New updated sub numbers (Official)

[slantythecamel]

You are in for one h e l l of a disappointment on gw2 buddy...sorry. I hope people aren't expecting any voice over or cutscenes or choices in that game, because there are none and the voice content is corny. A backdrop of with cinematic black bars upper and lower and npc on right side, you on the left, and the lips aren't even in sync. They are TRYING to copy TOR in the aspect of story and voice over, but have not gotten it. Even ncsoft is seeing where BioWare took mmos. A whole new level. It's called voice over

 

Sorry. I love SWTOR, play it every day, and think it has amazing potential. But GW2 is going to be the greatest MMO ever made. To say Bioware took MMO's to a whole new level in comparison to GW2 simply means you know very little about GW2. GW2 is revolutionizing MMOs. It is THE next-generation of MMO games.

 

To all the people who post on these forums about how bad SWTOR is and how its failing, etc etc. Apparently it's the most interesting game ever made, cause even though you quit the game, you're obviously obsessed with it. I don't know about you but if I don't like something, I leave it and that thing is out of my life. Done. I don't waste my time trying to justify or validate my decision to quit something.

[DWarrior]

Sorry. I love SWTOR, play it every day, and think it has amazing potential. But GW2 is going to be the greatest MMO ever made. To say Bioware took MMO's to a whole new level in comparison to GW2 simply means you know very little about GW2. GW2 is revolutionizing MMOs. It is THE next-generation of MMO games.

 

To all the people who post on these forums about how bad SWTOR is and how its failing, etc etc. Apparently it's the most interesting game ever made, cause even though you quit the game, you're obviously obsessed with it. I don't know about you but if I don't like something, I leave it and that thing is out of my life. Done. I don't waste my time trying to justify or validate my decision to quit something.

 

That is your opinion and you are entitled to it. In my opinion though GW2 is free and that will be the number one reason it will be competitive. It might be a great game but it's not the greatest. At least not yet

Edited March 9, 2012 by DWarrior

[Invictos]

Because $200MM is an obscene amount of money in the videogame industry. This is a record breaking amount to spend on an MMO.

 

1.7 million subscribers is pretty obscene too, though. For a non-Asian MMO not named WoW, it may even be a record. Given that WoW's success is such an extreme outlier, the like of which no one can reasonably expect to see again -- the explanation for which even Blizzard probably doesn't fully understand -- SWTOR's coming in second sounds pretty darn good to me.

 

Seems a little early to express concern over numbers that would have any other MMO developer pass out from sheer joy. Time will tell the rest of the story, but early indications are that EA's huge investment will at least be repaid in full within the foreseeable future.

[CptZeal]

On the contrary. I'm sure they will continue to use the fact that they were hardcore gamers in everyday life. Afterall, it is a status symbol that earns much respect around the world no matter where you use it:

 

• When wanting to impress a total stranger in the hope of picking them up for a night of fun - "Hey, you're harder to pick up than a mob without an aggro table"
  
• When applying for a job - "I ran a guild of 200 members and was able to clear new Raids within a week of release - my organisation skills are 2nd to none"
  
• When applying for a credit card - "I was able to raise 500k gold in a mere 6 months and was able to maintain that amount for the entire 7 years I played 'X' MMO. As a matter of fact I am currently at 1m gold and growing!!!"
  
• When demonstrating physical stamina - "I once played an MMO for 5 days straight with no sleep and only spent an additional 2 days in hospital in a coma when I passed out!!! "
  
• When demonstrating wealth - "I have spent $2k in the last 6 months purchasing virtual pets!!! I have so much money that I can even buy things that don't really exist!!!"
  

 

I mean really, how can this not be impressive?

 

lmao, nice

[Anti_Bodies]

Lol @ the haters saying this game is dead. 1.7 million holding steady.

 

"but but this game sucks!"

