Interesting read: Storm Preparation

[Dezzi]

Well, somebody already answered, I will just add something, what Riccitiello said wasn't said for the customers but for shareholders. You have to tell them things that aren't made for the general public or for your customers.

 

Only someone stupid can think EA puts all their money and resources on one game at a time, it's obvious they share between projects and so they have to prioritize some projects before others.

Really, they are working on TOR since 2006 ? (don't remember) so how could they have released other games in the meantime ?

 

It's really funny, many people don't like EA and when a suit tells the truth instead of using PR talk, people jump on them and complain.

 

The report and transcripts are publicly disseminated; Mr. Riccitiello had to know the players would be reading.

[Lamech]

I hope you go into business, you won't last long. You make profits off the big projects, but you pay the bills with the little ones. This analogy you're presenting is breaking down. Bioware is not the client, we are. We are paying them 15 bucks a month to provide us a product that is ongoing and updated. Then you're told, oh by the way, your product is not a high priority. That is just bad PR and bad business. It's pretty clear cut.

 

er..I am in business.... lasting fine thank you. You can lose the small projects and survive but not vice versa, Again you are looking at it in the wrong terms of business models.

 

Let me explain in my business how we do things. Yes we have certain products that generate small revenue and certain products that generate larger revenue. Yes we keep the small products and spend time and money on them but we spend more time and more money on our guaranteed sellers. This enables us to have the smaller products and see how far we can take them. It's pretty clear cut. Manufacturers and distributors know this.

 

Would you suggest they treated all their games equally? Should they have made 13 million physical copies of SWTOR because the Sims sold that many? That's insane.

 

In this case we are customers, not clients. There is a difference.

 

To Bioware the manufacturing client of EA , I'm fairly certain they knew that certain other game manufacturers were going to be a priority on certain games because they generate huge revenue, consistently for EA..

 

Again the article is misleading causing silly outrage. EA's priorities haven't changed. It was like this before the release of SWTOR as it now. They have still come out and stated they want SWTOR to grow.

 

Yes you pay 15 bucks a month, yes it will still be ongoing and updated. That hasn't changed. They haven't stated they are reducing the money or development. Devs from DA 3 have even been loaned to this game to help with that.

 

It's a silly article causing outrage when there shouldn't be any. Were you upset when last years EA financials were released and SWTOR wasn't a priority then either? Were you upset that FIFA 12 was more of a priority to them and it sold 3.2 million copies in it's first week? 5 million in it's first month? Over 10 million sales since launch? Or the fact that with downloads and microtransactions it's made $108 million on top?

 

Look at things in relevance and it all makes sense. You don't get mad at the game stores showing priority to other EA titles over SWTOR. Would you go to a sales assistant in store and tell them to shift SWTOR to a more prominent position in store because you were going to be paying $15 a month subscription?

[Kthx]

no its not, 15$ a month =/ 60$ a month.

 

Look at profit (which is what matters), and not sales revenues, and you'll see that my statement is correct as a first-order approximation. This is why the subscription model is so attractive to game developers, especially if the content can be delivered digitally.

 

Badmathskills?

 

I hope not, as I do economic analysis for a living.

Edited May 16, 2012 by Kthx

[tacoknite]

i think people are looking to deep into that article.

 

It's already well known, you don't give out free weekends, months of playtime if you didnt F something up.

 

The wording was wrong, but it's essentially saying, swtor is a great source of income, but, it's not our best source. It's fair enough. People keep running in with this ricky bobby attitude of "if your not first your last". Truth be told will be coming with the fall release of numbers, the first 6 months is not a great gauge of activity.

 

1.3 mil subs, and people can only assume what the real numbers are. Swtor is not a long lasting mmo in it's current state and i hope they fix it, or EA is already prepared to move away from aggressive development, which is what is most frightening to me in that post.

[wolfmith]

Well, I don't see why they bothered releasing a game if they didn't intend to keep up to our expectations.

[Kthx]

Well, I don't see why they bothered releasing a game if they didn't intend to keep up to our expectations.

