With the new Star Wars movies, Disney basically tossed out everything in the Extended Universe. At last week’s fan convention, someone asked what it meant for BioWare’s games.
What “canon” means for Star Wars has changed in the last few years. While Disney is reigning in what is and isn’t considered “official,” it’s still open to material that’s outside the timeline. The Extended Universe is now “Legacy,” and while it’s possible characters and storylines could find their way into upcoming Star Wars stories, it gives Disney a chance to do a lore reboot.
Take Star Wars: The Old Republic, the MMO collaboration between BioWare and Electronic Arts, for example. According to the Star Wars braintrust, it’s going to leave all of that alone.
During a Q&A session, creative executive Pablo Hidalgo clarified their position.
Another fan asked whether the next crop of films, books, and movies might touch that period.
In other words, maybe we shouldn’t expect it anytime soon. I’d take Knights of the Old Republic 3 in the meantime though.
Comments
18 responses to “BioWare’s Star Wars Games Are Not Official Star Wars Canon”
When I was running around the Western Approach in Dragon Age: Inquisition I kept thinking “Imagine if this was Tatooine in a KOTOR game”.
Then I got sad.
I’m into this.
For me it’s just like Marvel. There’s the comics and then there’s the Cinematic Universe.
Also it always bothered me how little had changed in a couple of thousand years in the the Star Wars universe. Not just the technological advancements but even the ship, droid and trooper design.
That’s what you get when you make it backwards like that.
It’s a fairly common fantasy/scifi trope.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MedievalStasis
The ‘problem’ is that the Star Wars EU had decades of novels, comics, games, etc built up and every property, in an attempt to distance itself from previous ones, was always offset by some time period (usually a century or more). Given that the Star Wars lore is more-or-less centered on the events of the movies, the lore sprawled out in both directions (but especially the past). Hence why we got people like Exar Kun existing millennia before the films but still possessing of age-old Star Wars touchstones like droids and lightsabers.
So they’ve finally clarified it. That’s been up in the air for a little bit now, so it’s good that it’s finally settled once & for all.
-In other words, maybe we shouldn’t expect it anytime soon. I’d take Knights of the Old Republic 3 in the meantime though.
The Old Republic MMO IS KOTOR 3, 4, 5, 6 etc
ToR is set 300 years after the end of KoToR. There’s no reason they couldn’t slot something into the middle there.
That’s pretty much how I considered SWTOR, too. Co-op KOTOR3.
It’s sad that there’s a bunch of MMO-grind bullshit padding in there, dragging down what would otherwise be a very compelling KOTOR sequel, but it brought a lot to the table that improved on the first 2. Especially if you consistently play with a co-op partner of a different class who brings their own companions along.
Sure you could play multiple playthroughs with different classes of your own, but bringing a partner and their companion along really fills out the party and adds some really different tones to the conversations when you don’t always get to be the one who speaks. It makes the story feel… fuller. Deeper, better fleshed-out.
Yeah that was the best way to play it for sure, 2 player coop was awesome fun and made the grindy parts more tolerable since you had someone to talk crap with during the lull
I loved SWTOR and still think it’s the most interesting MMO released to date. That being said I wouldn’t be against a KOTOR3
I used to get upset at this, but now I just don’t care anymore. The Old Republic comics, books and games already exist. Disney can’t tell me they’re “pretend star wars”.
Well they can tell you, just doesn’t make it true
Does this mean the Sith homeworld is now Morriband and not Korriban? As per that retarded animated BS that Lucas started spewing out a few years back?
Korriban is still the sith homeworld, Moraband is another name it is known by / a region of Korriban, like the valley of the sith etc
Kotor and kotor 2 are to this day two of my favourite games and completely shaped the way I think about and play video games. No way are they not part of the Star Wars universe I see.
That said it looks like Disney are cherry picking some of the best EU stuff and including it, I can’t shake the feeling Revan’s mask made so appearance in the last star wars trailer.
They’re not cherry-picking by quality, otherwise fan favourites like Thrawn or Legacy would make make the cut. Disney had to draw the line somewhere so they just decided to include the movies and the two most recent animated shows. Of course, the new ‘canon’ will inevitably be influenced by the EU. I also got Revan vibes from Kylo Ren’s mask.
If they put SW:TOR on console, I’ll definitely play it. Until then, no deal. KOTOR 3 would be awesome, though.
When I’m watching a Star Wars film, whether it not Darth Reven officially existed or not a long time before the story I’m consuming is of exactly zero bother to me.