have that in an mmo, you have to keep telling the story which is what I don't like. As nice as it would be to have a new KOTOR game it would have to blow me away story-wise and visually and have plenty of solo content for me to even consider buying it. I'm just waiting on the 21st now to find out for sure.

  • LordImperius

    Posted Oct 4, 2008 4:32 pm PT

    I want a KOTOR 3 and I want it to be sometime during Darth Bane's time. But atleast KOTOR 3 that doesnt require me to go online to play.

  • towelie123

    Posted Sep 20, 2008 11:13 pm PT

    kotor was a pretty awsome as a single player game.
    lucas art may try to get more of our money.
    if they pull it off,make an awsome story and great battle system....ill give them my hard owned money.
    i loved all the star wars games thats been out thats not liked to the actual saga.

  • nathan1274

    Posted Sep 20, 2008 1:30 pm PT

    Say what you want, for some one that follows the exapnded universe expansively and have played the KOTOR games, have read the Dark horse KOTOR stories. This game will be the "Be all end all." Why. Jedi's and Sith baby Jedi's and Sith. Add a Million users a war not only between Sith and Jedi but Sith and Sith, plus support casts(bounty hunters, mandalorians etc etc). I'll be upgrading the video card you best believe. Like the live action Transformers movie and Robotech....I been waitin years for this!

  • unkleprev

    Posted Sep 16, 2008 10:30 am PT

    all of you who doubt this game are morons. KOTOR was one of the best RPGs ever. Not only was the customization incredible, but you got to create your own jedi or sith from scratch. Thats exactly what the MMO will be like, only there will be a war going on between Jedi and Sith players. Sure, Bioware has to come up with some crazy back story, but other than that, completing quests for better lightsaber pieces and robes, along with PvP lightsaber combat will be amazing. What's funny is that you will all see that this game will surpass all MMOs in quality. WOW is beat as hell, and the traditional PvE doesnt seem to be that fun anymore. Warhammer will shed a little light on MMOs because the fact you can level and get better gear with PvP. KOTOR will be the epitome of both, causing hundreds of players to join their colleagues in lightsaber combat; plus more due to the incredible background of the Star Wars Universe and ongoing Sith vs. Jedi wars. PERIOD

  • Ashkan_pyro

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 12:07 pm PT

    com-on people everyone knows that not only star wars fans but everyone want's another kotor ,the problem is they are not paying attention to what people want at all

  • Ashkan_pyro

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 11:51 am PT

    no kotor yet? that's @#$%^ing sucks

  • NetGod

    Posted Sep 11, 2008 5:44 pm PT

    Wow! i can't believe all the negative previews posted here, (and the game isnt even out yet!).

    Don't you guys think you should wait til the game comes out before passing judgement?

    I personaly believe the game 'may' turn out to be quite popular. I'm looking forward to trying it out, and i HATED the original KOTOR. lol

    I think if you loved the original KOTOR, you may very well want to PASS on this game. After all it is an MMO. Not everyone is into MMORPGs and thats fine. Everyone like different games sometimes. (Move along, this is not the game your looking for . . .)

  • Vanine_28

    Posted Sep 10, 2008 6:47 pm PT

    Im wondering if its going to be like Never Winter Nights.

  • dumptruck123

    Posted Sep 10, 2008 4:28 am PT

    As good as Bioware is, a kotor mmo would not be the same game. Kotor was designed to be a single player game with a specific story about a few people having a pivotal role in the Star Wars universe. In a mmo everyone will be running around with major importance? This will end up feeling like all other mmo’s; repetitive, lacking in npc’s that matter, and most important of all is the empty story line. Kotor had a great story interesting npc’s and I don’t think that even Bioware can keep the feel of kotor when translating it to a mmo. People who like kotor like the story line and will just want to play out the missions. Now they will be harassed every few seconds by some jerk wad that wants to duel them. Cant Lucas Arts be happy with just making a great game and not making another mmo so they can squeeze a few more bucks out of people.

  • Genesiiss

    Posted Sep 7, 2008 12:25 pm PT

    I think it would be nice if the new KOTOR III would start with light or dark side universe. So if you want to play a light side toon, you would be able to stop dark side insurrection or change the universe to light side. If an dark side toon the same would apply. So now you would have multiple beginnings and endings.