 

Not according to the sub #'s

 

Go find some meaning in your lives so your satisfaction isn't incoherently bashing the game saying it will fail because YOU don't like it. The game has fun story, is mostly stable (aside from Ilum, which is being worked on), is very clean, has a lot of content (for a new MMO), is coming out with good updates demanded by the community, has received very favorable ratings, has over 1.7 million players without Asia, fully voiced (hello key defining unique feature), and tried/true gameplay.

Edited March 9, 2012 by Anti_Bodies

[Morridan]

Assuming 1.7M people bought box copies of the game at the minimum price of $60, that puts the company at around $110M off box sales (1.7M people x $60), more counting the collectors editions and digital deluxe. Lets say it stays at 1.7M for 2 months after the free month, (1.7M x $15 monthly x 2 months) tacks on another $60M....So assuming this all adds up, they are at approximately $170M/200M. If the game survives another month, anything after that will be profit, not taking into account current labor, production, operating costs. Honestly, things can't be looking that grim....

 

 

You are greatly mistaken if you think BW sold the box copies to the retailers for $60/piece, and ever more mistaken if you think Retailers sold the game at less than a 30% profit over cost. (also they reported 2 mil box purchases earlier, not 1.7m. The 1.7m was people still subscribed)

 

If I were to guess, I would estimate that the original shipment (due to high quantities of pre-orders) were sold to Retailers for ~$40/unit (this is purely speculation)

 

before anyone asks why pre-orders would affect unit cost:

More pre-orders = larger initial shipment

larger purchase = more discount due to bulk

 

As to the actual profitability of the game, we really have no information to go on. Even their listed subscriber amount has no indication as to the quantity of people on their free month. (you can guestimate based on sales in the last 4 weeks) At the end of the day, everything is pure speculation.

 

The subs are there, it's just the activity of those subs is which is in question. Bioware has a following from a single player game, it attracted probably a lot of those players who are use to doing things solo as it is. With the amount of annoyance it is in forming groups on some servers, people just probably log on for a little bit here and there. That is probably why the game feels so void on some servers.

 

Included ^ due to the pure distilled truth contained within. We see reports that on the surface conflict (game is steady Month over month / my server has less people), but as noted above, the two can exist simultaneously. Also of note, if your server is slowly dieing it is likely due to people re-rolling on other, more populated servers.

Edited March 9, 2012 by Morridan

[Dayfax]

1.53M x $60 + 170K x $150 + $15 x 3 x 1.7M x 0.65 = $125,970,000

 

Assuming people paid $60 for DDE/SE on average

Assuming 10% bought the CE at $150

Assuming 3 months sub @ $15 for 1.7 million subscribers

Assuming 35% lucasarts commision

 

SWTOR has generated $126 million dollars in revenue so far. They have not release additional paid services yet (aside from authenticator). They have already spent the initial $300 million on voice acting for this entire vanilla release. If the game survives and grows for another ~5 months, it will break even.

 

These are very base-level figures also

 

These are very made up figures, too.

 

Once again:

 

- EA does not receive the retail box price of the game. At most, they might receive half that.

- You're not accounting for marketing, infrastructure, or any costs around current and future development.

 

That's not to say the game is dead at current sub numbers, but without growth it's going to take them longer to get out of the red & that might effect future development plans.

[Dayfax]

1.7 million subscribers is pretty obscene too, though. For a non-Asian MMO not named WoW, it may even be a record. Given that WoW's success is such an extreme outlier, the like of which no one can reasonably expect to see again -- the explanation for which even Blizzard probably doesn't fully understand -- SWTOR's coming in second sounds pretty darn good to me.

 

Seems a little early to express concern over numbers that would have any other MMO developer pass out from sheer joy. Time will tell the rest of the story, but early indications are that EA's huge investment will at least be repaid in full within the foreseeable future.

 

That's true & it's a good point. 1.7MM subs is nothing to sneeze at.

 

But that $200MM is still a helluva albatross to be carrying. When that much dough is involved, people play it safe and/or do dumb things as a result, simply because of still being in the red for more months post launch.

