[5] There are several private emulator projects in various stages of development that intend to allow users to experience Galaxies in different incarnations of the game's existence.

[6][7][8][9] The ten species that were available to players included: Human, Twi'lek, Zabrak, Wookiee, Trandoshan, Rodian, Mon Calamari, Bothan, Sullustan and Ithorian.

After the NGE, the developers added nine new professions: Jedi, Bounty Hunter, Smuggler, Commando, Spy, Officer, Medic, Entertainer, and Trader.

Players could specialize in three different areas of their primary professions by selecting "expertise" options, including Beast Mastery (BM).

Each character and creature possessed three "pools" (called Health, Action, and Mind; or "HAM") that represented his or her physical and mental reserves.

Auto-aim and auto-fire features were available, but players who eschewed those options were rewarded with an increased chance of maximum damage.

In this virtual economy, players were responsible for creating many in-game items including blasters, starships, clothing, armor, food, housing, furniture and even a wide variety of droids.

The game events were set following the destruction of the Death Star in Episode IV: A New Hope, but before the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back.

The game launched with 10 planets: Tatooine, Naboo, Corellia, Talus, Rori, Dantooine, Lok, Yavin 4, the Forest Moon of Endor, and Dathomir.

The main characters include: Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia Organa, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Emperor Palpatine, Admiral Ackbar, Jan Dodonna, Boba Fett, Jabba, Borvo the Hutt, Bib Fortuna, Salacious Crumb, General Otto, Captain Panaka (appears as Colonel Panaka), Max Rebo, Wedge Antilles, Gavyn Sykes, Watto, Boss Nass, Grand Inquisitor Ja'ce Yiaso, the "reincarnation" of General Grievous as NK-Necrosis, Taga Olak, Jefa Bowa, and the Force ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Other characters and locations that players could visit within the game include: R2-D2, C-3PO, their escape pod on Tatooine, the Naboo Royal Palace, the abandoned Rebel bases on Dantooine and Yavin 4, Ewoks, and Rancors.

It included screenshots, movies, an updated frequently-asked questions section, concept art, development team member's profiles, features about the game, and a forum.

[22] The base game, titled Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, was released on 26 June 2003, in the US and on 7 November 2003, in Europe.

On 16 September 2009, SOE informed all current and past account holders of the forthcoming closure of 12 servers (galaxies): Corbantis, Europe-Infinity, Intrepid, Kauri, Kettemoor, Lowca, Naritus, Scylla, Tarquinas, Tempest, Valcyn and Wanderhome.

"[26] On 15 December 2011, at 9:01 PM Pacific time, the servers of Star Wars Galaxies shut down, disconnecting those still playing and preventing entry into the game.

[27][28] In the United States, Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided sold 370,000 copies ($16.1 million) by August 2006, after its release in June 2003.

The game was praised for its graphics,[32][33][34] use of the movie soundtracks, massive world size, character customization, creative creature ecology, complex skill system, player economy interdependencies, and its sandbox approach.

Reviewers criticized the overwhelming complexity of the game, combat imbalances of the professions, bugginess, and lack of quest content.

[37] Developers responded by changing the penalty for death to skill loss in January 2004[38] and creating a quest system to unlock the character.

[45] John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment, defended the decision claiming it necessary to revamp the game in order to reverse the deterioration they were seeing in the subscriber base.

[46] SOE offered refunds on the Trials of Obi-Wan expansion due to it being released two days before the New Game Enhancement was announced.

[51] In early 2006, unconfirmed reports showed that only 10,363 subscribers were playing on a particular Friday night, but Smedley denied that subscriptions had fallen this low.

[52] In an online interview with Reddit in July 2012, John Smedley admitted to "stupid decisions" regarding Galaxies' combat upgrade and new gaming enhancement policies.

In many ways, this is the spiritual successor to the hit LucasArt's space combat flight simulation game Star Wars: X-Wing vs.

The reviews for the first expansion, Jump to Lightspeed, praised the new space combat but criticized the base game for its lack of sufficient improvement.

Other content added in this expansion included: the ability to add cybernetic limbs to a character, resource mining in space, quests for two new creature mounts, and three new starships.

The reviews for the second expansion, Rage of the Wookiees, lauded the new quest content for current subscribers, but lamented the combat gameplay updates and the continued bugginess of the game.

There are several community-run servers which develop content beyond the 14.1 publish goal of SWGEmu, such as Awakening, Dark Rebellion, Empire in Flames, Infinity and Reckoning.

Other projects like CUEmu look to use SWGEmu's Core3 code base to emulate the publish 15 era of Galaxies, also known as the Combat Upgrade.

[68] Both SWGEmu and Project SWG are regarded as the primary emulation projects for Galaxies with other communities utilizing their source code to run their own server, sometimes contributing specific code to create their own content or by using shared content from resources such as ModTheGalaxy, a game modification distribution forum.