EA Share Price Slides Over Old Republic Concerns

[Imbechile]

Great!
The only way EA will stop acting like Teh EVIL is if they suffer some losses.
But I really don't understand what's the fuss. So it didn't return the investment in the first month. We need to wait about a year and then we'll see if it's a faliure or not.

Off topic:

The irony, it is killing me.

Actually he's right. Maybe you didn't want to, but you really did come off as a whiny fanboy who is mad because a game he likes isn't universally praised.
Maybe you didn't want us to discuss about whether or not TOR is good, but infact it's financial success. There were a lot of ways to say it nicely.

 

[jimbob123432]

I personally attribute the "not living up to expectations" to the general downfall of the Star Wars name. Couple that with the dislike people have over Origin and it's not surprising that this game isn't doing as well as expected. I don't play MMOs and I used to like the Star Wars franchise, but since the franchise started to slip, I didn't hold high hopes for the game. That, and why would I play a MMO (if I were to play one) that I have to pay $12+ a month for when I can play one for free (WoW, Runescape, Planeshift, DDO, LoTR, EverQuest II...)? If it was optional to pay for an improved account, I might try it, but paying for something I'm not sure about it too much of a gamble for newbs like me.

 

[octafish]

YOU DON'T NEED ORIGIN TO PLAY TOR! BUY A DISK AND YOU WILL NEVER HAVE TO SEE ORIGIN ON YOUR PC.

I don't mind Origin, it works as well as if not better than Steam for me. TOR isn't even released here yet, but then again I don't get enough time to play games that any P2P game is a worthwhile indulgence. I'll play it when it goes F2P.

 

[TitanAtlas]

EA's BS alert!!!

I belive like this last Star Wars MMO, is not my favourite cup of tea, but it's not a bad game. With a little of work between the devs and the community, you can get a pretty solid thing...

Unfortenatly this project is between the almighty, corrupt and capitalist EA. So even if Old Republic is not my favourite thing in the world, i feel sorry for them, and i acctually feel afraid for it's own future...

 

[risenbone]

You know what all game companies share prices do this. Seriously watch Activisions share price from when they announce a big new game till a couple of weeks after launch. You will find that as more and more people become aware of the new product the share price rises till it hits a high point a couple of weeks after launch and drops back down again. This is because game publishing companies don't generally pay out a dividend and the only way to make actual money off the shares of said company is to buy when it's low and sell when it's high. The low point is around the announcement of the new product as more people start buying those shares and create demand and the high point is just a bit after the release of the product when more people are looking to cash in on their returns and not many are buying. This is the basics of how the stock market works.

 

[jp201]

EA's BS alert!!!

I belive like this last Star Wars MMO, is not my favourite cup of tea, but it's not a bad game. With a little of work between the devs and the community, you can get a pretty solid thing...

Unfortenatly this project is between the almighty, corrupt and capitalist EA. So even if Old Republic is not my favourite thing in the world, i feel sorry for them, and i acctually feel afraid for it's own future...

You know the last star wars mmo made was by SOE and not EA. They are two completely different games in the way they played.

 

[Denamic]

Let me get this straight, an MMO that got over a million subscribers in under two weeks, making it the fastest growing MMO at launch ever, isn't doing good enough? What do you want? Your computer to start laying golden eggs every time your character gains a level?

In those two weeks, sure.
That's just a trick of statistics to fool the casual observer though.
You can't just pick a small timeframe where the sales peaked particularly high and call that good statistics.
The mean between launch and now isn't nearly as impressive.

 

[TilMorrow]

Well I can't really comment on the quality of the game or anything as I don't own it and I was unable to get a chance to play at all during the Beta test in November (server list issues and rage aplenty).[sub][sub][sub][sub]I might play it if I knew if they had gametime cards for it[/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub]

But aren't the launch subscribers first paying month starting around now seeing as the game was released on the 20 Dec? So...

 

[ReinWeisserRitter]

Maybe the next guys will think twice before they assume copying the top dog, but with a budget that could block out the sun, is all it takes to make hundreds of millions overnight.

Ha. Sure they will.

 

[lowkey_jotunn]

I've been fairly on the fence about SWTOR, but EA is the anti-selling point for me.

If SWTOR really did look like the MMO to end all MMOs, I might give it a shot, but as a somewhat amusing, middle-of-the-road game, with decent potential... I just can't get into it. Not when I have well over a dozen other middle-of-the-road games that I bought on steam sale over the holidays

Ain't competition a *****.


And like I said, EA is really what kills it for me. I just can't get behind the company responsible for the Origin fiasco AND who backs SOPA.

(p.s. yes I know you can buy a retail disk and not mess with Origin, but it's the principle of the thing)

 

[TheGauntman]

Once again, we see people receive warnings for calling out a contributor for their unprofessional conduct. It's becoming quite a theme around these parts.