[Bizwolf]

There is not 1.7 million anymore, no way. The fleet isn't a good way to get numbers but going from 2 almost full fleets to 80 is a big drop. Going from instant queues to 5 minute queues is a big drop.

 

Out of the 40 people in my guild, like 3 play, the rest is between 30-60 days since last played.

 

Out of like 20-30 friends not counting people in the guild, not one has been on in more than 30 days.

 

I know at least 6 left to another server because of the queues we had the first month an a half but the rest just quit. 1.7 is not true. uh uh.

[Mashy]

Yes this game doesn't go down because:

 

1) Casuals keep playing because they like the easy mode

2) People just want to play with glowsticks and that's all they care about in an MMO

 

The people who actually came to play a good MMO, have all left or are about to.

 

Sweet! That means all the losers will be gone and the folks that want to have fun wil play, awesome! Oh and those sub numbers keep going up even though the hardcores, the crowd that no game can do without, are gone. Just goes to show that the hardcore element isn't as important to a game as they would have us believe. Lol @ them.

[ConradLionhart]

There is not 1.7 million anymore, no way. The fleet isn't a good way to get numbers but going from 2 almost full fleets to 80 is a big drop. Going from instant queues to 5 minute queues is a big drop.

 

Out of the 40 people in my guild, like 3 play, the rest is between 30-60 days since last played.

 

Out of like 20-30 friends not counting people in the guild, not one has been on in more than 30 days.

 

I know at least 6 left to another server because of the queues we had the first month an a half but the rest just quit. 1.7 is not true. uh uh.

 

They aren't saying that 1.7 million people play. The article is saying that there are 1.7 million subscribers. Not all of them play at the same time. Some don't even play everyday and only play during the weekends, which is highlighted by the varying server loads on different days.

[Starglide]

This predicting the future doesn't say anything. "At current rate we expect..."

 

My bro and I extended our playtime in januari with a GC, which ends 20 march.

 

He already quit, i'm quitting the 20th. And so are many more people on my server.

 

Also can anyone tell me how it's possible the servers were heavy/full all the time during 1st month now all are low/standard even though EA claims there was no drop?

 

They raised the cap and my server is now Very Heavy at peak and Heavy at night. Every other server is Standard. Actually, I never see light servers anymore.

 

Oh and I case you decided not to read it... THEY RAISED THE CAP

[darthdoll]

Yes this game doesn't go down because:

 

1) Casuals keep playing because they like the easy mode

2) People just want to play with glowsticks and that's all they care about in an MMO

 

The people who actually came to play a good MMO, have all left or are about to.

 

Such an idiotic post.

[Bizwolf]

They aren't saying that 1.7 million people play. The article is saying that there are 1.7 million subscribers. Not all of them play at the same time. Some don't even play everyday and only play during the weekends, which is highlighted by the varying server loads on different days.

 

My point is there was 1.7 mil then too. So all of them keep subs and not log in for 30+ days? I can see some of that being true but a game after 1 1/2 months is not suppose to drop off that fast. No mmo has that I have played...

[DWarrior]

It's official people-----Jeremy got voted off American Idol

[Pathlight-]

So those numbers are pre-apac launch. Looks like this game has a bright future ahead of it. Good job Bioware! Edited March 9, 2012 by Pathlight-

[Randytravis]

Yes this game doesn't go down because:

 

1) Casuals keep playing because they like the easy mode

2) People just want to play with glowsticks and that's all they care about in an MMO

 

The people who actually came to play a good MMO, have all left or are about to.

 

What a titish statement.....

 

Why do people want so many games to fail these days. Just perfetic. What possible benefit will you get if this game fails? Even if you quit and go else where then the more healthy mmo's the better. Competition......... Its not just on these forums, go to blizzards and i can gurantee there will be atleast 3 doomsayer based posts on the front page.

[DWarrior]

What a titish statement.....

 

Why do people want so many games to fail these days. Just perfetic. What possible benefit will you get if this game fails? Even if you quit and go else where then the more healthy mmo's the better. Competition......... Its not just on these forums, go to blizzards and i can gurantee there will be atleast 3 doomsayer based posts on the front page.

