Star Wars: The Old Republic Two Million Accounts Larger

[StewShearerOld]

Star Wars: The Old Republic Two Million Accounts Larger

The once ailing MMORPG has gained two million new accounts following the switch to free-to-play.

When Star Wars: The Old Republic first launched, it looked like it could be the game to challenge World of Warcraft's dominance of subscription-based MMOs. Its subscription base was the <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115658-The-Old-Republic-Becomes-the-Fastest-Growing-MMO-Ever>fastest growing in the genre's history, with more than 1.7 million people joining the game in less than two months. Things didn't stay rosy for long, though. Despite high early subscription rates, players began to leave the game. In an attempt to boost its faltering membership, the game's publisher, Electronic Arts, decided to switch The Old Republic to <a href=https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#inbox/13d918dc8027be4c>a free-to-play model in late 2012. It's a move that seems to have paid off. In the months since, The Old Republic has added more than two million new players.

This boost in membership was announced by Jeff Hickmen, executive producer of The Old Republic, on the <a href=http://www.swtor.com/info/news/blog/20130321>game's development blog. In addition to discussing the increase in subscriptions, Hickman also acknowledged some of the issues that may have driven players away in the game's early days. "We were starting to lose subscribers and players were growing frustrated," said Hickman. "In fairness, many of the complaints were justified. In an effort to address everything, we just weren't sufficiently focused on improving the core experience." Key among the complaints of many players was a lack of content following the game's story heavy main quests. In response, Bioware and EA have been working on several updates, including one, soon-to-be-released, that will allow for <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121322-Same-Sex-Relationships-Finally-Coming-to-The-Old-Republic>in-game same-sex relationships, though not <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/criticalintel/10145-Why-Makeb-Hits-LGBT-Players-So-Hard>to the extent that some were hoping for.

Hickman also acknowledged that despite some the improvements that have been made since it launched, there are still issues to resolve in The Old Republic. "We will keep at it, I promise," said Hickman. "We'll keep listening to your feedback and continue to dedicate ourselves to making the game the best it can be. Nothing is more important to us than getting it right."

In all likelihood, EA and Bioware can't afford to get it wrong. According to some estimates EA <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115306-Analyst-EAs-Spent-500-Million-On-The-Old-Republic>spent close to $500 million making The Old Republic. That's not the sort of investment you can just shrug off if things don't work out.

Source: <a href=http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/03/21/star-wars-the-old-republic-subscriber-base-growing.aspx>Game Informer


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[TWEWYFan]

Well I was glad to read this; then again I'm one of those few people who actually seemed to like the game.

 

[Tumedus]

Uh, 2 million new accounts created, not 2 million new subscriptions. That means 2 million people bothered to register their e-mail.

And the SGR (same gender romance) is not free nor is it out yet. It is part of the upcoming Makeb expansion which costs $10-$20 depending on whether you subscribe or are F2P.

I know SWTOR isn't big news anymore, but if you are going to link the blog, the least you could do is actually read it yourself before reporting on it.

 

[Abomination]

The important question is how many people are PAYING for The Old Republic? F2P games have millions of subscribers because they're free to play, doesn't mean they actually play the game.

 

[mad825]

Two million new subscriptions = The Chinese have invaded.[footnote]just a little joke[/footnote]

Really, this doesn't mean much other than there are two million accounts. Most likely, A good 1/11 are inactive and 1/13 are bots/spam accounts.

 

[jollybarracuda]

Well, i guess i'll be the optimist and say that it's nice to see the game build some more popularity with its free to play transition. Hopefully there's enough income from people being subscribed and actually buying things in the in-game store to allow the game to continue going forward. I might just have to go and download this game in a month's time or so, if the player base keeps increasing and Bioware improves and fine-tunes the issues with the game.

 

[Karathos]

Really, this doesn't mean much other than there are two million accounts. Most likely, A good 1/11 are inactive and 1/13 are bots/spam accounts.

Would love to know where this statistic of yours originates from.

