Why Does Star Wars: The Old Republic Struggle In The Charts?

When it comes to making video games off of established non-gaming properties, there is always a risk. Star Wars has had a long and complicated relationship in the video game world. Some games have been great, and others have been terrible. In recent years, the more quality games for the franchise seem to be returning. And yet, there is one outlier that is kind of stuck in limbo: Star Wars: The Old Republic, the MMORPG made by Bioware. Despite a hot start and lost of hype, it’s not exactly the most popular thing out there.

To be clear, it’s not doing totally terrible, and it’s been noted by fans that it’s in the “Top 10 of MMORPGs” but once you dive in a bit further it gets a little muddy. Many of the players aren’t happy with the game, its quality, its gameplay and more, and yet, there are still many who play it. So, why doesn’t it climb higher? Or, as one Redditor puts it:

“So why do you think SWTOR can’t overtake some of the other big games out there and is struggling to retain players even though other aspects of Star Wars, like the movies, are going strong?”

The easiest answer is that while it’s a Star Wars MMORPG…it’s still an MMORPG. And yes, while there’re plenty of majorly successful MMORPGs out there that doesn’t mean that each and every one will have massive playing numbers. What’s more, not all Star Wars fans are gamers.

As other Redditors noted though, the real crux of the issue is the content. At times, Star Wars: The Old Republic doesn’t feel like an MMORPG. It feels like a simple RPG, which is ok…but not what players were promised. There’s also a lot of restrictions, PVP isn’t quality in most peoples eyes, you don’t have to play with others on many things if you don’t want to, these things and more have led to the very divisive opinion fans have of it.

Change may be coming though, as fans noted a “plan” is coming from Bioware to detail what’s coming as the year slowly ends.