Building a massively-multiplayer online RPG became a very different, very competitive business after Blizzard’s World of Warcraft took the industry by storm in the mid-2000s.

BioWare was one of the few companies to debut a competiting MMORPG and keep it online, launching its own Star Wars: The Old Republic in 2011 and keeping it going (while navigating the transition to free-to-play) through to the present day.

At GDC 2012, MMO veterans and BioWare Austin leads Richard Vogel and Dallas Dickinson discussed how Star Wars: The Old Republic positioned itself to break into the World of Warcraft-dominated MMO market. Throughout the talk, the pair explained in-depth the various strategies the team used to prepare the game for a strong debut.

The whole thing was fascinating, so if you missed it back then (or just want to refresh yoursef) you should know that Vogel and Dickinson’s talk is now freely available on the official GDC YouTube channel!

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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