Has SWTOR made profit?

[Propane]

I absolutely love them game, but they did spend a ton making it. I am hoping that they still made something with this.

[Darth_Keno]

1.5 Million subs Edited January 15, 2012 by Darth_Keno

[Jswizzle]

Tough to say at this point. There are so many factors. You pay with a CC the credit card company gets a slice. You buy from a retailer they get a slice.

 

It will eventually be profitable, it's just a question of when. Subscriptions and expansions will be the real money makers.

[Axxar]

They picked up slicing. I'm sure they'll be ok.

[Halofax]

Last i heard as of week two EA had covered costs and reported a 20 million dollar profit.

 

I cant really say for sure. Thats what people were saying in my guild.

[truedark]

If they get 500,000 subs in 5 days they'll be making a profit apparently.

[face_hindu]

They picked up slicing. I'm sure they'll be ok.

 

lolol

[Lazerius-]

1.5 mil subs x minimum $60 = 90,000,000

 

Reportedly 120m - 150m spent on development

 

 

let's say they keep 1 million subbed next month (who knows how many really):

 

1 mil x 15 = 15 mil x let's say 6 months = another 90 mil

 

in 6 months, this game will easily be profitable, if they can keep 1 mil subs.

 

 

Will that happen? Only time will tell.

 

 

It's all bout sub numbers. If they can keep the community as a whole happy, via content and bug fixes, and class balance, we can expect grand amounts of content in the future, and a long term successful product.

 

If not, well, time will tell.

[JonnnyB]

EA reports on the 30th so they'll probably make mention of it then. In truth it will be years before we know if SWTOR was worthwhile for EA or not as it will take a long time to earn back all of the development costs.

[Kardall]

1.5 Million Subscriptions at $60 / ea. = $90, 000, 000

 

Lets say 5% of that is what is profit = $4,500,000 just from purchases

 

Wikipedia states between $125 to $200 million to produce it.

 

So that means, the game has to go on for:

 

$13/mo per subscriber * 800k = $10,400,000 per month

 

at $200 million that means, after first month they need to recover $110,000,000

 

meaning, they need to pull in those 800k subscribers for a total of 10 months before they break even. And that's just stating the bare minimum. There's probably tonnes of other legal crap that goes on, but that's just raw numbers. Not including distribution deal repayments, and all that jazz per month to upkeep the servers.

 

Lots of stuff goes on behind the scenes, and all we can do is scrape the surface unless you're an inside worker. Chances are, they won't break even at least until the 6th month (when you include deluxe/ce copies)

[JonnnyB]

1.5 mil subs x minimum $60 = 90,000,000

 

Reportedly 120m - 150m spent on development

 

 

let's say they keep 1 million subbed next month (who knows how many really):

 

1 mil x 15 = 15 mil x let's say 6 months = another 90 mil

 

in 6 months, this game will easily be profitable, if they can keep 1 mil subs.

 

 

Will that happen? Only time will tell.

 

 

It's all bout sub numbers. If they can keep the community as a whole happy, via content and bug fixes, and class balance, we can expect grand amounts of content in the future, and a long term successful product.

 

If not, well, time will tell.

 

Plus marketing, plus distribution... Lucas gets 35%... plus ongoing expenses...

 

They'll need way more than 1 million subs and 6 months to make it worthwhile.

[truedark]

EA said all they needed was 500k to begin making a profit, we have to remember that BW does make other games.

[JonnnyB]

EA said all they needed was 500k to begin making a profit, we have to remember that BW does make other games.

 

Yeah, they should turn a profit there. But it will still be years before they make back the development / marketing costs.

[Swampfot]

It is not just about making a profit on this game. It is about making more money than you would have made if you made another game instead. If BW hadn't made TOR they might have made 2-3 profitable games instead. Sure, they don't have the possible revenue of TOR but they were probably safer bets.

[Schwerpunkt]

1.5 mil subs x minimum $60 = 90,000,000

 

You aren't considering all the people that bought the CE. Many of whom got it solely as a collectors item and never intend on opening it, or want to resell it at a profit like the one idiot on Amazon whose trying to resell his copy for $999. bucks.

[Halofax]

It is not just about making a profit on this game. It is about making more money than you would have made if you made another game instead. If BW hadn't made TOR they might have made 2-3 profitable games instead. Sure, they don't have the possible revenue of TOR but they were probably safer bets.

 

So now even though the game made a profit it still is unsuccessful because they didnt make 3 other games instead?

 

Quick question. Is Diablo 3 a successful game? Blizzard could have made 20 games by now with that development team.

[Xugos]

No, not yet. They are still repaying their operational costs/developmental costs. They won't be profitable for a few years.

[truedark]

So now even though the game made a profit it still is unsuccessful because they didnt make 3 other games instead?

 

Quick question. Is Diablo 3 a successful game? Blizzard could have made 20 games by now with that development team.

 

With Blizzard's average development time they could have made a ****ton more games throughout their entire company's lifetime.