  • staarboo

    Posted Sep 5, 2008 7:42 am PT

    I think it should have been a single player game.

  • BigDoherz

    Posted Sep 4, 2008 10:36 am PT

    TBH I hope this is some sort of followup to star wars galaxies. However if it is a KOTOR MMO it better feature the great storytelling like its predecessors and hopefully it doesn't shift gameplay too much to fit an MMO style.

  • connorb93

    Posted Sep 1, 2008 4:20 pm PT

    they really need a wii star wars mmo...
    cause with that new wiimote sensor gadget, they could make it like starwars red steel but much better
    I'm not a starwars freak, but that would be crazy

  • connorb93

    Posted Sep 1, 2008 4:20 pm PT

    they really need a wii star wars mmo...
    cause with that new wiimote sensor gadget, they could make it like starwars red steel but much better
    I'm not a starwars freak, but that would be crazy

  • fairlypriced

    Posted Sep 1, 2008 1:08 am PT

    Bioware are the masters of good story telling and KOTOR was one of their best. I don't care if the MMO is KOTOR based or not if Bioware are behind it I'm getting it. If LucasArts are involved it extremely likely to be KOTOR based and hopefully be the game that Star Wars Galaxies should have been.

  • maximio

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 1:50 pm PT

    Hold on... Where does he actually say its going to be 'KotOR 3'? He dosn't even specify its in the Old Republic era, or even Star Wars. Just that its in partnership with LucasArts.

    Now of course a bit of deduction would indicate a game based upon the KotOR franchise started by Bioware would seem logical, but I cannot see where they have said this will be an actual sequel. Though if it is, I would be disappointed - from a buisness stand point an MMO set in the era would be a perfect project to keep the hype and interest in KotOR high so they could release another perhaps 'final' singleplayer based game later on.

    Just my 50p.

  • thebanewolf

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 2:42 am PT

    "I want more KOTOR! MMO's are fine and dandy but I don't like them. I want a KOTOR I can play by myself. With that said I will still probably buy the darn thing as long as the monthley fee is cheap to free."

    yeah they better F be releasing a singleplayer game also, the 2 predecessors were pure gold!

  • earlthecannibal

    Posted Aug 30, 2008 8:38 pm PT

    I hope a $20 monthly fee is put in place. Remember the higher the fee = less kids playing the game.

  • delvedeep

    Posted Aug 30, 2008 5:29 am PT

    Yes, monthly fees blow. But if it's good enough, I'll pay up. I mean World of Warcraft was a delicious game. A KOTOR MMO would be sweet.

  • katjajett

    Posted Aug 28, 2008 9:53 pm PT

    I hate MMOs with monthly fees! I rather pay $60 for the game and anther $20 for the expansion packs. But I loved KOTOR! I guess we'll have to see what Bioware does.

  • ltcbhouse

    Posted Aug 28, 2008 4:16 pm PT

    I want more KOTOR! MMO's are fine and dandy but I don't like them. I want a KOTOR I can play by myself. With that said I will still probably buy the darn thing as long as the monthley fee is cheap to free.

  • Masterdj1992

    Posted Aug 24, 2008 9:36 am PT

    Lol T3AMKILL dont we all...

  • T3AMKILL

    Posted Aug 22, 2008 8:14 am PT

    I really, really hope this doesn't have a monthly fee.

  • ragnos1138

    Posted Aug 21, 2008 7:08 pm PT

    Well it is a mmo so a monthly fee will be there. thats why people are throwing a fit if it becomes KOTOR III!!! not all of us can acford such things.

  • snax13

    Posted Aug 21, 2008 6:35 pm PT

    i wish they chose mass effect as an mmo...i would be amazed if they did

  • Evilnator

    Posted Aug 20, 2008 3:26 am PT

    Well i hope this aint KoTOR III

    And well, i wud like to see a star wars MMO with KoTOR elements, so im happy with this UNLESS it has a monthly fee.. if it does a great game could die.

