Zataos Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/star-wars-old-republic-loses-400-000-subscribers-233012275.html The Force is, well, a little tepid with Star Wars: The Old Republic. Electronic Arts' much ballyhooed massively-multiplayer game set in George Lucas's celebrated universe is bleeding customers, losing some 400,000 in the fourth quarter -- a number much worse than anyone was expecting. The news has sent EA stock plunging to a level it hasn't seen since 1999, but company executives tried to downplay the numbers in an earnings call with analysts Monday, saying the exodus was tied to casual and trial players canceling their subscriptions. "For the most part, we're seeing very good retention amongst core MMO users, which has given us a solid base of around 1.3 million subscribers," said Frank Gibeau, president of the EA Games label. "So the percentage of paying subscribers from our peak until now has actually gone up, and the folks that we have are as engaged as they were when they first bought the product." To try and give the game a boost, EA plans to release not one, but two expansions in the next three months, bringing more content to the game, including player versus player content, additional achievements and a greater focus on guilds. EA had big hopes for The Old Republic when the game launched in late December of 2011. The company poured a good $200 million into the title, more than any game in its history. At the time, the idea was to steal a significant percentage of the audience that happily gave World of Warcraft $15 per month to play. (Of course, in the interim, WoW's audience began to shrink rapidly as well.) But judging by comments from EA's CEO, the game has slipped from favor somewhat. "Where that puts [the game] in our portfolio is, in terms of profitability from a franchise, is in our top 10 but it's not in our top 5," said John Riccitiello. "So it's a business contributor, while important, is not as important as Medal of Honor or Battlefield or FIFA or Madden or The Sims or SimCity, but it's more important than Tiger Woods PGA Golf." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blistrich Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Old news is old? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gungan Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 "So the percentage of paying subscribers from our peak until now has actually gone up, and the folks that we have are as engaged as they were when they first bought the product." The hell I am. I'm about 2 more lost guild members from quitting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaverickXIV Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Is this supposed to pass for journalism? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spellegren Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 The hell I am. I'm about 2 more lost guild members from quitting. This. Most guilds are drying up faster then they can get players to end game. Q4 numbers do not reflect the players that were driven away by patch 1.2, look for Q1 numbers to be significantly worse. That is another reason that SWTOR was downplayed as not being in their top 5, no one wants the stock holders to panic at the end of this quarter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ianthejedi Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Is this supposed to pass for journalism? Do not go to yahoo for journalism. It is a glorified blog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TUXs Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 The hell I am. I'm about 2 more lost guild members from quitting. Yeah...rather bold and arrogant for him to make a statement like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wekeltes Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Hi all, Because we already have threads about the subscription numbers and comments and subscription expectations, we're going to close this thread and ask that the community use one of the existing threads that cover this article in order to consolidate the discussion: SWTOR “solid, successful, profitable” - Riccitiello Subs down 25% Thank you for your understanding! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts