Thread by @MMOFolklorist

STAR WARS GALAXIES was released 20 years ago today. It is remembered as one of the most ambitious – and controversial – MMOs of all time…

A THREAD

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LucasArts first dipped its toes into the MMO genre long before the term existed. Habitat, one of the very first graphical online virtual worlds was created in 1985 by @frandallfarmer, @epopt, Aric Wilmunder, Janet Hunter, and @garywinnickart.

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While Habitat never had a commercial US release, Lucas’ online gaming ambitions didn’t end there. In 1988, game designer @nfalstein was among a team conceptualizing an online Star Wars game based on a proposal from online service provider Trintex.

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Described as a “million-player Star Wars game”, the project was deemed too ambitious, and progress was halted.

The X-Wing and Dark Forces games delivered online Star Wars experiences over the next decade, but it wasn’t until 1999 that an MMO entered development.

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Star Wars Online was officially announced on 16 March 2000. The game would be created in partnership with Verant Interactive and Sony Online Entertainment. With 200,00 subscribers, their game EverQuest (1999) was the largest MMO in the west at this time.

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Star Wars Online evolved from ‘Exodus’ an earlier sci-fi MMO prototype which had been in development at Verant San Diego. Only a small portion of Tatooine was built before development on this version of the game was halted.

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Design documents from Star Wars Online were sold on eBay a few years back, giving us a glimpse of what might have been. Some of the team working on SWO would subsequently work on another sci-fi MMO developed at SOE – PlanetSide (2003).

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The new Austin-based dev team was headed by Ultima Online veterans @raphkoster and Rich Vogel. Their vision for the game was a sandbox with a deep, player-driven economy. The title Star Wars Galaxies was confirmed in Nov. 2000 alongside the launch of the game’s website.

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One of the first things announced for the game was the 8 playable species. Gungans were also announced along with some striking concept art by @ArnieJorgensen, but this turned out to just be an April Fool’s joke.

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Star Wars Galaxies made its first big public splash at E3 2001 where it debuted its first trailer. Press were treated to some early gameplay footage behind closed doors, and several outlets gave it Game of the Show awards.

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SWG experienced its first bout of controversy when it was announced that player characters would be cloned upon death. Fans said this conflicted with the source material, but the developers insisted the upcoming film Attack of the Clones would explain all.

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Xbox and PS2 versions of Star Wars Galaxies were announced at E3 2002. Codenamed ‘Proteus’ and led by @ptchfork this would be a spin-off where players in one game could impact events in the other. It never progressed beyond pre-development.

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Phase 1 of beta began on 15 July 2002 and included 500 testers. The game’s UI changed significantly between this time and the end of Phase 3, which began on 2 April 2002. 50,000 people were invited to test this near-feature-complete version of the game.

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Those playing the beta were convinced the game wasn’t ready to launch. But, after several delays, Star Wars Galaxies hit store shelves on 26 June 2003. Despite a messy launch experience, 125,000 players signed up in the first week.

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Reviews for the game were varied. Agreed upon positives were the graphics and helpful community. The slow pace, shortage of quests, and the lack of key Star Wars ingredients such as space flight and Jedi disappointed others.

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One of Galaxies’ first updates added the Cries of Alderaan questline. This followed the game’s initial plan for episodic, limited-timed dynamic events. A comic strip posted on the official site gave context.

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Whether or not to include Jedi in the game had been a bone of contention since SWG entered development. Being set between Episodes IV & V the Jedi were supposed to be all but wiped out. A proposal was made to shift the timeline to post-RotJ but the idea was vetoed.

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The Jedi system which was settled upon had players grinding randomized skills until they triggered the unlock process. Internal calculations showed that it would be around 8 years before this happened so LucasArts demanded clues be given out to speed up the process.

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SWG’s first Jedi – Akinom T’sarn – was unlocked on 7 November 2003. Others followed but an in-game sighting was still rare. Jedi accounts would sell on eBay for $$$$ over the next few months.

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When vehicles were introduced to Star Wars Galaxies in Publish 5 the auto-store function didn’t work. Popular locations in the game were quickly swarmed with abandoned speeders.

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The end of SWG’s launch year saw the game’s first Life Day event – a rare official acknowledgement of the infamous Holiday Special. Other holiday events were later added to the game including Empire Day, the Ewok Festival of Love, and the Galactic Moon Festival.

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Live events were one of the highlights of Star Wars Galaxies. Led by @PexOnline, players could request appearances at their events from characters such as Obi-Wan and Darth Vader.

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Outside of the game, SOE hosted their first Star Wars Galaxies Fan Fest event in Anaheim. Over 1200 fans attended the 2004 event, with subsequent Fan Fests taking place each year thereafter.

