First, there's no such thing as a perfect analogy. Otherwise your analogy would be the real thing and you wouldn't need the analogy. Secondly, this is the second of two posts that I have made in the thread (why I'm bothering is beyond me) as an attempt to explain, in simple terms, my first post. My original point was that money paid for development is gone and future decisions are not made based on money that is gone but instead on the promise of money to be made in the future. So I'll try one last time and then be done with it ... Suppose I have a project budget of five million dollars. After spending three million I find that my total return only promises to be three million dollars after my initial investment of five million, for a total loss of two million. Do I continue the project? Spoiler alert ... yes. Now the obvious question becomes "why continue to spend the additional 2 million for a net loss of 2 million?" The first three million is gone and if I kill the project then I lose all 3 million. If, however, I spend an additional 2 million and finish the project then make back 3 million, then I only lose $2 million. Losing 2 million is not as bad as losing 3 million. In addition, I have a completed project that can possibly continue to generate a profit beyond the projected $3 million. While a small company would need to find outside backers (to lone me money for bread and peanut butter), BioWare isn't a small company and they likely use internal funding sources for development projects. And again, this is an ANALOGY and there are no perfect analogies.

I didn't say or imply that it was a good thing. As an analogy, let's say I spend $10 on peanut butter and bread and plan to make money selling peanut butter sandwiches. And let's say that I can make 10 sandwiches from that original expendature. In order to break even, I need to sell those 10 sandwiches for $1 each, but I want a small profit so I add $0.10 to each for an expected gross income of $11. $1 profit, YAY!!. Now let's say that only three people show up to buy my sandwiches. Do I close up and go home, refusing to accept the $3.30 from the three people who showed up? That would be stupid, would accept the $3.30 and do what I can to ensure that those three people continue to buy more of my sandwiches, and the changes I make could very well bring me more customers. Now let's say that those three people ask me to add jelly to my sandwiches. As long as those three people are willing to continue buying my sandwiches and it costs me less than $1.10 to make each one, I'll continue to make a profit above the CURRENT expense. I would hope to someday see my original $10, but it's already gone and future decisions should not take it into consideration AS LONG AS the amount of money I CURRENTLY bring in is not less than the amount of money I am CURRENTLY spending. My profit margin might be lower when I add jelly, but my net income could easily increase with more customers who like jelly AND my product would improve. No one is saying that losing subscriptions is what BioWare was hoping for, but it would be asinine to scrap the whole thing and go home crying. Some people, not necessarly the individual whom I have quoted, are implying or openly stating that SWTOR is dead and BioWare should pack it in because only EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND subscription remain active four months after release. When the time comes to consolidate servers some will scream "FAIL!! SEE I TOLD YOU!!" But the game will go on and those of us who stay with it will get jelly to go with our peanut butter sandwiches

and So many people talk about the continued loss of money based on trying to recover the money invested in the game, implying that a game should be shut down if it has no hope of ever recovering the money invested. Once the startup capital has been spent it's gone. As long as the current number of subscriptions supports the current expences (server maintenance, additional developement, etc.) it remains a positive revenue stream and should remain open. If 70% are dissatisfied and want to leave but the remaining 30% covers costs and provides an influx of cash, I wish the 70% well in their chosen game. I currently enjoy SWTOR and will continue to play as long as I continue to enjoy it.