SWGEmu half-year financial report (first half of 2014)

[makednoce]

I'm just seeing this. I wasn't aware that financials were posted, it's great that this is transparent for the community, even more reason to support the EMU.

Just a few observations about ******/Lucas:

I live and work in the SF Bay Area, and have worked in the Gaming industry here. I have a few friends at LA, ******, as well as a number of other shops big and small. My observation is that no news from ****** is probably good news for the project. ****** understands a few things, one is that in the acquisition they also acquired a bunch of various communities of, sometimes rabid, SW fans. They also understand that leaving those communities alone, and in many cases actually supporting their efforts either overtly or though omission is in their best interest. Every SW fan is a potential paying customer for ****** and they know that.

You are not dealing with SOE here, of any organization ****** understands two things better than any entertainment company that has ever existed a) Marketing and b) How to extract money from its consumers. This isn't a slam on them, if anything its a compliment, it's something they are really good at (if you have children you probably already know this). That said they also understand the downstream consequences of snuffing out a community driven project like SWGemu, because those community members are probably involved in other non-game SW communities (501'st is a great example of this) so any action taken has exponential downstream consequences.

If there is anything the Gaming industry learned from the handling of SWG by SOE it's the impact of exponential downstream consequences on the bottom line. SOE is barely recovering from this hit to their reputation still 10 years on, at least here it is in the epicenter of where games are born and developed. Things like "Don't pull a Smedly on your community" are still heard in conference rooms here. And there are devs that flat out refuse to work at shops with bad reputations around Gaming communities.

****** wants no part of a marketing nightmare like that. They understand marketing and money and avoid any bad publicity like the plague, any action against a SW community would be viewed very negatively by SW fans and the industry here, which is something they definitely can't afford, given their game production efforts here.

So my observation is no news is probably good news, they know economic goodwill means you will probably go see the next ****** SW film and continue to take your Family to ******land and buy SW related ****** merch. And this for them has way more upside than attempting to snuff out a community driven project of passionate SW fans.

Just my 2 credits

Well said, but ****** will allow this project to continue.This project is too small for them to notice and handle with it (for now).
Untill SWGEMU becomes financial threat to ****** this project will continue.
I only see a solution when SWGEMU is finished with 1.0, they send letter to ****** that they have finished their project to the point were it can make money.So in that case ****** will have to rebuy the code from SWGEMU developers and merge with Star Wars naming rights.Because 1.0 is diferent from the original SWG code and it is unique and SWGEMU developers have the rights to sell it on the market.The only problem is in Star Wars names witch ****** owns now.But as Lucas Arts said ****** obligated to preserve all SW community and not destroy it, so in some point in time they will have to offer a contract to SWGEMU devs. (my 2 denars).

[Mabin3]

Well said, but ****** will allow this project to continue.This project is too small for them to notice and handle with it (for now).
Untill SWGEMU becomes financial threat to ****** this project will continue.
I only see a solution when SWGEMU is finished with 1.0, they send letter to ****** that they have finished their project to the point were it can make money.So in that case ****** will have to rebuy the code from SWGEMU developers and merge with Star Wars naming rights.Because 1.0 is diferent from the original SWG code and it is unique and SWGEMU developers have the rights to sell it on the market.The only problem is in Star Wars names witch ****** owns now.But as Lucas Arts said ****** obligated to preserve all SW community and not destroy it, so in some point in time they will have to offer a contract to SWGEMU devs. (my 2 denars).[/CENTER]

SWGEmu will never become a financial threat to ******. ****** has 81 billion dollars worth of assets. SWGEmu has a bank account with $4,000 in it. That's $4,000 vs. $81,000,000,000. SWGEMU could get a hundred times bigger and not even be a 81,000th of a care to ******.

****** isn't going to buy SWGEmu. You know how much of a nightmare that transaction would be? No company in their right mind would set themselves up for that amount of litigation from Sony. You know, the company that has over 15x amount of money that ****** does. And Sony has no reason to shut down SWGEMU because it'd be spending money on something they can't get any more money out of.

The only threat I could see developing is EA. If a SWGEMU release is coupled with a massive decline in SWTOR, we may see either EA or EA's influence with ****** try to make some kind of litigation happen. As others have mentioned, this would likely bring bad press for ******. And although EA has the rights to develop Star Wars games, it's EA who wants to please ******, not the other way around.

[Iadi]

Got back after a long break and was looking in the forums and noticed I have been a member since 2011 , Wow has things ever changed since Was doing a recap of all my time spent remembering and rediscovering the game and decided to make a donation because this is a great project about a great game that has yet to be surpassed !

