EA Says Not to Worry About Old Republic Shortages

[Logan Westbrook]

EA Says Not to Worry About Old Republic Shortages

The Old Republic's publisher says that the game will have a wide reaching appeal.

EA might be carefully managing [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/112460-EA-Controlling-Old-Republic-Player-Population-for-Launch] the Star Wars: The Old Republic [http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Old-Republic-Pc/dp/B001CWXAP2/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1320061913&sr=1-1] launch, but it says that it has taken steps to ensure that Star Wars fans aren't disappointed by a lack of copies of the game over the holidays. EA's Frank Gibeau says that the publisher's launch plan is ambitious and that he doesn't think that too many people will have to wait.

"We don't feel like we're going to be leaving too much demand behind at launch but we definitely are going to be very cautious and thoughtful about how many people we bring on and in what order," he said. "It's a very interesting proposition from that standpoint because you have the Star Wars brand that draws in a lot of people. That is a good thing because we think we can sustain the business over a very long time as we grow. There's going to continually be new customer segments that we can open up and bring into the service."

Gibeau said that EA was using The Old Republic's beta to see what how many people the game will be able to handle at launch, and that the pre-order campaign was designed with those limits in mind. Back in August, EA also said that there would be a finite number of copies of the game available online, so not to overload the servers at launch.

Star Wars: The Old Republic comes out for PC on December 20th.

Source: MCV [http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ea-downplays-old-republic-shortage-fears/087052]

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[Something Amyss]

How are they going to manage "in what order?"

 

[Sentox6]

"We don't feel like we're going to be leaving too much demand behind at launch... well, except for all the Australians and New Zealanders, but screw them."

 

[Rawne1980]

Well, my pre-orders been in for a while so as long as my copy appears through my letterbox i'll be a happy little bunny.

 

[Joccaren]

"We don't feel like we're going to be leaving too much demand behind at launch... well, except for all the Australians and New Zealanders, but screw them."

Pretty much this. No-one cares about us down here... Eh, actually some of those British do. That's why they're sending me a nice new copy of this game for <$50. Now lets just hope I can get a reasonable server connection...

 

[Art Axiv]

"We don't feel like we're going to be leaving too much demand behind at launch... well, except for all the Australians and New Zealanders, but screw them."

Pretty much this. No-one cares about us down here... Eh, actually some of those British do. That's why they're sending me a nice new copy of this game for <$50. Now lets just hope I can get a reasonable server connection...

"Sorry, the game you've bought is region-locked. Please contact your retailer".

 

[Robert Ewing]

"We don't feel like we're going to be leaving too much demand behind at launch... well, except for all the Australians and New Zealanders, but screw them."

Pretty much this. No-one cares about us down here... Eh, actually some of those British do. That's why they're sending me a nice new copy of this game for <$50. Now lets just hope I can get a reasonable server connection...

Don't worry my southern hemisphere brothers, we'll send you some game relief aid <3

 

[TimeLord]

You know EA, this wouldn't be an issue if you were releasing it over Steam...

Note: If EA are releasing it over Steam and I am merely behind on information then please declare this post invalid.

 

[Something Amyss]

"We don't feel like we're going to be leaving too much demand behind at launch... well, except for all the Australians and New Zealanders, but screw them."

I don't think that's true.

...It implies the publishers are aware Australia and New Zealand exist.

 

[Something Amyss]

You know EA, this wouldn't be an issue if you were releasing it over Steam...

Note: If EA are releasing it over Steam and I am merely behind on information then please declare this post invalid.

Of course, one of the reasons they're limiting the numbers at launch is so as to not overload the servers, so the reason isn't a true lack of availability that would be rectified by Steam. they'd probably limit the activation codes if it was/is on Steam.

 

[JochemDude]

Why oh why, do I not believe EA for their word anymore.

 

[RA92]

"We don't feel like we're going to be leaving too much demand behind at launch... well, except for all the Australians and New Zealanders, but screw them."

Pretty much this. No-one cares about us down here... Eh, actually some of those British do. That's why they're sending me a nice new copy of this game for <$50. Now lets just hope I can get a reasonable server connection...

Don't worry my southern hemisphere brothers, we'll send you some game relief aid <3

Time to load out the C-130!

 

[Joccaren]

"We don't feel like we're going to be leaving too much demand behind at launch... well, except for all the Australians and New Zealanders, but screw them."

Pretty much this. No-one cares about us down here... Eh, actually some of those British do. That's why they're sending me a nice new copy of this game for <$50. Now lets just hope I can get a reasonable server connection...

"Sorry, the game you've bought is region-locked. Please contact your retailer".

Last I'd heard they weren't going to do region locking, so that shouldn't be a problem.

"We don't feel like we're going to be leaving too much demand behind at launch... well, except for all the Australians and New Zealanders, but screw them."

Pretty much this. No-one cares about us down here... Eh, actually some of those British do. That's why they're sending me a nice new copy of this game for <$50. Now lets just hope I can get a reasonable server connection...

Don't worry my southern hemisphere brothers, we'll send you some game relief aid <3

<3

 

[Alphonse_Lamperouge]

hahaha thats pretty funny.

but we will see who is laughing when the secret mutant kangaroo/koala army we have been breeding is finally let loose upon the world.

wont be such a ''G'day'' then, will it, mate?

 

[Vrach]

"We don't feel like we're going to be leaving too much demand behind at launch... well, except for all the Australians and New Zealanders, but screw them."

And a decent part of Europe actually.

How are they going to manage "in what order?"

By not publishing the game worldwide to start with - They're only launching in NA and parts of Europe. Ambitious is an... interesting choice of words >.>

 

[Simon Pettersson]

hahaha thats pretty funny.

but we will see who is laughing when the secret mutant kangaroo/koala army we have been breeding is finally let loose upon the world.

wont be such a ''G'day'' then, will it, mate?

Well it´s not that much of a secret now is it?


OT: I have preordered it so I hope I will get it

 

[Lono Shrugged]

EA marketing exec A: "How can we get gamers to buy more copies of our game before we release it?"

Exec B: (Takes massive hit of crack) "cough! cough! Uh....... we could pretend they've sold out like gangbusters and tell people not to panic there will be enough for everyone. Of course they will panic because gaming news websites post any old shit we say with zero editorial"

Exec A: "Genius! The dull fuckers will eat that shit up like nude DLC! Now where is Dr. Mabuse with the latest reports?"

 

[ViciousTide]

Expect a deep discount for this Pre-order in stores on December 26th.

 

[Da Orky Man]

"We don't feel like we're going to be leaving too much demand behind at launch... well, except for all the Australians and New Zealanders, but screw them."

Pretty much this. No-one cares about us down here... Eh, actually some of those British do. That's why they're sending me a nice new copy of this game for <$50. Now lets just hope I can get a reasonable server connection...

The second it launches, we'll send down a fleet packed with copies. We must prevent this terrible game drought our American "friends" have brought upon you.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

What they're actually saying is: "Don't worry about SWToR shortages. It's not like a lot of people will be playing it when it first comes out."