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In August 2004 a credit duping exploit resulted in the banning of multiple innocent player accounts. In-game protests grew so large that they began to crash the game's servers.

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Star Wars Galaxies’ Jump To Lightspeed expansion launched on 27 October 2004. Players could finally build and fly their own ship as a pilot for one of nine Rebel Alliance, Empire, and Freelance squadrons. JTL also introduced 2 new species – Ithorian and Sullustan. 25/46

In contrast to the ground game, space combat was fast-paced and reminiscent of the popular X-Wing game series. Many players chose to become full-time pilots, heading back down to the surface as little as possible.

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Star Wars Galaxies received a heavy marketing push when it was launched in Japan on 23 December 2004, but the game failed to take off and its two servers closed on 26 March 2006.

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Players were able to transfer from Harla & Katana to any of the NA/EU servers, bringing with them Japan-exclusive items such as the Dusk in Kachiro painting, which would become one of the most sought-after items in the game.

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Star Wars Galaxies’ combat was slow and janky, with OP builds causing players to do nothing but flop around as they were repeatedly knocked down. On 27 April 2005, an overhaul called the Combat Upgrade was released.

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Players weren’t happy with the extreme changes that the CU made to the game’s professions and so they once again took to the game to protest. Players learned that summoning their destroyed vehicles at the same time would crash the server.

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Despite the protests, there was no rollback. SOE and LucasArts pushed ahead, releasing 2 expansions in 2005 to coincide with the new movie Revenge of the Sith.

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The CU was the most sweeping set of changes ever made to a live operations game, but just months later an even bigger overhaul would dwarf the anger which that patch had inspired. On 2 November 2005, SOE and LucasArts unleashed the NGE.

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The New Game Enhancements (NGE) reduced SWG’s 30+ professions to 9. Players could become a Jedi straight away. Combat became FPS-inspired. The sandbox became a themepark.

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What motivated such a change? The arrival of World of Warcraft in November 2004. Blizzard’s fantasy MMO had amassed 5 million subs in its first year. SWG’s once respectable 250,000 playerbase seemed meagre by comparison.

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The backlash towards the NGE was unlike anything seen before in an MMO. Some stayed and protested, but many more left the game altogether. Server populations plummeted. Major news outlets including @washingtonpost and @nytimes reported on the event.

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LucasArts and SOE went full damage control. Refunds were offered to those who had purchased the most recent expansion. This interview between @attack and SWG producer Julio Torres became the subject of much ridicule.


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Once again, rather than rollback, SOE doubled down. The Expertise system added flexibility to professions. Beast Master gave players access to their pets again. New physical and digital editions of the game were released.

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By mid-2008 the game had finally begun to bounce back. Though it never came remotely close to challenging WoW’s subscriber base, Star Wars Galaxies felt about as polished and feature complete as it ever had been.

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On 19 August 2008, the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game launched. 8 expansions followed. While the art was praised, players derided the pseudo-cash shop implementation of Loot Cards. Today it is best remembered for this piece of card art by @ukitakumuki.

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After years of rumours, BioWare announced their first MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, on 21 October 2008. SWG players were reassured that the two games would co-exist.

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The launch of the Death Troopers content in 2009 represented the last cross-promotional push Star Wars Galaxies ever received. A full-page ad for the game appeared in the @TragerShark novel upon which the in-game quest content was based.

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The announcement that SWG would be shutting down at the end of 2011 came as something of a surprise despite SWTOR’s looming presence. Players petitioned to keep the game running, but their efforts were fruitless.

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A big bash hosted by Jabba the Hutt closed out the final hours of the game, and as one final gift to the players, the dev team implemented atmospheric flight. Live operations for Star Wars Galaxies ceased on 15 December 2011.

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But that isn’t where the story ends. Beginning development in 2005, @SWGEmu aimed to rebuild the game exactly as it was just before the CU. Its first test server launched in 2011, and in 2023 the emulator is almost feature complete.

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Many other rogue servers have emerged in the years since, reviving every era of the game and adding all-new content. Thanks to these volunteer developers, all Star Wars Galaxies players can finally enjoy the game the way they want to.

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STAR WARS GALAXIES’ tagline was “Experience the greatest saga ever told – yours”. Whether they were Jedi, bounty hunters, cantina musicians, or humble moisture farmers, many who played the game would argue that it delivered on that promise.

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To commemorate the game’s 15th anniversary, I wrote an entire book charting the history of Star Wars Galaxies. You can download a free eBook version of The MMO Folklorist’s Guide to Galaxies on @itchio (or get a physical copy from Amazon).
👉mmofolklorist.itch.io/galaxiesthebook