Bobby Kotick Not Worried About The Old Republic Competing with WoW

[Greg Tito]

Bobby Kotick Not Worried About The Old Republic Competing with WoW

The Activision CEO isn't concerned about chief competitor EA's The Old Republic eating up World of Warcraft's 12 million subscribers.

When it comes to MMOs, World of Warcraft is the 800-pound Tauren in the room. Due to the merger of Blizzard and Activision in 2008, Kotick is able to use the huge profit margins of WoW to stabilize his videogame development and monthly revenue stream. The next big MMO due to come out that might compete with WoW is EA's The Old Republic, which has the lucrative Star Wars license and the development chops of RPG expert BioWare going for it. But when Bobby Kotick was asked whether he was worried about the imminent release of The Old Republic in 2011, he scoffed.

"I can't say that we're hugely concerned about that. The audience for World of Warcraft is a pretty committed group of players," Kotick said.

As of Blizzard's latest numbers, WoW boasts over 12 million players. The release of the third expansion, Cataclysm, to the 6 year old MMO next week is expected to draw many old players back to resubscribe, as well as many new players who might want to finally see Azeroth for themselves. WoW may see a huge bump in subscription numbers, possible to 13 or even 14 million.

The track record for previous WoW-killers like Age of Conan and Warhammer Online would support Kotick's faith in his flagship MMO property. Wow subscribers aren't going anywhere, and certainly not to the The Old Republic.

Source: Reuters [http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/101201/tecnology/ctech_us_media_summit_activision]



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[LavaLampBamboo]

They seem like dissimilar MMOs and I think that people who like WoW won't enjoy TOR. Perhaps some will move across but I can't see ANY MMO taking away from WoW's subscription base.

 

[Xelt]

WoW is like a juggarnaught of death and destruction when it comes to other MMOs, i'm sure theres no chance of TOR killing it, or causing a large dent in it's numbers.

 

[Ryan Warmuserken]

They seem like dissimilar MMOs and I think that people who like WoW won't enjoy TOR. Perhaps some will move across but I can't see ANY MMO taking away from WoW's subscription base.

That's not what everyone who's played it says.

 

[ShadowKatt]

I'm not sure why Kotick would be worried about it at all. It's not -his- game. Blizzard's been running it for how many years now? At least 10, and it's been the biggest MMO...ever. And all he's been able to do is pump out sequel after sequal after sequel carbon copying the same games, CoD, Guitar Hero, and pretty much everything else they've ever made.

It's okay, Bobby, WoW will be find. Just go back to your room and play for a while while the big boys do business.

 

[DTWolfwood]

They seem like dissimilar MMOs and I think that people who like WoW won't enjoy TOR. Perhaps some will move across but I can't see ANY MMO taking away from WoW's subscription base.

really? from what i hear from first hand accounts SW:TOR plays like WOW except with lightsabers and blasters (Skill based.) Setting is different but gameplay is very similar.

No way to know for sure, unless your a beta tester and can tell me otherwise. The game does not look that promising to me. Then again it never did...not sure why there is so much hype for this game.

I Like BioWare as much as the next RPG nerd but like Kotick, i wouldnt lose any sleep if i own stock in ActivisionBlizzard.

 

[JaredXE]

He's not wrong.....for once. Odds are though, that a good chunk of WoW players will ALSO buy TOR and so some of the fanbase will be shared. That said, I haven't played WoW in over a year and I was hit and miss for years earlier to that...,.Cataclysm won't cause me to resubscribe.

But SWTOR.....hell yeah, gimme!

 

[Mrsoupcup]

Well if Bioware succeeds Activision may very well be in some deep finacial trouble. I'm pretty sure like 60% of what they make is from WOW.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Kotick has every reason to be confident.

Other MMOs based on popular franchises have come and gone, none making a noticable dent in WoWs subscriber numbers. The Star Wars franchise already has one dead MMORPG weighing it down. For all their skill in making single player/small server MP RPGs, Bioware don't have even a moderately successful MMORPG to their name.

Certainly the potential is there for SW:TOR to become a successful MMORPG but I don't think WoW is in any danger of losing it's crown.

 

[Exort]

They seem like dissimilar MMOs and I think that people who like WoW won't enjoy TOR. Perhaps some will move across but I can't see ANY MMO taking away from WoW's subscription base.

really? from what i hear from first hand accounts SW:TOR plays like WOW except with lightsabers and blasters (Skill based.) Setting is different but gameplay is very similar.

No way to know for sure, unless your a beta tester and can tell me otherwise. The game does not look that promising to me. Then again it never did...not sure why there is so much hype for this game.

I Like BioWare as much as the next RPG nerd but like Kotick, i wouldnt lose any sleep if i own stock in ActivisionBlizzard.

Yea, from the trailers the gameplay seems just like WoW's.
Anyway I expect a pretty good launch then start derease in number and stabilize at a ok number, with a slow growth rate.

