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Quarterly Producer Letter for Q2 2024 ×

Sole purpose: Beat WoW's numbers?


Kemosobe

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I think that was definitely BioWare's only goal; even if it's just because that's what they were ordered to do by EA

 

It's obviously not going to happen, though

 

It's too bad that EA gets to order BioWare around like this, BioWare was one of my favorite Developers in the past, but after this game, I will never purchase another BioWare product; unless they give me a full refund, and offer the same refund if I don't enjoy the next game

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I think that was definitely BioWare's only goal; even if it's just because that's what they were ordered to do by EA

 

It's obviously not going to happen, though

 

It's too bad that EA gets to order BioWare around like this, BioWare was one of my favorite Developers in the past, but after this game, I will never purchase another BioWare product; unless they give me a full refund, and offer the same refund if I don't enjoy the next game

 

'I think that was definitely BioWare's only goal'?

 

Priceless and mindless at the same time. Love it. Keep it up matey as I need some material to keep me chucklin' in 3 weeks time when you're not here anymore.

 

I'll miss the blatant silliness. Bioware's only goal is to surpass WoW's numbers...pure gold.

 

/Tiphat!

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I think that was definitely BioWare's only goal; even if it's just because that's what they were ordered to do by EA

 

It's obviously not going to happen, though

 

It's too bad that EA gets to order BioWare around like this, BioWare was one of my favorite Developers in the past, but after this game, I will never purchase another BioWare product; unless they give me a full refund, and offer the same refund if I don't enjoy the next game

 

Thank god, now leave.

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'I think that was definitely BioWare's only goal'?

 

Priceless and mindless at the same time. Love it. Keep it up matey as I need some material to keep me chucklin' in 3 weeks time when you're not here anymore.

 

I'll miss the blatant silliness. Bioware's only goal is to surpass WoW's numbers...pure gold.

 

/Tiphat!

 

Right

 

What do you think their goals were, then?

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It's to make a profit.

 

Somewhere it was estimated they only need 500k subs to do it. Anything above that is bonus.

 

Wait, who estimated that? That's what a typical MMO takes to make a profit, but Bioware spent far, far more money on this game than the typical startup MMO developer. All the voice acting, the movies, etc. Even the development cycle was on the lengthy end for an MMO. I think they need far more subscriptions than the typical MMO does to make a profit.

Edited by Shillen
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It's to make a profit.

 

Somewhere it was estimated they only need 500k subs to do it. Anything above that is bonus.

 

I don't even think they really need that much. With 500k people playing paying around $15 a month, Bioware can make around $7 million a month. For those of you trying to claim that Bioware needs the numbers to stay in business, there is your proof as to why they don't.

 

These numbers also do not include the initial purchase prices.

Edited by Kemosobe
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I don't even think they really need that much. With 500k people playing paying around $15 a month, Bioware can make around $7 million a month. For those of you trying to claim that Bioware needs the numbers to stay in business, there is your proof as to why they don't.

 

Yeah, it's not like they use any of that 7 million to keep the game stable or to add new content or to pay customer service. No they just make a 7 million dollar profit every month!

Edited by scrynen
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Right

 

What do you think their goals were, then?

 

Same as any corporation...maximise their profits. Nowhere in their mission statement is there mention of WoW matey.

 

WoW has over 6million Chinese subs propping up the numbers. Now if you mean the NA and EU market then TOR has a shot at those numbers (4mil) but it's their only goal? No mate.

 

Their goal is to maximise profits (total revenue - total cost). That IS their goal. Anything else is your assumption only...funny but factually untrue.

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Just wondering how many of you out there think that Bioware's only purpose for making this MMO is to try and beat the numbers that WoW had obtained.

 

no and this is a stupid troll baiting question.

 

guess what, im gonna play both. my 8hrs of raiding per week in wow. any other free time doing this. bw, isnt stupid to think they could overthrow wow in a single instance. god. these threads are just bait.

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Yeah, it's not like they use any of that 7 million to keep the game stable. No they just make a 7 million dollar profit every month!

