1.5 Million People Begging to Play Old Republic Isn't Good Enough for EA

[Alar]

Yes, definitely not a jab at World of Warcraft right there. I honestly don't care if they think they're better, they're not going to get all of WoW's players to drop it and move over. It just doesn't work like that.

Are there enough Star Wars fans who own PCs and like video games out there to meet that number? I have no idea, but I wish them good luck in meeting their goals.

 

[arealperson]

Yes, definitely not a jab at World of Warcraft right there. I honestly don't care if they think they're better, they're not going to get all of WoW's players to drop it and move over. It just doesn't work like that.

Are there enough Star Wars fans who own PCs and like video games out there to meet that number? I have no idea, but I wish them good luck in meeting their goals.

Actually, if you'll read post 71 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.271054-1-5-Million-People-Begging-to-Play-Old-Republic-Isnt-Good-Enough-for-EA?page=3#10428883] you should find that it's not the jab you think. The OP didn't do the best job of providing strict information, so you can be forgiven for your mistake. Many other posters have covered how they feel about the bias/deception if you'll read the thread thoroughly, so I'll let them cover that.

 

[Alar]

Yes, definitely not a jab at World of Warcraft right there. I honestly don't care if they think they're better, they're not going to get all of WoW's players to drop it and move over. It just doesn't work like that.

Are there enough Star Wars fans who own PCs and like video games out there to meet that number? I have no idea, but I wish them good luck in meeting their goals.

Actually, if you'll read post 71 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.271054-1-5-Million-People-Begging-to-Play-Old-Republic-Isnt-Good-Enough-for-EA?page=3#10428883] you should find that it's not the jab you think. The OP didn't do the best job of providing strict information, so you can be forgiven for your mistake. Many other posters have covered how they feel about the bias/deception if you'll read the thread thoroughly, so I'll let them cover that.

Well, thank you for pointing that out. The main reason I brought it up was that they specifically used 'twelve million', the well known number for World of Warcraft's subscriber base. Had they used some other random number, there wouldn't be any connection, but they did.

As it stands, I believe the current MMO market is well beyond twelve million. I obviously don't have any numbers, but just saying twelve million is ignoring everything other than World of Warcraft.

 

[geldonyetich]

Considering over 1M subscribers is something accomplished by 2 North American-made and released P2P MMORPGs ever (World of Warcraft and Rift), and 12 million only by World of Warcraft at its peak (again this is limiting to P2P MMORPGs), I'd say EA is setting up Old Republic with some impossible expectations if they honestly think it's going to get 12 million subscribers. 150k, that's far more typical for a North American MMORPG.

Actually, if it went F2P, 1.5 million is a possibility. F2P essentially lands you 10x the players.

 

[Krantos]

Breaking News: EA wants short term gain and doesn't believe in long term investments.

Except that's not news to anyone.

Seriously, I don't mind publishers treating the industry like the business it is. I just wish they'd do so in an intelligent way. Maximizing your profits for the next year or so is one thing, but most companies still want to exist 5 years from now. The way some companies have been acting (i.e. Activision and EA) it's going to bite them in the ass sooner or later.

 

[Iron Lightning]

I don't think they quite well understand how the MMO market works. See, when making a new MMO you have two options:

A. Ape WoW and get about 2 million people that sign on for a few months before going back to WoW.

B. Be completely different from WoW and get about 1 million people who will always love you.

Clearly the way to get the most long term revenue in the current market is to not ape WoW (despite how well WoW did when it aped Everquest.) I don't think EA are capable of thinking that far ahead, though.

 

[rsvp42]

Is this greed or just complete insanity.

It's an Escapist writer misinterpreting what was said. Check out the actual article and quotes, which are not as crazy as this article writer is making it sound.

So i read the Euro Gamer article and still seems crazy. Saying that they are trying to introduce this to people who have never played a MMO and setting the sights higher then 12 million. Seems like Greed/Insanity to me. Plus it is EA so i am leaning more to greed.

To each, their own. I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to expand a market. That's what WoW did and what Nintendo did with the Wii. It's only natural for a company to want to attract more customers.

As it stands, I believe the current MMO market is well beyond twelve million. I obviously don't have any numbers, but just saying twelve million is ignoring everything other than World of Warcraft.

That number is just referring to the western MMO market (note that The Old Republic will not be released in Asia just yet). I think I heard that WoW has more along the lines of 5 or 6 million in the West, with Asia and other eastern countries making up the other half.

 

[rsvp42]

Breaking News: EA wants short term gain and doesn't believe in long term investments.

Except that's not news to anyone.

Seriously, I don't mind publishers treating the industry like the business it is. I just wish they'd do so in an intelligent way. Maximizing your profits for the next year or so is one thing, but most companies still want to exist 5 years from now. The way some companies have been acting (i.e. Activision and EA) it's going to bite them in the ass sooner or later.

