Speaking at the DICE summit in Las Vegas yesterday, BioWare's Greg Zeschuk said World of warcraft is the "touchstone" for MMOs, and that the developer's own offering, Star Wars: The Old Republic, looks to it for "standards".Hit your Star Wars ultimate adventure with cheapest SWTOR Credits US! Buy now!

"It is a touchstone," Zeschuk said of WoW, according to GamesIndustry. "It has established standards, it's established how you play an MMO.

After commenting that triple-A development is still a viable approach to gaming, Zeschuk conceded that The Old Republic is not expected to be a WoW-killer.

"It's not like we're actually going out there to beat anyone, we're going out to place," he said. "The audience will tell us if we have a place."

Blizzard's Mike Morhaime attended the same panel, and commented that failed MMOs do more harm than good for WoW itself.