 

Okay then, $7 Mil profit per month. Probably around $2 Mil keep up few for wages/servers/etc. for that month. They are still making around $5 Mil.

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The sole purpose of this game is to make the most money. Yes, this is obvious. However it's also very obvious that a game generates more revenue if the game is good, otherwise no one would be playing it.

 

Therefore you could say that it's in our best interest that they want to make the most money, because that ensures a quality game to us. The two factors work in a symbiosis.

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no and this is a stupid troll baiting question.

 

guess what, im gonna play both. my 8hrs of raiding per week in wow. any other free time doing this. bw, isnt stupid to think they could overthrow wow in a single instance. god. these threads are just bait.

 

Actually, I mainly started it because of how many people inside the LFG Tool, Dual Spec, and other threads that seem to think they Bioware needs to model SWTOR after every MMO so they can get numbers. Wanted to see how many people really truely felt like numbers was there only goal, which I see we have already seen some.

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Okay then, $7 Mil profit per month. Probably around $2 Mil keep up few for wages/servers/etc. for that month. They are still making around $5 Mil.

 

Last I heard they spent at least over 100m on TOR. Even if they got 5m a month (which they wouldn't in your scenario) it'd still take them a LONG time just to recoup their investment, let alone actually make a profit. Throw in the fact that they have to pay royalties out the *** and your scenario would have them seeing something more akin to 2m a month.

 

TOR will not be an easy game to profit off of unless it gets a LOT of subs.

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Wait, who estimated that? That's what a typical MMO takes to make a profit, but Bioware spent far, far more money on this game than the typical startup MMO developer. All the voice acting, the movies, etc. Even the development cycle was on the lengthy end for an MMO. I think they need far more subscriptions than the typical MMO does to make a profit.

 

Google is your friend. I just searched "swtor 500k subs profit" and got a bazillion links. Try it. btw it was EA CFO Eric Brown who said it.

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Last I heard they spent at least over 100m on TOR. Even if they got 5m a month (which they wouldn't in your scenario) it'd still take them a LONG time just to recoup their investment, let alone actually make a profit. Throw in the fact that they have to pay royalties out the *** and your scenario would have them seeing something more akin to 2m a month.

 

TOR will not be an easy game to profit off of unless it gets a LOT of subs.

 

Those numbers were also if they were to ONLY get 500k subscribers. Seeing as this is most certainly not the case, they are going to be making more. Also, SWTOR is not the only game Bioware has on the market to make money from.

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Last I heard they spent at least over 100m on TOR. Even if they got 5m a month (which they wouldn't in your scenario) it'd still take them a LONG time just to recoup their investment, let alone actually make a profit. Throw in the fact that they have to pay royalties out the *** and your scenario would have them seeing something more akin to 2m a month.

 

TOR will not be an easy game to profit off of unless it gets a LOT of subs.

 

The 100 mil startup costs can be paid off with box sales (50 dollars, 2mil units). LA generally take a slice of subs not the box sales (well with SWG they did iirc).

 

Once the initial costs are paid off then it's all profit aslong as the running costs are met.

 

It should be profitable very soon imo but how much so? We'll find out during the next EA shareholder meeting in 2012.

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Those numbers were also if they were to ONLY get 500k subscribers. Seeing as this is most certainly not the case, they are going to be making more. Also, SWTOR is not the only game Bioware has on the market to make money from.

 

Yeah but even with 1m subs (which they wont have that either) it'd still take them a very long time to actually make a profit. Also, if TOR doesn't meet up to expectations, yeah sure Bioware's other games will keep them from going bankrupt probably, but it's still a HUGE hit to sink that much money and then not get it back.

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The 100 mil startup costs can be paid off with box sales (50 dollars, 2mil units). LA generally take a slice of subs not the box sales (well with SWG they did iirc).

 

Once the initial costs are paid off then it's all profit aslong as the running costs are met.

 

It should be profitable very soon imo but how much so? We'll find out during the next EA shareholder meeting in 2012.

 

Where do you get 2m sales from? Last I had heard they only just recently broke the 1m mark. Also with royalties, they're not getting 50 bucks per box sale.

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