 

Which is exactly why the notion that this they did so is preposterous. The devs and the players share the same goals.

[Motoeric]

this is exactly why i unsubbed. i was already very leary when subbing to an EA game. now im really regretting it.

[rawfox]

it’s more important than Tiger Woods PGA Golf

 

there you got it, nabs.

in your face.

 

SWTOR is MORE IMPORTANT then Tiger Woods and his PGA Golf affairs.

And you all acting like Tiger Wood fanboys

Edited May 17, 2012 by rawfox

[Urael]

EA’s top executive John Riccitiello:

The Old Republic is in EA’s top 10 franchises in terms of profitability, “but it’s not in our top five”. “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.” “So while I understand there’s an enormous amount of interest, I don’t know that it warrants as much as what we’re seeing right now. But we love the franchise, we’re going to grow the franchise and just like we want to see Tiger Woods Golf grow or SSX grow, or Madden for that matter, we’re going to drive this one for growth.”

 

Not much for PR there are we.

 

EA’s Frank Gibeua said:

“When we launched the product back in December, it was an event launch. We brought in a lot of users, and with a brand like Star Wars, it reaches out much past the hardcore MMO fan base into the broader market. And as the service evolves from here, what we’re seeing is that some of the initial casual customers have gone through a billing cycle and decided not to subscribe to the game.”

 

Yeah you all really need to know what your player base means by "casuals" and "hardcore" before bandying about the terms. You might alienate us less if you do.

[Valperion]

The Old Republic is in EA’s top 10 franchises in terms of profitability, “but it’s not in our top five”. “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.” “So while I understand there’s an enormous amount of interest, I don’t know that it warrants as much as what we’re seeing right now. But we love the franchise, we’re going to grow the franchise and just like we want to see Tiger Woods Golf grow or SSX grow, or Madden for that matter, we’re going to drive this one for growth.”

 

I am sorry, this is just too funny.

[Roechacca]

SWTOR is not even in the top5? Good grief.....

[Valperion]

SWTOR is not even in the top5? Good grief.....

 

Its at least better than "Tiger Woods PGA golf"... bahahahahahahahah

[Kharnis]

EA’s top executive John Riccitiello:

 

 

Not much for PR there are we.

 

EA’s Frank Gibeua said:

 

 

Yeah you all really need to know what your player base means by "casuals" and "hardcore" before bandying about the terms. You might alienate us less if you do.

 

Why would they need to know what we, the player base, mean by "casual" and "hardcore" when they're not talking to us in the first place? That wasn't a meeting by gamers for gamers. We're listening in on another conversation. We don't have the right to then butt in and say to them, "Hey, you're using that word wrong. That's not how I define it."

[Klisch]

I just read that and I'm not sure that was the right thing to say publicly.

Looks like another corporate suit with no touch on reality making decisions. Who would say something like that with the amount of continuous revenue generation this game can provide?

 

Just dumb...

 

Yeah surely the opposite should be said, no specific numbers but, "we are investing heavily into SWTOR, it has a bright future! "

 

Its got to have caused serious friction between Bioware and EA, like "Hey this is our first MMO, dont put people off, how we gonna sell another?"

 

I would be peeeased off if I was BW big wig.

 

Would any of us bother with another BW/EA mmo if this one is abandoned?

[Klisch]

The MMO money is not in box sales. The money is in recurring subscriptions. SWTOR's subcriptions is akin to selling one million games every month.

 

This in mind, wouldnt it be in EA's interest to help that number grow, by making it a priority?

 

BF3 and FIFA 12 sold 10 million copies - roughly $600m each (link below)

 

Madden 5 million - roughly $300m

 

SWTOR only 2 million, but another 1.5 million+ subs of $15 every month for 6 months so far. - roughly $250m (on the year this would be $385m assuming the subs stay that high).

 

Maybe if EA prioritised SWTOR and helped increase the sub base, rather than prioritising games that practically sell themselves and must be approaching maximum possible sales anyway, they could be making alot more $$$$ a year?