EA sees it as a decade-long opportunity:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-12-07-star-wars-tor-is-a-10-year-opportunity

How well they support that stance remains to be seen, but they at least profess to be making a 10 year commitment.

 

[crazypsyko666]

Y'know what? If this and Mass Effect 3 suck, I won't blame Bioware for any of their 2011 releases. I blame EA for putting way too much pressure on their best developer to either rush games to completion or become the new god. EA: It doesn't happen overnight. Chill out. Just because you aren't top dog anymore doesn't mean pulling the same dick moves you did when you WERE on top is a good business strategy.

 

[Headbiter]

EA execs won't be happy until the entire PC-owning population is playing Star Wars: The Old Republic.

And I won't be happy until EA lies in shambles, I can kick those idiotic bas...kervillehounds in the nuts without getting sued and that dumbed-down, bland and illogical prequel- Star Wars lies buried very deep underground.

Guess everybody has his irrational dreams, right?

 

[Iron Lightning]

I don't think they quite well understand how the MMO market works. See, when making a new MMO you have two options:

A. Ape WoW and get about 2 million people that sign on for a few months before going back to WoW.

B. Be completely different from WoW and get about 1 million people who will always love you.

Clearly the way to get the most long term revenue in the current market is to not ape WoW (despite how well WoW did when it aped Everquest.) I don't think EA are capable of thinking that far ahead, though.

If Star Wars: The Old Republic is a WoW clone then Battlefield 3 is a Call of Duty clone.

In Battlefield 3, the gameplay is the same thing as Call of Duty. You still aim down sights like in Call of Duty to kill people. And you still kill people with instant grenades and sprint around.

Sure, you could say that Battlefield came before Call of Duty did...but SWG came before WoW did so argument = invalid.

Yes, yes, the point I'm trying to make is that, regardless of questions of originality, TOR is still using similar core gameplay mechanics as WoW and therefore is competing with WoW for some of its audience. As history has taught us, you never want to compete with WoW, it just won't work out in the long run. Battlefield 3 isn't ripping off the modern Call of Duty games, but they are competing with it which is also a bit of a losing proposition.

 

[Iron Lightning]

I don't think they quite well understand how the MMO market works. See, when making a new MMO you have two options:

A. Ape WoW and get about 2 million people that sign on for a few months before going back to WoW.

B. Be completely different from WoW and get about 1 million people who will always love you.

Clearly the way to get the most long term revenue in the current market is to not ape WoW (despite how well WoW did when it aped Everquest.) I don't think EA are capable of thinking that far ahead, though.

If Star Wars: The Old Republic is a WoW clone then Battlefield 3 is a Call of Duty clone.

In Battlefield 3, the gameplay is the same thing as Call of Duty. You still aim down sights like in Call of Duty to kill people. And you still kill people with instant grenades and sprint around.

Sure, you could say that Battlefield came before Call of Duty did...but SWG came before WoW did so argument = invalid.

Yes, yes, the point I'm trying to make is that, regardless of questions of originality, TOR is still using similar core gameplay mechanics as WoW and therefore is competing with WoW for some of its audience. As history has taught us, you never want to compete with WoW, it just won't work out in the long run. Battlefield 3 isn't ripping off the modern Call of Duty games, but they are competing with it which is also a bit of a losing proposition.

The "core gameplay mechanics" of World of Warcraft are incredibly flexible. But as WoW proves, its combat system isn't shaped by the combat itself. It's shaped by what surrounds it. And that is where the key differences lie.

Going back to Battlefield 3, you could easily say that Battlefield 3 is very different. It has larger maps, squads, equipment to assist others, vehicles, tact. It is not a Call of Duty clone, it is its own game. And just with Battlefield 3, SWTOR has its key differences. Like the fact that no class uses the mana system, there's no auto attack, the crafting system, the companion system and the cover system for some classes. It is that sort of thing.

I just wanted to get that off my chest. I was sort of using your post as a spring board.

I feel ya mate, I'm not saying that they're completely identical just that they occupy the same traditional MMO subgenre and will thus be competing with eachother. Battlefield and Call of Duty are certainly not the same game, but they're close enough to fight over practically the same audience.

From my experience, no one has ever been able to compete with WoW and obtain anything above the most modest of successes. Even with the Star Wars fans I'll be very surprised if TOR breaks 6 mil subs.

I suppose that I misused the word "ape" in regards to TOR, sorry about that.

 

[infohippie]

Question to EA: Is it going to have a free trial so I can give it a try without shelling out any money to start with? If not, then despite being a Star Wars fan I won't even try to play it. There are enough MMOs already coming out this year that I want to try, most of which are free to play. If I have to put cash down before I can get a glimpse inside, I'm not going to bother.

 

[Aetherlblade]

i really hope this becomes a succes, SW needs some good new blood!

 

[Jelly ^.^]

Well at least they're not offering prostitutes as a prize to sell this game.

Although I'm waiting for the 'Win a chance to be Jabba The Hutt' competition or something...