With great thanks and appreciation, we say goodbye to Gordon Walton for helping bring the game to the phenomenal state it is in today. Rich Vogel remains the Executive Producer and VP of Production, while Greg Zeschuk continues to oversee the entire project as General Manager along with Ray Muzyka as BioWare Group General Manager and we remain confident that the game will excite and delight players worldwide.
It is business as usual at all BioWare studios, where we remain committed to creating, delivering and evolving the most emotionally engaging games in the world.
All of us here at Darth Hater wish Walton the best success in his new endeavor.
Update: Gordon Walton's statement follows after the jump.
Stephen Reid
Normally, we would not comment in threads like this. The decision to leave any company is entirely personal, and Gordon's reasons are his alone.
Then again, as Gordon's a great guy and left us on great terms, we thought we'd give him one last right of reply. So here's Gordon:Thanks to all the well-wishers and even the haters. A few things I thought I'd mention.
1) SWTOR will be an awesome game!
2) Working at BioWare was my best experience in my 33 years in the games industry so far! It's not a good company, it's a GREAT company.
3) I wasn't working at SOE when the NGE came out, and frankly I was adamantly against doing it.
4) I don't hate the SWTOR space game or JtL, really! (Read the transcript of the talk or listen to the recording to find out what I actually said, versus what people say I said about space...)
5) Unfortunately, there is very little customer understanding of how the game development business actually works - but that is fine, as seeing how the sausage is made won't improve your appetite for the games!
Personally, I'll be buying and playing SWTOR the day it launches. It will be not only something different, but in my mind a more immersive experience than anything that I've seen on the market to date.
Best wishes to the potential customers here and all the great folks building SWTOR!
Gordon
Everyone here at BioWare wishes Gordon well in everything he does in the future!
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Posted 2/18/2011 8:04:57 PM...DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS
Not on the podcast, so if there is some wild chance you are reading this, know it is sincere: thank you for everything. Thank you for your part in getting this game to us, and pushing for innovation in a very crowded space. Thank you for that conversation we had at GDC last March (whenever we faced a hurdle here at DH that weighed me down, I always went back to that conversation), and again in Austin. And thank you for both your patience and your impatience.
This is starting to sound like a eulogy, so congratulations on this big step in your career, and can't wait to see how you put your mark on your next project.
I still say I have the bigger cattle prod.
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Posted 2/16/2011 11:24:56 AMAnd then there is the stream lining idea and that it is a business. Well thats true but we don't know if the game is going to be out for another 9 months (at the time of his departure) and then there is every chance that there will be expansions and content additions not to mention if the game is as sucessful as they hope any additional content will be a major under taking. Sure you streamline but only if you don't need the staff. Before launch and sales are in is a strange time to leave the ship specially at that level when you would hope for a heafty golden handshake goodbye for VPing one of the most sucessful MMO's of all time.
So this just feels like its jumping from a sinking ship before being expected to go down with it and fall on his sword.
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Posted 2/16/2011 1:46:32 PMHonestly, if it was anyone else but Disney, I would probably dismiss the idea that this move was motivated by money. But come on---this is Disney.
Only God has more money than them.
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Posted 2/16/2011 12:35:19 PMSinking ship?
How about he left an awsome product that's very polished and almost ready for shipping.
Maybe that is why he left, and he is ready to undertake new challenges?
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Posted 2/17/2011 11:20:12 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 2/16/2011 6:43:13 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 2/16/2011 9:00:43 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 2/16/2011 10:22:52 PM- View User Profile
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Posted 2/16/2011 1:52:02 PMIf only you knew how much money a Disney-owned company can throw at corporate employees, you would crap a golden brick...
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Posted 2/16/2011 5:37:03 AMThe only really interesting speculation in my opinion is that the game might be more or less finished now and all thats left is a little polish, Walton doesn't seem like the type of guy to leave before his job is done but its by no means certain that it is finished - sometimes people just leave immediately when they get a better offer.
Either way you can be 100% sure that Walton didn't get fired or any of the other nonsense people are saying on the swtor forums.
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Posted 2/16/2011 11:07:33 AMPlaydom..?? isnt that the company that makes myspace/facbook social games?
I wonder if they are looking to branch out into mainstream.... something to ponder....
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Posted 2/16/2011 4:15:20 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 2/16/2011 1:24:06 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 2/16/2011 1:11:32 AMThere I said it.
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Posted 2/15/2011 11:52:20 PM