[Swampfot]

So now even though the game made a profit it still is unsuccessful because they didnt make 3 other games instead?

 

Quick question. Is Diablo 3 a successful game? Blizzard could have made 20 games by now with that development team.

 

I think you missed the point. There is no quarantee TOR will make a profit. There is always risk involved and we don't really know how the profits get divided among investors, EA, BW and vendors.

 

The amount of people working on this and staff, customer support, server, bandwidth etc aren't free. They will need a certain playerbase to make enough money to feel it is worth it. Having a designer "stuck" on a project this size means he can't spend his time on other projects that might be more profitable.

 

Spending the cash that they have on this game is a gamble. They will probably earn it back or most of it atleast... but will the profit overall be worth the time and effort?

[Halofax]

I think you missed the point. There is no quarantee TOR will make a profit. There is always risk involved and we don't really know how the profits get divided among investors, EA, BW and vendors.

 

The amount of people working on this and staff, customer support, server, bandwidth etc aren't free. They will need a certain playerbase to make enough money to feel it is worth it. Having a designer "stuck" on a project this size means he can't spend his time on other projects that might be more profitable.

 

Spending the cash that they have on this game is a gamble. They will probably earn it back or most of it atleast... but will the profit overall be worth the time and effort?

 

TOR will make a profit.

 

It didnt cost 20 billion dollars.

 

And as all the trolls say, when it goes free 2 play it will make even more of a profit.

 

If this Star Wars game was free 2 play it would have sold 8 million copies.

 

There are children out there without credit cards and parents who let them play mmos.

[Halofax]

I think you missed the point. There is no quarantee TOR will make a profit. There is always risk involved and we don't really know how the profits get divided among investors, EA, BW and vendors.

 

The amount of people working on this and staff, customer support, server, bandwidth etc aren't free. They will need a certain playerbase to make enough money to feel it is worth it. Having a designer "stuck" on a project this size means he can't spend his time on other projects that might be more profitable.

 

Spending the cash that they have on this game is a gamble. They will probably earn it back or most of it atleast... but will the profit overall be worth the time and effort?

 

BTW I think you forget that EA makes more every year selling Fifa soccer games than WoW will with Pandaland. Just my 2 cents.

[Tsillah]

Spending the cash that they have on this game is a gamble. They will probably earn it back or most of it atleast... but will the profit overall be worth the time and effort?

 

I think that it will take a little bit for them to break even but over 2 million copies sold world wide is a really good start.

 

It's also unclear who invested the money. If LucasArts has a 35% take, they may have been part of the investors. That makes it a bit of a spread risk that way for Bioware.

 

Also, I do not know, but it could be that like WoW, expansions may have to be bought as well. Since the game already exists, expansions are a good way of making money since all of the pre work is done.

 

Then there will be an addition of a cash shop. Things like character make overs and server transfers and other payable services will come as well.

 

And then there's the possibility of merchandising.

 

So, I think that within 2012 there will be a number of ways added for us to spend money on SWTOR...and if they do it well, it will be easy for them to turn a profit before the end of the year.

 

Also it brings a lot of experience to Bioware for creating a MMO in the future. If SWTOR does well in the long run, we might expect Star Wars: The New Republic in 5-10 years from them

[Swampfot]

I think that it will take a little bit for them to break even but over 2 million copies sold world wide is a really good start.

 

It's also unclear who invested the money. If LucasArts has a 35% take, they may have been part of the investors. That makes it a bit of a spread risk that way for Bioware.

 

Also, I do not know, but it could be that like WoW, expansions may have to be bought as well. Since the game already exists, expansions are a good way of making money since all of the pre work is done.

 

Then there will be an addition of a cash shop. Things like character make overs and server transfers and other payable services will come as well.

 

And then there's the possibility of merchandising.

 

So, I think that within 2012 there will be a number of ways added for us to spend money on SWTOR...and if they do it well, it will be easy for them to turn a profit before the end of the year.

 

Also it brings a lot of experience to Bioware for creating a MMO in the future. If SWTOR does well in the long run, we might expect Star Wars: The New Republic in 5-10 years from them

 

Yeah, I agree they started really well with the initial sales. Merchandising and expansions will depend alot on how many subs they get.

 

I have already cancelled my sub but I hope they do well. If it had only been EA I would have wanted them to burn in hell, but I want BW to do well atleast.

 

Time will tell how it will turn out. By the end of this month we will know a little more. After 3 months we will know alot more.

[HavenAE]

It is not just about making a profit on this game. It is about making more money than you would have made if you made another game instead. If BW hadn't made TOR they might have made 2-3 profitable games instead. Sure, they don't have the possible revenue of TOR but they were probably safer bets.

 

If Bioware hadn't made a Star Wars MMO, they would have made a Game of Thrones MMO.

 

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/01/12/bioware-working-on-swtor-content-we-wont-see-for-over-a-year/

 

 

I also had to laugh at the guy quoting Wikipedia.

[Jamus_Divinus]

Nvm. Move along Edited January 15, 2012 by Jamus_Divinus