Always enjoyed the game, and the amount of crying I saw simply because it was by EA was unbelieveable and undeserved. Here's hoping it remains active beyond this stage.

 

[Gizmo1990]

2 million, ok but how many of them are paying? I played the game for about 3 months back when it was still just P2P and stopped after doing the Jedi main stories and most of the smuggler. My account is still there but I have not toched it since this time last year. This really does not mean all that much.

 

[synobal]

2 million? I don't believe it. Not 2 million active accounts because this is the game with the worst F2P system ever. Seriously pay to run? What kinda crap is that.

 

[mad825]

Really, this doesn't mean much other than there are two million accounts. Most likely, A good 1/11 are inactive and 1/13 are bots/spam accounts.

Would love to know where this statistic of yours originates from.

Never stated them as fact. Stop acting smug and read it properly next time.

 

[hazabaza1]

And yet, even "full servers" are basically dead.
Number of accounts means basically nothing alone.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I play it, I like it. It's got Jedi and no gorram Gungans. F2p is bit of a kick to the teeth, from what I hear.

 

[Karathos]

Really, this doesn't mean much other than there are two million accounts. Most likely, A good 1/11 are inactive and 1/13 are bots/spam accounts.

Would love to know where this statistic of yours originates from.

Never stated them as fact. Stop acting smug and read it properly next time.

Never said you stated it as fact. I said I would love to know where the statistic originates from.

Stop being so confrontational and read it properly next time.

 

[Hat Man]

They're undoubtedly counting accounts that were made and only used once, or for that matter accounts that were never used once in that count.

 

[mattaui]

I found their f2p implementation so insulting to those of us who had previously bought the game and been paid subscribers that I uninstalled and won't return until they revisit their restrictions. The worst is how they limit or omit quest rewards entirely, closely followed by increased commendation prices for f2p players. If they wanted to do that for the lowest level account holders who had never bought a box, that would be somewhat understandable, if still a pretty bad idea, but as it stands the game never misses a chance to remind you what a second class citizen you are for not paying a subscription.

 

[Saviordd1]

And yet, even "full servers" are basically dead.
Number of accounts means basically nothing alone.

I'm not sure exactly where you get that but I know that the Imperial Fleet is normally sporting 250+ players at high times and 100+ at low times, with a few hundred more on Drummond Kaas and normally a good 40-90 on the bigger planets.

Those "full servers" are actually quite full.

Well I was glad to read this; then again I'm one of those few people who actually seemed to like the game.

You are not alone!

 

[hazabaza1]

And yet, even "full servers" are basically dead.
Number of accounts means basically nothing alone.

I'm not sure exactly where you get that but I know that the Imperial Fleet is normally sporting 250+ players at high times and 100+ at low times, with a few hundred more on Drummond Kaas and normally a good 40-90 on the bigger planets.

Those "full servers" are actually quite full.

Huh, I was scouting around level 15-ish areas about a month or two ago and it was a ghost town. The fleet had a few people here and there, but comparing it to other MMOs, it wasn't a good sign.
Maybe I just played at the wrong time.

 

[Ishigami]

Their F2P model isn't very good. The game is too restricted for the F2P-accounts and they even have P2Win in it since you either need a prototype unlock or subscription to wear prototype gear (best rated gear available atm).
Their payment system with these coins is also pretty lame since everything in the shop costs strange amounts (not to mention is rather expensive). This basically leads to the situation where no matter what option of coin amount you choose it is guaranteed that after a purchase in the shop you will have some dead coins lying around (not enough to buy something useful)... another few dollars for EA...
I would welcome a law that would force these companies (e.g. also Microsoft and their MS Points or NC Soft, EnMasse etc.) to abolish their fictional currencies and show real money prices on these items as well as direct purchase system. No more money gifts for these assholes.

I think SW:ToR is in no position to charge for the expansion and I hope they will soon after release realize that.
The game itself is not bad, its just nothing special either. It was mishandled at launch and is still mishandled as F2P.