OT: Did the game perform as well as EA/BioWare would have liked? Maybe not. But considering their high standards, what would have been good enough? Considering the game hasn't been released in Australia, and that we have yet to see comprehensive data on the actual numbers involved, I'll chalk this up to normal fluctuation and wait a couple months until the numbers smooth out.

 

[Cyrus Hanley]

Once again, we see people receive warnings for calling out a contributor for their unprofessional conduct. It's becoming quite a theme around these parts.

OT: Did the game perform as well as EA/BioWare would have liked? Maybe not. But considering their high standards, what would have been good enough? Considering the game hasn't been released in Australia, and that we have yet to see comprehensive data on the actual numbers involved, I'll chalk this up to normal fluctuation and wait a couple months until the numbers smooth out.

Maybe if we report him the moderators will pull their heads out of their alimentary canals.

 

[beniki]

I think that the quality of the game leads directly to sales, and particularly re-subscription. Maybe asking not to discuss it was a mistake?

Having played the game now (after a month trying to get the damn thing) I can say this: It's not half bad.

Buuuut, I think that EA shareholders might have been fooled over the hype more so than the average gamer. They might have been expecting the second coming of WoW, and even Blizzard can't pull that off.

The Old Republic is like a great Summer blockbuster. Hits all the right notes, delivers entertainment, and leaves good memories (except for the arses in General chat doing the equivalent of throwing popcorn everywhere). It'll make a lot of money.

 

[wooty]

Slap Star Wars on anything and people think it will sell.

I still think people jump the gun on this, give it time, the general rule of thumb on MMO's. Its very smooth for a new launch title, especially one that was this much in demand.

 

[Little Duck]

I would really love to own and play this game for a month or two. But apparently half a billion dollars doesn't quantify the potential mac investment.

 

[rapidoud]

For the laymen, I'd also like to note that companies aren't directly affected by Share Prices.

It just means how many shares they have to issue if they seek more Capital for another big venture and how confident the market is in their company.

 

[TitanAtlas]

EA's BS alert!!!

I belive like this last Star Wars MMO, is not my favourite cup of tea, but it's not a bad game. With a little of work between the devs and the community, you can get a pretty solid thing...

Unfortenatly this project is between the almighty, corrupt and capitalist EA. So even if Old Republic is not my favourite thing in the world, i feel sorry for them, and i acctually feel afraid for it's own future...

You know the last star wars mmo made was by SOE and not EA. They are two completely different games in the way they played.

What made you think i believed otherwise?

 

[JediMB]

Personally I'm letting my SWTOR subscription run out on February 18...

Then I'm playing Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (EA game).

Then I'm playing Mass Effect 3 (EA game).

Then I'm resuming my SWTOR subscription with the game time card I've already ordered alongside my Reckoning pre-order. So as an RPG fan, the biggest problem for EA/SWTOR right now is that they're releasing competing titles.

EDIT:

I suppose I should say then that it would have been wiser if Electronic Arts had set the release date after Reckoning and Mass Effect 3, to avoid people canceling subscriptions in order to focus on those other games.

That would have also given BioWare more time to fix all the various issues their players are getting turned off by right now.

 

[F-I-D-O]

Aren't MMOs supposed to be more of a long term investment?
Just as a standard game might not be immediately profitable (say a $100 million game only sells 1.5 million on launch day at $60), they would reach profitability over the next couple months, and then DLC would be helped by the profits, as well as bringing in more money.

I imagine that a launch MMO, especially modern day, wouldn't have crazy profits in the first couple months. The initial dev support to fix launch issues/big bugs can't be cheap. As it becomes more stable and more devs move away, the upkeep would get cheaper. I imagine there'll be an expansion within one and a half to two years, which will be when it really turns profitable. Especially as subscription money comes in. They're charging people for a full game every six months. That's not to say EA shouldn't be a little worried. They only have around 1 million subs last I checked (they'll reach profitability in about 24 years with no growth). And I bet they thought the license would give them a bigger launch.

But WoW didn't have 10 million subs overnight. They have that many because they made a good game that they've supported with constant updates. I can understand why people may be worried to get accounts. I haven't tried it, because I want to wait and see how it is in a few months. The launch period is really telling of how they'll handle the game, and if they keep up support I'll be more inclined to get an account. The launch issues and lack of a trial have also probably turned off some people.
If they set up a free trial, and come out with some cool content over the next few months, they shouldn't worry too much. It's not like Star Trek Online which had very few subs and little support (did they just shut it down, or is it free to play?).
Oh, who can't wait for MechWarrior Online?

 

[Treblaine]

First things first: let's not turn this into a "The Old Republic cures cancer/shot my dog" conversation. Some people like it, some people don't and the general consensus seems to be that while it suffers from issues of various sorts, it's certainly not the ugliest MMO launch ever. Neither I nor anyone else cares what you think about The Old Republic.

In that case where's the discussion value in this thread?

How are we supposed to discuss this if we can't talk about why we think TOR is or isn't living up to expectations?

I think the issue is the objective financial viability of all of EA.

Not each person's personal opinion raving/raging on it.