Staff writer Steven Crews spent some time chatting with Jake Neri, from LucasArts, discussing Star Wars Galaxies‘ history and where it is heading in the future.
The MMO Gamer: First of all, for those of ourreaders who may be unfamiliar, please tell us a little bit aboutyourself and your role in developing Star Wars Galaxies.
Jake Neri: My name is Jake Neri and I am a produceron Star Wars Galaxies for LucasArts. My role is to collaborate with thefolks at SOE on making sure SWG is the best possible game it can be.
The MMO Gamer: SWG has been around for quite sometime now, being released at the fore of the so-called “secondgeneration” of MMOs. Has that time been kind to the game? Is it whereyou hoped it would be four years on?
Jake Neri: Time has been kind to SWG. We are goingstrong in our fourth year of live service, with a dedicated andpassionate fan base and a talented dev team motivated to serve ourplayers. In an ever-changing MMO marketplace, this has been no easyfeat, but I think our success lies in how the development team has stayactive and flexible in responding to community feedback.
The MMO Gamer: What does the future hold? Where do you see things another year down the road?
Jake Neri: The future for Star Wars: Galaxies isvery bright. We plan to continue to add content and features to thegame through our Chapter Adventures that are part of the players’regular subscriptions to the game. Chapter 7 is slated for release thisfall and players will get to try out all the new content on our testcenter very soon. Chapter 7 will bring a brand-new Collection Systemalong with several other features, Chapter 8 will bring new spaceadventures this winter, and 2008 has plenty of content and enhancementsas well.
The MMO Gamer: Are there plans at this point for any further expansion packs?
Jake Neri: At this point, we have no plans for aretail expansion. Rather, both LucasArts and SOE made the decision tofocus our efforts on the Chapter Adventures, which will deliver highvalue content to our players while maintaining the flexibility toadjust to what our players ask us for as the game continues.