Long live EMU !

[RM706]

Barbara Quinn of ****** IP department purchased and renewed the "Star Wars Galaxies" trademark in December.

Reference: http://www.trademarkia.com/star-wars...-76329360.html

It's not looking like ****** has any interest in SWGemu. ****** seems to have done a 180..."[******] now seems to realize that fan-created content — even in cases where that content is generating revenue that is not captured by ****** — is cross-promotional marketing that money can’t buy."

Reference: http://www.salon.com/2014/05/23/how_..._infringement/

[seraphella]

I have been around the forums for a while now, and recently started trying out the project again. Last time I tried it was a few years ago and nothing worked yet. I'm quite impressed at how smooth things are running now. What is released now is a far better game than how SWG was during the launch week. Thanks a lot for all your work. I've made a small donation and hope others will to. Happy Hunting!

[pstrawberrie]

As Vlada said, SWGEmu has succeeded and inspired > 1k unique IPs to date. I have no doubt it will continue to do so into the future. Even without a strong inclination towards SW, being a MMO fan and having played the majority of MMO titles from 2000 to 2009, I can tell you that the unique approach SWG brings to the MMO genre is genius, short-lived, and ought to have its rightful rebirth. The SWG vision is a masterpiece - it is a beautiful, community-driven, complex, sandbox-style MMO that will be remembered and taken from for years and years to come. This development team is doing something very admirable: taking a game and giving it to the players to build however they wish (post 1.0, of course).

Do you have any idea how many RO/WoW/blah blah servers I've seen collapse in the past 8 years? This dev team is a miracle. It boggles my brain to have been present at the the onset of this project and realize that it is still going strong. Nothing like this happens - ever - especially if the dev team isn't pocketing cash.

I <3 SWGEmu team - this project is amazing. It is more than a game. It is more than a project.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is nothing can bring this ship down. It's sailing to the end!!!! WooooooooooooooH!

^____________^

[Murkanator]

back in the day, 1 thousand players was a drop in the bucket. Even at 1000 IP address's that is nothing in comparison to how many new IP's would flood to YOUR servers with JTL.
So you are telling me my estimate of 400 ish, is actually dwarfed by 600 more players who cares, I do not mean to offend here, I am just saying even 10,000 IP's would mean more potential donations and help keep this alive.

I also understand CH is a big *** deal and kudos for that becoming a reality, well done seriously, as it is the second hardest thing to code IMHO. But I lived in space on SOE's servers, and I know for a fact,
that your facebook page, and twitter, and ProjectSWG (Total joke group by the way, way behind you guys ) The players need at least free travel among planets, start there PLEASE.
It does not have to start with full on space wars like me and many others love, but free space flight is a big deal and even just seeing a ship on the spaceport terminal adds to the immersion.

If ****** wants this ship to sink, oh it will sink alright, but heck at least give them a reason to be scared. Hiding in the shadows is why we only have 1000 unique IP's

Vlada, you do realize this game used to have 500,000 or more unique IP's right???

John Smedley, would NOT care about 1000 IP's Guys..

Murkanator

[Vlada]

Oh you poor misguided soul. I know we all like to remember SWG as to "good old days" but its time to take off our rose-tinted glasses and realize that Server cap on SOE servers was 3K same as ours, and that at its peak SWG had just 300k subscribers.

ate Posted: Feb 4, 2006 #1

Quoted from the boards.... Posted here so the truth gets out.
----------------------------------------
“k, here is the list of the servers, and the population of players currently logged in...

ID: 24 - Name: Europe-Infinity - IP: 195.33.138.101 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0334
ID: 23 - Name: Europe-FarStar - IP: 195.33.138.75 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0133
ID: 22 - Name: Europe-Chimaera - IP: 195.33.138.41 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0331
ID: 1C - Name: Shadowfire - IP: 199.108.197.130 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0518
ID: 1B - Name: Wanderhome - IP: 199.108.197.103 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0462
ID: 1A - Name: Tarquinas - IP: 199.108.197.87 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0456
ID: 19 - Name: Starsider - IP: 199.108.197.50 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0414
ID: 13 - Name: Tempest - IP: 199.108.7.148 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0457
ID: 12 - Name: Valcyn - IP: 199.108.7.111 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0455
ID: 11 - Name: Sunrunner - IP: 199.108.7.73 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0493
ID: 10 - Name: Scylla - IP: 199.108.7.50 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0457
ID: 0F - Name: Naritus - IP: 199.108.8.137 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0496
ID: 0E - Name: Kettemoor - IP: 199.108.8.117 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0522
ID: 0D - Name: Intrepid - IP: 199.108.6.178 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0456
ID: 0C - Name: Flurry - IP: 199.108.6.133 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0473
ID: 0B - Name: Radiant - IP: 199.108.198.70 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0266
ID: 0A - Name: Lowca - IP: 199.108.198.36 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0227
ID: 09 - Name: Kauri - IP: 199.108.196.178 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0245
ID: 08 - Name: Gorath - IP: 199.108.196.131 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0271
ID: 07 - Name: Eclipse - IP: 199.108.196.101 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0397
ID: 06 - Name: Chilastra - IP: 199.108.196.84 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0357
ID: 05 - Name: Bloodfin - IP: 199.108.196.40 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0441
ID: 04 - Name: Corbantis - IP: 199.108.6.105 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0460
ID: 03 - Name: Ahazi - IP: 199.108.6.79 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0520
ID: 02 - Name: Bria - IP: 199.108.6.53 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0722