 

http://news.softpedia.com/news/EA-Posts-Sales-Figures-for-Battlefield-3-and-FIFA-12-User-Count-for-SW-TOR-and-Origin-250293.shtml

[siegedeluxe]

Everything EA touches turns to **** - they can even turn gold to copper if they willed it.

[GRINnBARRETT]

"For Profit'

 

That's all you need to know about EA, Activision , & every other producer. The age of vastly successful "mom & pop" developers has ended. If BW sold out to EA, then what other developer stands a chance?

 

They're driving us to make other choices. For me, it's about reading,catching up on my Neflix queue, spending more time with my family & doing activities outside...not altogether a bad thing.

[Darth_Nemisis]

Personally I don't give a crap about Madden or Medal of "Fricken" Honor, Battlefield ect! I want the company thats taking my 15 bucks a month for TOR to continue to put features into the game and grow it in a positive way.When the head guy from EA pops in a interview and makes it a point to say that the game is not a big focus for them, and that its getting more money for development then he belives it deserves, then you can expect rain clouds and thunder, and the storm IS justified. This was like the worse thing TOR fans should hear right now, with low population servers,long warzone ques, lack of depth, and broken pvp, its making the decision to drop sub really easy right about now...

[Kharnis]

Personally I don't give a crap about Madden or Medal of "Fricken" Honor, Battlefield ect! I want the company thats taking my 15 bucks a month for TOR to continue to put features into the game and grow it in a positive way.When the head guy from EA pops in a interview and makes it a point to say that the game is not a big focus for them, and that its getting more money for development then he belives it deserves, then you can expect rain clouds and thunder, and the storm IS justified. This was like the worse thing TOR fans should hear right now, with low population servers,long warzone ques, lack of depth, and broken pvp, its making the decision to drop sub really easy right about now...

 

That bolded part in your statement? Yeah, you couldn't possibly be more wrong unless you were deliberately trying to mis-represent what the guy said. He didn't say TOR wasn't "a big focus;" he said it's "not as important as Medal of Honor or Battlefield or FIFA or Madden or The Sims or SimCity." He also didn't say that "it's getting more money for development than he believes it deserves;" he said "I understand that a lot of investors are very interested in Star Wars...Where that puts it in our portfolio is, in terms of profitability from a franchise, it's in our top 10 but it is not in our top 5...So while I understand there is an enormous amount of interest, I don't know that it warrants as much what we're seeing right now."

 

Do you see that word "investors" in his statement? Had you actually read the official transcript of the conference call, you would have realised that he was talking about the heightened interest EA's investors were showing in TOR. He wasn't talking about the "money for development" that EA is putting into the game. Do you want to know what he did say about continuing to inject money into the game? "Make no mistake, BioWare tends to grow subscribers. This quarter alone we released 2 major content upgrades designed to drive subscription loyalty and, again, we have got many more plans throughout the year. We are also having a lot of success with our free-to-play weekends and buddy key promotions which is helping us drive acquisition, and we will continue to hit those. And we are actively planning territory and platform expansions and extensions in Europe and Asia for STAR WARS - The Old Republic. So we feel like we have got a very strong base that for over the long term we are going to continue to grow."

 

Doing your own research rather than relying on what someone else says will keep you from looking foolish in the future. By the way, you can read EA's words yourself here on page 9 .

 

Here are some more things they've said:

 

"The service is stable, profitable and we have strong plans to grow it in fiscal 13." - found here, page 5

 

"We have already launched a number of initiatives designed to grow subscriptions. The initial responses have been positive and we are encouraged by the gaming community’s reaction. In summary, we delivered an extraordinary launch of a solidly profitable long-term franchise, which contributed to both our gross and operating margin improvements in fiscal 12. We expect this title will further expand our margins in fiscal 13 as we get the full year benefit of subscription revenue." - found here, page 7

 

"But we love the franchise. We are going to grow the franchise and just like we want to see Tiger Woods Golf grow or SSX grow or Madden, for that matter, we are going to drive this one for growth." - found here, page 9

 

"You know, I think what's important in an MMO is to continually update the game and add new experiences and new features and elder game play that keeps people retained and keeps the viral component of the service active. And from that perspective, we have a very aggressive release plan of content for the rest of the year and beyond. And it is mainly focused in on adding a lot of new elder game content around PDP, around achievements, and a lot of other feature sets that the fan bases are asking for.