  • Maj_Wood

    Posted Aug 17, 2008 6:11 pm PT

    yes

  • ragnos1138

    Posted Aug 17, 2008 4:04 am PT

    ok why dont you tell us how you know its not KOTOR III!!! unless your working on it you cant know so shut your face. we as the fans are simply stating what we want!! hopefully people will see it and consider it as they work on it. so unless you are working on it and want to tell us exactly how its going to be then please be my geust. but dont presume to know what it is until more info is released! all we know for sure is Star Wars MMO! i mean for all we know its a totally different time setting! no where close to the time of revan. i mean all this work on the clone wars stuff who is to say its not a jedi deal in that time perios. before you say anything i know galaxies has already done that but i mean come on! Galaxies sucked! i mean you are not apart of the military officialy when you join a side and then anyone can buy the stuff from both sides. it makes no sense. i mean on Gamespot all it says is star wars the old Republic (working title). this means it can be anywhere from the time of ep 3 back... Fans have a right to say what they want in their games. they are the consumers who buy the product. and since Kotor II fans have been dieing for a KOTOR III with a online cability. that doesnt mean we want a mmorpg!! so i say we should voice our oppinions here whether this is KOTOR III or not! but let us see if they Kill the series or not! Let us wait a while longer with our mouths watering for a KOTOR III!

    I for one am hoping that Bioware and Ea and Lucasarts and whoever else is in on this shall read this! I am hoping that if this is not Kotor III and this is a spin off that we all want it to be then they will see the demand for a Kotor III and pursue this demand by giving it to us!

  • bigxpapaxsmurfx

    Posted Aug 16, 2008 11:58 pm PT

    Ive been waiting so long for a new starwars MMO. You all need to realize that this isnt kotor 3 stop biitching. Hopefuly bioware and lucas arts can give us an MMO the star wars community deserves.

  • _Megamuffin_

    Posted Aug 16, 2008 10:22 am PT

    I really don't like the idea of having it as an mmo. I don't see how that would work with the other two, where you and you alone were the big hero. Like most others who posted here, i hope it isn't going to be the actual trilogy end.

  • ragnos1138

    Posted Aug 16, 2008 3:56 am PT

    Hey Vor Drek! if you cared to pay attention in KOTOR II if you play female the disciple points out that Revan only attacked certain targets. no one understands why but if you think about it he was uniting the republic against a bigger threat. or that was the geuss disciple made. so Revan has the entire Republic to back him up! that in my oppinion is why he did things the way he did. this way the republic forces will be unified to face a threat beyond the outer rim. so you should stop dissing your fellow fans and play the games again. and make sure you play as both male and female to get the whole story plus be on both sides. as for the mmo i was reading on other sites and this one too and it doesnt sound bad to have 2 seperate games. but the qeustion is will they make 2 seperate games or will they do it the cheap way and just make it a mmo. i really dont want to see the story die like this but it may come to that. unless someone with all these fan notes and stuff can actually walk into lucas arts or something and give them these ideas it looks as though some of us may never find out what happens. i mean i cant even get KOTOR II on computer. so i dont know what happens in the restored version of the game. (well what has been restored)

  • Lord_Salizar

    Posted Aug 15, 2008 9:07 pm PT

    As long as my computer can run it, no complaints lol

  • xNightshadEx

    Posted Aug 15, 2008 11:16 am PT

    Most anticipated indeed, my friends and I have been waiting for them to announce officially that this is in fact a Star Wars: Old Republic MMO ever since SWG took a nose dive. EA seems to really be upping the ante here with Warhammer and this, with that in mind, I can see them actually dominating the MMO market in the near future, so long as they don't repeat the mistakes of others.

    As for the fate of SWG... who really cares at this point? SOE desecrated any hope for that game a while ago, and in my opinion, it should have been put to rest along with MxO.

  • RED-PHEONIX

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 11:04 pm PT

    I wouldnt mind having a KotOR MMO, but i would greatly prefer itg in a similar format to the first two... just longer than around 35 - 45 hour gameplay. But who knows it could be like Freelancer in that it could have single player and multiplayer elements, only larger than Freelancers online system where servers could hold as much as 100 people.

  • Vor_Drek

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 2:55 pm PT

    If anyone here cares to pay attention to where the story of the first two games has led, an MMO is the perfect direction for this franchise. Revan is out in the Unknown Regions - he's gonna need an army of people to stop whatever it is he remembered at the end of KOTOR 1. Thus, multiplayer online! Anyhow, if it ends up being terrible, it's just a game. We'll all be very disappointed, and then we will find something else to do.

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