Analyst: The Old Republic Shoots for 2 Million Subscribers

[John Funk]

Analyst: The Old Republic Shoots for 2 Million Subscribers

EA is hoping to get 2 million subscribers for Star Wars: The Old Republic in order to justify the expenses, says an analyst - but the game might just be able to pull it off.

Between Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2, Edmonton-based BioWare is quickly proving itself to be the crown jewel in the entirety of the EA Empire - which may be why the publisher is risking so very much on the upcoming: Star Wars: The Old Republic. EA has been injecting SWTOR with millions and millions of dollars, and has outright called the game the "largest ever development project, period, in the history of the company."

So naturally, expectations are high as well. According to IndustryGamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/star-wars-mmo-could-see-over-2-million-subscribers/], Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia met with EA and reported that the high cost of developing the game has significantly lowered earnings at the videogame giant. But the massive expense could be worth it, says Bhatia, because the publisher is hoping for - and expecting - to see subscription numbers above the 2 million mark.

While 1 million subscribers would likely be enough to break even, added Bhatia, EA is hoping for 2 million - probably in order to be able to recoup its expenses more quickly and start turning debt into profit.

If SWTOR does hit the 2-million mark, it would be only the second pay-to-play Western MMOG to do so - the first, of course, being WoW. In 2008, both Age of Conan and Warhammer Online briefly hit 1 million subscribers out of the gate, but these numbers quickly fell.

Can SweaTer (eh, it's no "MewTwo") pull it off?

Permalink

 

[Trivun]

See, a Star Wars MMO has the makings right from the off of being a great game. But I won't be playing it. Why? Subscription fees.

Drop subscription charges for MMOs and companies like Blizzard and Bioware would get a lot more subscribers, a lot quicker...

 

[Rigs83]

I'll be subscriber 249,568.As for the subscription fees it's the cost of great gaming.

 

[John Funk]

See, a Star Wars MMO has the makings right from the off of being a great game. But I won't be playing it. Why? Subscription fees.

Drop subscription charges for MMOs and companies like Blizzard and Bioware would get a lot more subscribers, a lot quicker...

They're incredibly expensive to operate. That won't happen.

I will never understand being so against subscription fees when you get so much more per dollar than you do with most full length games.

 

[Irridium]

I can see it happening.

After all, essentially every gamer knows about Star Wars and would most likey be willing to give the game a shot.

Not to mention all of Bioware's fans who will probably be playing this game for a while.

 

[Slycne]

I think it will easily hit 2 million subscribers on or shortly after launch. Keeping them, however, is a different story though and will depend largely on the quality of the game.

 

[Croaker42]

Im looking forward to this one.
Im glad they are going with the subscription method of gameplay. Get all my content in a monthly due.
Im ready for the lightsaber fight.

 

[Trivun]

See, a Star Wars MMO has the makings right from the off of being a great game. But I won't be playing it. Why? Subscription fees.

Drop subscription charges for MMOs and companies like Blizzard and Bioware would get a lot more subscribers, a lot quicker...

They're incredibly expensive to operate. That won't happen.

I will never understand being so against subscription fees when you get so much more per dollar than you do with most full length games.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm not denying that you do get more bang for your buck. It's just that gaming is an expensive hobby at the best of times. My Xbox 360 was stolen just after Christmas, and I still haven't been able to afford to replace it (being a student and all). And I've often had to wait ages for games to drop to really low prices before buying them, because I can't afford full price. So what grates on my nerves is that to play an MMO you not only have to pay for the disk/download, but then on top of that you have the monthly fees. It means that gamers like me, who can't afford to play the new releases at the best of times, have little to no chancew of being able to afford to play MMOs too. If it wasn't for the subscription cost I'd have bought LOTR Online and FF XI long ago...

 

[tkioz]

Between the fans of Star Wars and the fans of Bioware, and the fans of both who know they can do Star Wars justice they'll have a good shot at it. My only regret is I've been MMO Clean for almost a year now and this game will break me.

 

[aaronmcc]

See, a Star Wars MMO has the makings right from the off of being a great game. But I won't be playing it. Why? Subscription fees.

Drop subscription charges for MMOs and companies like Blizzard and Bioware would get a lot more subscribers, a lot quicker...

They're incredibly expensive to operate. That won't happen.

