Zemach Posted June 17, 2003 Share Posted June 17, 2003 LUCASARTS ANNOUNCES STAR WARS GALAXIES: AN EMPIRE DIVIDED WILL RELEASE JUNE 26, 2003 Long Awaited Massively Multiplayer Online Star Wars Game To Offer Four Subscription Plan Options SAN RAFAEL, Calif. and SAN DIEGO – June 16, 2003 – LucasArts and Sony Online Entertainment Inc. today announced Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, the highly anticipated initial installment of the first Star Wars massively multiplayer online (MMO) game series, will release June 26, 2003. The Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided online fan community now exceeds more than 500,000 registered members. At launch Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided will offer four subscription plan options: Month-to-month - $14.99; three months - $14.00 per month; six months - $13.00 per month; and 12 months - $12.00 per month. By subscribing to any of the latter three plans, players can expect savings of up to 20 percent over the month-to-month rate. Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided has a suggested retail price of $49.95, and includes a 30-day subscription to the game. A special collector’s edition, which includes a book of game-related art, in-game wearables, pewter figurine, lapel pin and patch, and a signed manual, will be available for a suggested retail price of $79.95 “The release of Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided is a truly defining moment for LucasArts and we’re confident the game will meet player’s expectations,” says Simon Jeffery, president of LucasArts. “The current subscription plan for Star Wars Galaxies is reflective of the game’s high quality and competitive with the current marketplace. No matter which subscription option players choose they’ll be able to look forward to a constant stream of dynamic content and features, first-rate customer service and much, much more.” “After three years of intense development, we’re thrilled by the imminent release of Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided,” says John Smedley, president, Sony Online Entertainment. “We’re honored that LucasArts felt only Sony Online had the right combination of technical know-how and game design skills to produce a game of this scope. The Star Wars Galaxies team has been working non-stop to deliver a product that lives up both to the stature of the Star Wars license and the expectations that LucasArts had set for us.” Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided was recently nominated for a Game Critics Award: Best of E3 2003 in the Best Online Multiplayer Game category. About LucasArts LucasArts, a Lucasfilm Ltd. company, is a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software worldwide for video game console systems and PC. Based in San Rafael, Calif., as well as on the Internet at www.lucasarts.com, LucasArts was created in 1982 by George Lucas to provide an interactive element to his vision of a state-of-the-art, multi-faceted entertainment company. Lucasfilm Ltd. is one of the world's leading film and entertainment companies. Founded by George Lucas in 1971, it is a privately held, fully integrated entertainment company. In addition to its motion-picture and television production operations, the company's global activities include Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound, serving the digital needs of the entertainment industry for visual-effects and audio post-production, and Lucas Licensing, which manages the global merchandising activities for Lucasfilm's entertainment properties. Additionally, Lucas Online creates Internet-based content for Lucasfilm's entertainment properties and businesses. Lucasfilm's motion-picture productions include five of the 20 biggest box-office hits of all time and have received 19 Oscars and 53 Academy Award nominations. Lucasfilm's television projects have won 12 Emmy Awards. Lucasfilm Ltd. is headquartered in San Rafael, Calif. About Sony Online Entertainment Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Digital Inc., is a recognized worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online games, with a subscriber base of over 500,000 active players around the globe. SOE creates, develops and provides compelling entertainment for the personal computer, online, game console and wireless markets. Known for its blockbuster franchises, EverQuestÒ and PlanetSideÔ, SOE continues to redefine the business of online gaming and the creation of active player communities while introducing new genres on various entertainment platforms. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, with additional development studios in Austin, TX and St. Louis, MO, SOE has an array of cutting-edge online games in development such as Star Wars GalaxiesÔ: An Empire DividedÔ, Lords of EverQuestÔ and the highly anticipated EverQuestÒ II. EverQuest is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. SOE and the SOE logo are registered trademarks and PlanetSide is a trademark of Sony Online Entertainment Inc. Okay, now to preempt some questions that I know you will ask. Is the NDA still up? Yes, for a couple more days. We need to change the legal EULA in the Launchpad and we want to get one more big stability patch in. Is the game ready? We think it is just about ready. Some beta testers will agree with us and some won’t. The big things some of them are worried about are getting worked out this week. The beta testers have been very helpful in reporting exploits so we are focusing our efforts on getting those fixed. Most beta testers seem to be having fun in the game. So no open beta, huh? There never was plans for an “open” beta. To help mitigate server load on day one of launch, we are limiting how many units go out into the retail channel. It would have done us no good if we let everybody who wanted in in during beta. Additionally, we have been having proper tests of galaxies under load. The only thing more people does is add more galaxies during beta. If we had dropped the NDA earlier, I would have made sure we got some under 18 people in. Unfortunately, that isn’t the way it worked out. Why did you wait so long to tell us, especially when the retailers were quoting it? First off, retailers have been quoting dates for as long as the product has been in development. Recently they’ve been converging on the true date because of discussions with the LucasArts sales team. I was not allowed to give you a date because we did not want to go through the pains of April 15th again. The North American release date was set at June 26th a little while back. However, if we got to the point where we felt we couldn’t release it due to new server stability issues or other unforeseen problems, the date would have changed again. We are at the point where we are confident in our ability to wrap up those issues in the next week. When is the European Release Date? That will be a separate announcement for the future and I honestly don’t know the answer except that we want to be aggressive about localizing to other countries. I hope to see you all in the game at the end of the month! -Kevin O'Hara Community Relations Manager Edit: Cleaned it up some - Balandar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zemach Posted June 17, 2003 Author Share Posted June 17, 2003 I swear there wasn't a news section when I made the post. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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