 

[Ryan Warmuserken]

Well if Bioware succeed Activision may very well be in some deep finacial trouble. I'm pretty sure like 60% of what they make is from WOW.

Even if they lose 10 million players to SWTOR.

2 million are still playing WoW and they will still be making quite a bit of profit from that.. and we both know 10 million players arn't just leaving for SWTOR.(even with the most optimistic view)


Also both companies make money from their other games too like other game companies, they won't be in ANY financial trouble. Just bragging rights on WoW.(woopdy do)

 

[samsonguy920]

I may get noogied for this but this is possibly one reason I do respect Bobby. He knows Blizzard is the brass ring of the company so he neither messes with it nor tries to butt in and actually take credit for their stuff. He merely points at the board and says, 'This is the magic that our pals at Blizzard do. Eat it and weep, EA!' With gratuitous evil cackling to follow.

The track record for previous WoW-killers like Age of Conan and Warhammer Online would support Kotick's faith in his flagship MMO property. Wow subscribers aren't going anywhere, and certainly not to the The Old Republic.

That would be why they failed, since they tried to be WoW-Killers(And Age of Conan simply stinks anyway). LotRO has yet to make that claim and their numbers are still steadily increasing. WoW also has the advantage of having a big lead on anything new coming out these days. But as I said before, it could also help TOR by giving a lot of people who weren't familiar with MMO's a stepping stone to where they try and play WoW, they like the mechanics but not the scene, so then they can try TOR better prepared for the experience.

They seem like dissimilar MMOs and I think that people who like WoW won't enjoy TOR. Perhaps some will move across but I can't see ANY MMO taking away from WoW's subscription base.

Or they won't give up WoW, merely adding an additional expenditure to their gaming budget to also play TOR. Which won't bother Bobby or the guys at Blizzard one iota.
Stealing 12 million players is a stupid goal right now. Sharing those 12 million to also play their game, even in this economy ain't such a bad idea. After a couple of years and WoW players are starting to get old on Cataclysm, then they just might migrate over to TOR full time and bring their friends along. Gotta think long term, especially where an MMO is concerned. WoW has shown that an MMO has staying power and shouldn't be thought of as your typical game that you shelf after 6 months of play.

 

[Loonerinoes]

Well, at least this subscriber *is* going over pretty darn certainly. Provided of course that SWTOR's execution is decent enough and that some of its core promises are upheld, which we still need to wait until launch day.

Though the ultimate test is as to how it feels like when you play it. Mechanics-wise so far the reveals have not been quite surprising...but there's more to it than just that really. For one I am almost positive that SWTOR will have darn good player retention due to its story aspect at least. And contrary to most naysayers, that actually *has* been voted as one of the key reasons why people will be trying it out at least. And retention is always easier when you build up a world and characters, to which some attachment is developed over the course of the game, as opposed to a few characters whose text you usually prefer to skip through (for those saying that over here most will skip over the audio work, take into account ME2's 15% rate of skipping over).

The only think that I think could potentially sour it is of course a poor execution (servers crashing, lagging, customer support not on point, glitches, exploits that break the game, ect.)...and many MMOs have fallen down the drain because they lacked in this department, in spite of their great promise. Really, we need to just wait and see how this one will do.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Anyone want to start a betting pool on when SW:TOR goes Free-to-Play plus premium content?

 

[Korten12]

Anyone want to start a betting pool on when SW:TOR goes Free-to-Play plus premium content?

wouldn't be suprised.

 

[Exort]

I'm not sure why Kotick would be worried about it at all. It's not -his- game. Blizzard's been running it for how many years now? At least 10, and it's been the biggest MMO...ever. And all he's been able to do is pump out sequel after sequal after sequel carbon copying the same games, CoD, Guitar Hero, and pretty much everything else they've ever made.

It's okay, Bobby, WoW will be find. Just go back to your room and play for a while while the big boys do business.

He don't MAKE game he SELL game, that is why he is such a big idiot when it comes to games...
Publishor and developer is two different worlds.

 

[Carlston]

They maybe different but honestly WOW is old... the packs barely kept it fresh. And now it is still the same old same old.

Kotor might just be new enough to draw away a good chunk of that player base for just something new...

And maybe for ranged combat that isn't 2 shots then your in melee...

 

[Arec Balrin]

I lost interest in TOR the moment they showed that it would be following the 'holy trinity' class model that ruins MMOs. It's not even like developers have failed to innovate since Everquest either: EVE, City of Heroes, Champions and Tabula Rasa didn't box characters in so much into those narrow roles of Tank, DPS and Healer. Every character had to be able to do all of them to some degree in their own original way. Guild War wasn't tank-healer dependent either but more focused on effective buffing, debuffing and crowd management.

The trinity is now the WoW model and no one does WoW better than WoW. All 'WoW-killers' have failed for the simple reason that they really tried to be WoW and denied it when it was obvious.