I will never understand being so against subscription fees when you get so much more per dollar than you do with most full length games.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm not denying that you do get more bang for your buck. It's just that gaming is an expensive hobby at the best of times. My Xbox 360 was stolen just after Christmas, and I still haven't been able to afford to replace it (being a student and all). And I've often had to wait ages for games to drop to really low prices before buying them, because I can't afford full price. So what grates on my nerves is that to play an MMO you not only have to pay for the disk/download, but then on top of that you have the monthly fees. It means that gamers like me, who can't afford to play the new releases at the best of times, have little to no chancew of being able to afford to play MMOs too. If it wasn't for the subscription cost I'd have bought LOTR Online and FF XI long ago...

perhaps like me you don't have or want to put a whole lot of time into playing online. That's why I dont have XBL gold

 

[More Fun To Compute]

It's nice to want things.

Galaxies wanted 1 million subscribers but ended up with a number that I believe to be some fraction of 1 million.

 

[Raikov]

If it were like Star Wars Galaxies was before they dumbed it down, I'd get it. But it won't be like that, so...

And there's nothing wrong with subscription. It's much cheaper then just buying new games every month.

 

[Eri]

I'd have bought LOTR Online and FF XI long ago...

Trust me, you don't want to play either of these.

 

[JeppeH]

I'll probably get this, depending on reviews and buzz a good two months after release. I played LOTRO end enjoyed it for 1½ year then got bored with the setting. Bought Conan on release -what a mistake!

So this time I'm waiting to hear what people think and for the startup-bugs to be cleared up.
Unless I make it to the beta.. but that would be a frakkin miracle since I live in Denmark and every beta-tester I ever talked to lived either in US/canada or UK/Germany.

 

[Eagle Est1986]

How many does WoW have? I reckon this could do it, easy.
It's the only MMO I've ever been interested in, and the rule of thumb of the internet; you're never the only one.

 

[bjj hero]

See, a Star Wars MMO has the makings right from the off of being a great game. But I won't be playing it. Why? Subscription fees.

Drop subscription charges for MMOs and companies like Blizzard and Bioware would get a lot more subscribers, a lot quicker...

They're incredibly expensive to operate. That won't happen.

I will never understand being so against subscription fees when you get so much more per dollar than you do with most full length games.

Not if you buy the right games Funk. I got 2 years constant play, multiplayer and the campaign, out of Cod4. I may well get the same out of MW2 as I'm Treyarch averse. I bought MW2 for £27. I've not checked the price for WoW subscription but I imagine I'd be over that after a couple of months of play.

Likewise I gave Mass Effect 7 play throughs, not bad for a game I paid £19.99 for. I've played through Dragon age twice and plan to play each origin story through to the end. Civ 4 has given me years of joy, i could go on.

Im not against MMOs as such. I've tried WoW and EVE at friends but found neither of them was for me. I just think the "more for your dollar" argument is a little hollow. If you buy a release day, full priced single player action game you will maybe get 10 hours out of it then never play it again. At that point your argument holds some water. If you choose your games and do your research then its not true.

I got side tracked there. On topic, a Bioware game with a Starwars licence seems like the best odds you will ever have to get 2 million people signed up. I do worry that a developer that bases its games on story might struggle with an MMO, after a year the story seems to go out of the window with everyone only worried about the end game and shiney new toys.

 

[hansari]

See, a Star Wars MMO has the makings right from the off of being a great game. But I won't be playing it. Why? Subscription fees.

Drop subscription charges for MMOs and companies like Blizzard and Bioware would get a lot more subscribers, a lot quicker...

They're incredibly expensive to operate. That won't happen.

I will never understand being so against subscription fees when you get so much more per dollar than you do with most full length games.

Its just the mentality that it gives some people.

A subscription makes some people feel like they are bound to play this game regardless of how much free time they do or don't have. It also makes some people feel like they have to play this game over others they have...

In all honesty, I'd be more receptive to an MMO if it offered other subscription models...

 

[Mr_Paisley]

The biggest thing Swtor has going for it right now is Star Wars. Even more than Bioware, the Star Wars name just carries with it, a number of devoted fans.
Personally I'd pay expensive subscription fees if this MMO is anything like Bioware's previous games, in mmo form. ADD that they've rights to make it a BIOWARE-STAR WARS-MMO, and that's one recipe for success.

PS: Just to further drive the point home, it's Bioware. They LISTEN to their customers and fix their games accordingly. If something's wrong with the game at launch, I'd say all would be well within 24hours.

 

[bjj hero]

PS: Just to further drive the point home, it's Bioware. They LISTEN to their customers and fix their games accordingly. If something's wrong with the game at launch, I'd say all would be well within 24hours.

Don't count on it. Remember when the newest patch broke DA:O? That took longer than 24 hours to sort out.