 

It is also important that we are going to be giving the guilds a lot of features and components that they are requesting as well. So we are cognizant of competitors coming, but none of them quite fit into the same competitive category as Star Wars. They are just -- they are different fantasies. They are not the Star Wars fantasy. It is not the big expansive universe that appealed to so many people worldwide.

 

And as you know, with MMOs, every day you are in operation, they get better and better and better. You continually perfect the experience; you continually improve the acquisition component; and so building from a base that we are at right now we feel very confident that this business is going to continue to stay competitive throughout the remainder of the year." - found here, page 10

 

So, I've got good news for you. Your wish that EA "continue to put features into the game and grow it in a positive way?" Guess what? It's coming true. You can now relax, and forget about that "not a big focus for them" or "getting more money for development than he beleives it deserves" nonsense.

Edited May 18, 2012 by Kharnis

[Cherly]

what about bug fixes, i see new stuff to sucker more people in, but what about fixing this broke piece of bantha poodoo? i would kill for bug fixes, its > new content in my book... get that fat bish on a treadmill before you put her in a new pair of hotpants please.

[Ignicity]

what about bug fixes, i see new stuff to sucker more people in, but what about fixing this broke piece of bantha poodoo? i would kill for bug fixes, its > new content in my book... get that fat bish on a treadmill before you put her in a new pair of hotpants please.

 

Wait... You would kill for bug fixes, even though you only have 6 days left here.

 

cool story

[Cherly]

Wait... You would kill for bug fixes, even though you only have 6 days left here.

 

cool story

 

as if i would pay to wait for them to fix this

 

edit: if they had focused on fixing things instead of releasing new broken and/or poorly implemented content. i might not have just a handful of days left

Edited May 18, 2012 by Cherly

[chaosdefined]

Whenever I read interviews with the BW Dev's and the WoW Dev's I notice one thing.

 

The WoW Dev's are a hell of a lot more passionate about their game. You see them talking in interviews and they sound like fanboys themselves, quoting Orcish and getting all excited about specific characters.

 

Is there an interview anywhere where James Ohlsen or that foams at the mouth whilst discussing Darth Malgus?

 

I think therein lies some of the issue. You have EA who are notorious for being money-hungry overlords, who lack integrity and just give off the impression of being a bunch of old men in suits looking for easy ways to make money without deliverying quality goods....and then you have Blizzard who are like a company of RPG geeks.

 

You have to really care about your product and have a strong interest in it, because it shows when you do.

[Onyx]

Once people buy The Sims they aren't bringing EA any more money until the next expansion / DLC pack that they happen to want comes out. TOR players are paying 15 bucks a month, every month... that's a lot more revenue potential per customer than any non-MMO game has, even after operating costs are factored in.

 

Not really. As of a year ago, the Sims franchise had exceeded 156 million sold. I haven't seen the current figure.

 

Even if you look at just The Sims 3 and its add-ons, you're looking at the base game, six full blown expansions, five stuff packs (minor expansions), two more packs already announced (one releases in early June and another in mid-July), a yet to be announced seventh expansion which is likely to release in October/November and then on top of the copies sold, you have to throw in all of the sales from the Online Store. There's also a stand-alone Sims 3 spin-off (Sims Medieval) and it's expansion.

 

That's all since release in June 2009--just under three years ago.

 

The sales from this game will never reach those numbers.

Edited May 18, 2012 by Onyx

[kevlarto]

Storm Preparation

 

Where in Storm preparations was this stated ? I read it twice, can't seem to find it.. thanks

Edited May 18, 2012 by kevlarto