Oh, now now.
Lets take a moment to look at the worst case scenario, EA never picks it up. According to US copyright law, if they haven't touched WC within... hmmm... about 17 years now, then their claim on it is gone (if you want a look at a court case along these lines, go to
www.guerillanews.com and read their Coca-Karma thing: that exact case won't apply, but it's similar in many respects). And if that happens, whomever picks it up first suddenly has the rights to it. So at the VERY worst, we have a 17 year wait.
Now let's look at a more realistic perspective. WC was put aside so that they could focus on UO, which promised to be a huge cash cow, and rightfully so. It's a good game, it's been making them good money. It won't last forever, however. Sooner or later, they'll need to let it go and find something to replace it. By then, who knows where gaming technology will be? But they know that WC has a large fanbase, and that if they need a quick title to get a little income, WC is a good place to turn. It might end up being a crap-tacular game, but it will be a game. Or even better than that, EA will want the quick cash and will sell the rights to WC off to someone else.
Ah, but let's dissect that last statement a little bit. "EA will want the quick cash and will sell the rights to WC off to someone else." Since EA has, lately, been dropping a lot of projects to focus on MMOGs, why aren't they letting go of WC? Selling the rights would be a large influx of cash to help with development, and we know they've been a little less than normal profits wise, mainly because they've been throwing money at EAB. Why not ditch WC for the cash?
There are a few reasons they might not.
1 - It hasn't occurred to them. We know this is probably not the case, as a lot of people have approached them asking about that (none of them larger game corportations, but you know, at least the thought has been given to them).
2 - They don't need the money badly enough. This is an outright lie, as I'm sure you've noticed they've been firing everyone that isn't nailed down. The UO support team is a skeleton crew and it's still one of their larger sources of income. They are slowly - very slowly - being pushed out of the PC game business and are focusing on console games, a fast but not lasting source of income. Not exactly desperate, but they'd probably like a nice buffer to help keep them above the profit line.
3 - The shareholders told them not to. This is a semi-distinct possibility, shareholders would want to keep their avenues open, and not using WC isn't really costing them anything yet.
4 - The big one you've all been waiting for: They plan on doing something with it. I have to say this is the most likely. It won't happen anytime soon, but I daresay that within... oh, 3-4 years we'll start hearing rumors about a new WC game. It won't be under the Origin name, though.
Anyway. Just my opinions.
Oh, and most of you are idiots.