 

So they can say to their buddies.....see I told you

[Ironspeed]

I started reading the first few pages, to be honest, such a new, hyped up and anticipated game flatting out so soon seems abit scary, but I might just be comparing to wow to much.

 

Here is my issue, havent played in a week, but I decided to log in yesterday, got a level 48 powertech that I level with my wife.

So I'm on fleet, this place that allways had 200+ people, it's 8pm, should be plenty of folks, but there where 70 people online, Flew to voss, 20 people, checked abit, nobody in the guild online, planets where pretty empty.

Not that it matters for our part, we coop the game, but we ended up not feeling like playing once we got past orbital stations, logged out and did something else.

 

So, sure there probably are thriving servers, ours was to, now it dosent feel like it anymore, most of my guild stopped playing, they got the pvp stuff done and now, they are out, some went back to WoW and some are just waiting for the next big thing.

 

I'm letting this month run out, I'm getting more and more sure that I wont be continuing, even if I really, really, really want it to be good.

[oakamp]

lmao, nice

 

rofl XDD

[Randytravis]

ok so if these figures are accurate, where are all the players ?

 

my first two servers have very few people left on them. (so few i have to play on a third server these days)

 

perhaps they are all waiting for new patch ?

 

I think your find this isnt un common. A playerbase of an MMO always settles down with play time after a massive patch/launch or expansion. Wow was the same. Just more servers. The difference is, this game uses same server to group so you notice it. That is where it could become an issue. Majority of eu servers on wow when they had 12m players where on medium. But they had cross server. Not that im saying we should have cross server lol.

Edited March 9, 2012 by Randytravis

[Wisz_Rethon]

What a titish statement.....

 

Why do people want so many games to fail these days. Just perfetic. What possible benefit will you get if this game fails? Even if you quit and go else where then the more healthy mmo's the better. Competition......... Its not just on these forums, go to blizzards and i can gurantee there will be atleast 3 doomsayer based posts on the front page.

 

 

I say let them leave. Once all of em are back playing another "better" mmo, those of us who enjoy a good game can enjoy it more.

[WereMops]

Yes this game doesn't go down because:

 

1) Casuals keep playing because they like the easy mode

2) People just want to play with glowsticks and that's all they care about in an MMO

 

The people who actually came to play a good MMO, have all left or are about to.

 

I came to play a good MMORPG and no, I haven't left and no, I'm not leaving, not in the near future atleast, instead I'm seriously considering going over to long time subbing (6 month or a year at a time) since I see improvements with mostly every patch.

 

EDIT: in my opinion this game is a good MMO (getting better and better) and a great RPG.

Edited March 9, 2012 by WereMops

[ConradLionhart]

My point is there was 1.7 mil then too. So all of them keep subs and not log in for 30+ days? I can see some of that being true but a game after 1 1/2 months is not suppose to drop off that fast. No mmo has that I have played...

 

It's very possible that they are subbed but not log on. Maybe some of them are still subbed to WoW, and switch between MMOs. Maybe some are waiting for their sub to run out because there is nothing to do. Maybe some didn't leave, but they rolled on the new aussie servers, which have heavier loads compared to the US.

 

So it's not out of the question that people remain subbed but not log on. Even people in WoW do that, and I suspect that is what the majority of the subs are doing. Staying subbed for 1 year just for free Diablo 3 and playing sparingly.

[DWarrior]

It's very possible that they are subbed but not log on. Maybe some of them are still subbed to WoW, and switch between MMOs. Maybe some are waiting for their sub to run out because there is nothing to do. Maybe some didn't leave, but they rolled on the new aussie servers, which have heavier loads compared to the US.

 

So it's not out of the question that people remain subbed but not log on. Even people in WoW do that, and I suspect that is what the majority of the subs are doing. Staying subbed for 1 year just for free Diablo 3 and playing sparingly.

 

Or some are waiting for their computer to be fixed