of course i should'nt have this info but i have friends who like to hack.
believe it or not this is the real info.â€

END QUOTE
LINK: http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/b...sage.id=433038

More info....

-These server numbers were taken sometime on Friday evening. I do not know how they were obtained other than the OP (name was: neowarderdude) saying that they were “hacked†by his friends.

-These numbers do not show how many total subs are on each server, rather, it’s a “snapshot in time†of how many people are on each server at the time the numbers were obtained (primetime Friday).

-Whether or not these numbers are legit no one can say definitively one way or the other... Apparently, if you do a Yahoo search for those IP’s, they do show up as actual SWG IP for those servers.

http://www.xfire.com/xf/modules.php?...e&uname=g33p33

-As to how SOE has the server pop's adjusted, he said:
"neowarderdude wrote:
Full = 3000
Extreamly Heavy = 1500
Very Heavy = 1200
Heavy = 900
Medium = 600
Light = 300
Very Light = 0

my friend gave me that list, and that's how it calculated before NGE (but he thinks they've changed it a bit since NGE)"

- This may be of some significance:
"neowarderdude wrote:
Did you substitute the word population for the actual connections to each given port and does it include all the sub for the ip's

The numbers that are given to the client when it connects to the logon server, it uses those numbers to determine how full the server is. My friend use to see numbers in the 1500-2000 range with bria hitting 3000"

-Quick Stats: 10,363 people total
Most people on a server: Bria
Bria’s Population: 722 (conceptually speaking approx 60 people per planet)

Least amount of people: Lowca
Lowca’s population: 227 (conceptually speaking approx 18 people per planet)
Note, I ignored Europe-FareStar server’s pop (of 113) b/c it’s not in its prime time there.


-Also, interestinly enough these numbers echo the Cube Stats from that much debated friday feature:
http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony...ource=features

legacyAccount, Feb 4, 2006

Its not prety, but it is what it is.

[Naylor07]

Vlada with the smack down. The dude is a troll and annoying at that. To me, I don't care about JTL, I would rather have a perfected ground game and no JTL than JTL and tons of issues with the ground game.

[Skillfulist]

ID: 13 - Name: Tempest - IP: 199.108.7.148 - PortA: 44463 - PortB: 44462 - Population: 0457

Ah Tempest fond fond memories there.

[RM706]

I don't always agree with Vlada, but when I do .... DAMN!! Someone got served LOL /justsayin

But on a serious note, I have always wondered what the server pop on Valcyn was ... in my minds eye I thought 20,000 ROFL
1700 concurrent users seems perfect to me.

[gunn0r]

If you play, you should really donate imo. Especially if you have played for more than a few months and have more than one character.

[seraphella]

I'd love to see JTL too, it was a good expansion, but there's an order to things. If we're lucky, maybe when they've gotten the core game to work in a way they want, maybe then they'll work on implementing JTL. Until then, if you like what they've done so far, and are playing swgemu, show them some appreciation. I'm no programmer, so I don't understand precisely how much work they've put into this, but it's a pretty safe bet to guess that it is a lot. Just look at how many years they've been at this.
Thanks again guys, just wish I checked back here a few months ago before wasting my cash on the warlords of draenor pre-order. I know I'll be spending more time here than back on wow.

[nee2earth]

but there's an order to things. If we're lucky, maybe when they've gotten the core game to work in a way they want, maybe then they'll work on implementing JTL.

It won't take "luck" and it's not a matter of "maybe" .

It's been stated many many times over the past couple years: JTL will be addressed in-earnest once the ground game is completed to satisfaction.

And remember, there are lots of ways to 'donate' other than just monetary.

[ToiletDuck]

You got my $20 a month