Master-Nala Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 But the remaining 30% (down to 510,000) were people who actually liked the game and were willing to give Bioware the time and support needed, I wonder if we wouldn't be better off. They would still make money, the heat would be off to even try to compete with WoW, the complaining would be down to a tolerable level. And they would still have more than enough subs to make money. A guy can dream..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthWoad Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 They wouldnt still make money, because this is the most expensive mmo and if they cant break even then its a huge loss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcburly Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 people care about sub numbers WAY too much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Majestic_Jazz Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 I don't care if there were only 500K players. If those 500K were very loyal and enjoyed the game then that is all that matters. Also as long as there only only a number of servers to make sure that even at 500K, planets would be very populated. Again, even at 500k I would be fine because then, people who WANT to play SWTOR would be here and people who didn't would be gone. It just seems like a number of people are just here because they are waiting for GW2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxcolt Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 And you would have a skeleton crew running the game (since it generates near no profit) with updates that would take a year to roll out and very little if any new content. Get a clue... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnugthreeonefive Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 If my guild is anything to go by, the retention rate is, across the board, clearly below 10%. So, they need to sell about 5M copies to maintain 500k subs. People are playing less and less, and eventually the sub runs out. New influx of players combats this, but I doubt there are enough of those. Bioware needs to do everything right from now on to stay strong, including saving desolate servers and adding incentives to play (server merge/xfer, ranked pvp, cross server LFG). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkuzBukit Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 My criteria for playing are: 1) Are there enough people in my guild / on my server to allow for reasonable War-zone Queues, Flashpoints & Operations? 2) Am I still having fun? (can't have this without 1, but can have 1 & not this) Sub numbers don't come into it, I couldn't care less if this was the number 1# game in the entire world for subs or number #9000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darchaos Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 (edited) I actually think this is what the game deserves, to be forgott and only played by the most hardcore Bioware fans. Thoose was apparently the fanbase that Bioware looked for, strange though that they went with an MMO instead of theire ordinary Singel-player approach? Edited May 8, 2012 by Darchaos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcburly Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 And you would have a skeleton crew running the game (since it generates near no profit) with updates that would take a year to roll out and very little if any new content. Get a clue... except bioware already said that anything above 500k subs would be more then enough profit wise.. and you say to get a clue... lol I love how many experts are on these forums. It makes not having a magazine subscription worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironix Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 And you would have a skeleton crew running the game (since it generates near no profit) with updates that would take a year to roll out and very little if any new content. Get a clue... Exactly. Well, unless they doubled or tripled the monthly fee. Perhaps the extreme loyalists would be happy with $45 a month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overtone Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 They wouldnt still make money, because this is the most expensive mmo and if they cant break even then its a huge loss They said a few months ago they would still be profitable with 500k subs. How profitable will they be is another thing. I'm sure they made up the development costs with just the box sales and the first month they charged everyone's credit card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celebrus Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 If my guild is anything to go by It isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironix Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 except bioware already said that anything above 500k subs would be more then enough profit wise.. and you say to get a clue... lol I love how many experts are on these forums. It makes not having a magazine subscription worth it. At 500,000 subscribers, it will take Bioware 3.3 years to pay off the initial investment. That does not factor in any running costs. Given that, I highly doubt they'd be putting much effort into content patches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jederix Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 (edited) I don't care if there were only 500K players. If those 500K were very loyal and enjoyed the game then that is all that matters. Also as long as there only only a number of servers to make sure that even at 500K, planets would be very populated. Again, even at 500k I would be fine because then, people who WANT to play SWTOR would be here and people who didn't would be gone. It just seems like a number of people are just here because they are waiting for GW2. All the more reason to never play that game. Ever. Edited May 8, 2012 by Jederix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanxxx Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 They said a few months ago they would still be profitable with 500k subs. How profitable will they be is another thing. I'm sure they made up the development costs with just the box sales and the first month they charged everyone's credit card. Once more....... 'John Riccitiello - Electronic Arts Inc. - CEO That was me that made the comment a number of different times. What I basically said is 0.5 million subs, we could break even at the margin. 1 million subs would be meaningfully profitable, but nothing to write home about. It certainly would not make us feel good about the investments to date.' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcburly Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 At 500,000 subscribers, it will take Bioware 3.3 years to pay off the initial investment. That does not factor in any running costs. Given that, I highly doubt they'd be putting much effort into content patches. whew, im glad you figured that out. Now after seeing this bioware must rethink their statement cause surely they dont know as much as you do. They obviously dont know all the facts about the developmental costs and what not that you do. Again, gotta love all the experts on these forums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celebrus Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 I'm glad so many tor haters are in here BSing about what "If's" with fictional numbers in fictional scenarios with fictional purposes. Keeps you guys busy, gives you something to do, without tor's sub numbers, most of you would be lost I believe. I think this is truly therapeutic for some of you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andryah Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 If my guild is anything to go by It's not, and you know it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celebrus Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 whew, im glad you figured that out. Now after seeing this bioware must rethink their statement cause surely they dont know as much as you do. They obviously dont know all the facts about the developmental costs and what not that you do. Again, gotta love all the experts on these forums. He's mostly operating under the belief that the game cost over 300 million dollars in development costs, despite the fact that industry analysts that aren't arm-chair experts like he is put the figure closer to between 150-200 million. Given that, it's reasonable to assume they have already made *some* kind of profit from the game, based on box sales and current subs alone, if they haven't, I'd be surprised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andryah Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 At 500,000 subscribers, it will take Bioware 3.3 years to pay off the initial investment. That does not factor in any running costs. Given that, I highly doubt they'd be putting much effort into content patches. You need to learn how R&D investment works. R&D is actaul development costs, with unique accounting, tax consequences and liability, etc. You are trying to assess a profit/loss based on making R&D a production cost. It's not. It does not work like it does in Movie production (which are production costs and must be recovered before recording a profit.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shegwood Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 (edited) They wouldnt still make money, because this is the most expensive mmo and if they cant break even then its a huge loss and At 500,000 subscribers, it will take Bioware 3.3 years to pay off the initial investment. That does not factor in any running costs. Given that, I highly doubt they'd be putting much effort into content patches. 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. Edited May 8, 2012 by shegwood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuscad Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 So you would settle for more ghost servers and no one to play with, which would make this game a single player game with a monthly fee? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master-Nala Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 At 500,000 subscribers, it will take Bioware 3.3 years to pay off the initial investment. That does not factor in any running costs. Given that, I highly doubt they'd be putting much effort into content patches. Still quoting that $300 Million figure huh? And ignoring box sales on top of that. Sigh..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Typeslice Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 They wouldnt still make money, because this is the most expensive mmo and if they cant break even then its a huge loss LOL - how can you know that? You must work for EA's accounting department. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Typeslice Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 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. This. Thank you. Unfortunately, most of the QQers will not understand your post though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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