Star Wars: The Old Republic Profitable With 500,000 Subs

[Mcface]

Star Wars + BioWare? Yeah, I think they might just scrape 500k.

500.000?

Yeah right. This is going to be a disaster of... not of APB proportions, but bigger.

100K? Yes.
200K? Maybe.
500K in a year, let alone ten years? Not a hope in hell.

This has pretty much confirmed my worst fears for this game. They're aiming too high in a market that's saturated and still adapting to the F2P boom. The pity of it is that a high profile crash like this one will make a lot of companies reconsider the expense of future AAA MMOs.

EVE Online has around 400k subscribers, has been going for 7 years, was started by a tiny development team, and didn't have Star Wars attached to it - not bad for a title that's got a rather niche crowd.

Yet you think the biggest nerd IP on the planet, with one of the most popular game developers, is doomed to fail? There is currently no real reason to expect this to crash apart from because you want it to.

EVE is a totally unique, unrivaled game. Star wars is not. It's going to be a linear instanced based game. Weather you want to believe it or not.

A lot of people will play it, and a lot will quit after the first month.
But initial sales wont come anywhere close to 500k, and it won't ever reach it.

 

[Woodsey]

Its going to be a copy of War hammer crash, Only wow has perfected the MMO style game.


1 year after its out there will be 100,000 people playing maximum

I saw the game play, its stiff and unnatural, not like the smooth game play WoW has, even though wow is a bad game this wont make people turn over

When did you see the gameplay?

You know it's NOT OUT YET right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzAo7fWBn1Y&feature=channel

looks generic right?

That's 1 and a half year old pre-alpha gameplay.

 

[Woodsey]

Star Wars + BioWare? Yeah, I think they might just scrape 500k.

500.000?

Yeah right. This is going to be a disaster of... not of APB proportions, but bigger.

100K? Yes.
200K? Maybe.
500K in a year, let alone ten years? Not a hope in hell.

This has pretty much confirmed my worst fears for this game. They're aiming too high in a market that's saturated and still adapting to the F2P boom. The pity of it is that a high profile crash like this one will make a lot of companies reconsider the expense of future AAA MMOs.

EVE Online has around 400k subscribers, has been going for 7 years, was started by a tiny development team, and didn't have Star Wars attached to it - not bad for a title that's got a rather niche crowd.

Yet you think the biggest nerd IP on the planet, with one of the most popular game developers, is doomed to fail? There is currently no real reason to expect this to crash apart from because you want it to.

EVE is a totally unique, unrivaled game. Star wars is not. It's going to be a linear instanced based game. Weather you want to believe it or not.

A lot of people will play it, and a lot will quit after the first month.
But initial sales wont come anywhere close to 500k, and it won't ever reach it.

"Linear-instanced-based game".

Meaning what?

(Weather is sunshine and rain by the way.)

 

[CosmicCommander]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzAo7fWBn1Y&feature=channel

Im sorry but this game is just a generic MMO that copied Oblivion or mass effect in the story telling, it has a UI just like WoW even the targeting system is WoW.

I assumed it would be a FPS or TPS but no its just a target and click 12121212121212 win

Obviously you don't have a clue as to the appeal of this is- despite it being the main marketing angle- story. All you're targeting is the gameplay aspect- and guess what, there's more to it than that. And I'm guessing you haven't played KotOR, to be rambling on about the story being a "copy of Oblivion and Mass Effect"- we're talking about one of the most interesting, fleshed, out, and powerful parts of the Star Wars EU- not some generic tale.

And it's a copy of BioWare's best formula- a classic cRPG. They existed before WoW, y'know. Ever played Dragon Age, Baldur's Gate, or the original Fallouts? This is the same formula as they are; ie, a tried and tested system- and I think it has a great modern spin on it.

This game is not a big lose if it fails, it will teach people to stop copying WoW because im really sick of people that try to say the game is new when i see 500 of the exact same game over and over.

Give me another game that has such a back-story, work-time, effort, and insight put into it; and now add actual moral choices, around 500 hours (at least) of story, and a well-tested system put in place.

They even have mana.....really new huh....

BioWare games have always had some sort of mana system, except for Mass Effect and Dumbed-Down-for-Idiots Effect 2... I dunno about Jade Empire, though, never played it. You're thinking that BioWare are copypasting from other MMOs, instead of seeing that they're transplanting stuff from the game's they have expertise in.

 

[CosmicCommander]

EVE is a totally unique, unrivaled game. Star wars is not. It's going to be a linear instanced based game. Weather you want to believe it or not.

I'd make fun of your spelling, but I've been ninja'd.

And have you actually looked up on the game? Instances (Flashpoints) aren't the crux of the game- it's got a lot of freedom and ability to move around. And it doesn't require you to spend a month learning about dropdown boxes.

 

[the27thvoice]

We know how this thing turns out. It's not the first and will not be the last WoW killer MMO. Like City of Heroes, Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings Online, Age of Conan, Warhammer Online and AION before it, it will be released, half my guild goes off to play it and two months later all but 3 of them have returned to WoW.

I'm pretty sure this will reach its goal of half a million subscribers over time. It's BioWare, they do this stuff properly, and with a huge license MMO the marketing is not the problem, people will try it out. The problem will be keeping people playing after the first week. I do hope they beta test it a lot better than AoC.

I think it will be successful, I think it will be profitable, I think it will be a lot of fun, and I think a year after its release, WoW will still be the MMO to beat in terms of subscribers.

 

[JediMB]

People really need to watch this video:

SWTOR Compare MMO Quests combat and more .... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX0LqCz0ywk]

Spoiler: Click here for the video

And even this has footage that is nearly a year old by the time the game is planned to launch, and doesn't cover any of the features that have been revealed during the fall and winter, such as the crafting system.

 

[Yoshisummons]

Actually a lot of the decisions they made make sense where you have many Sith Lords. Each would want his own throne room from which to command his minions.

With the lack of a actual sith in command of the ship I find that hard to swallow.

Thick headed insult

Look at the title, and now back to me. Why would it be titled The Old Republic? Why did they add this word 'old' in the title? Surely it can't be because they want to do something new and something creative in a new setting with the star wars themes we know and love not just say "Hey look its that same show you guys were once emotionally attached to lets just shove in some imagery from the first trilogy so you know for sure it is star wars because we are insecure with our crappy writing that can't deliver the star wars feel and style of a light hearted space adventure to the mass audiences."

Hey you guys remember that one other game that involved the old republic that had creativity behind it, it also had some new races new things . I think it was called something like The Knights of the Old Republic, they had new designs and new things with the subtle feel of you know, a Star Wars story.

 

[JediMB]

It's going to be a linear instanced based game. Weather you want to believe it or not.

Oh, so what you're doing here is looking at the short sequences shown from the Class Stories and Flashpoints and assuming that that's all there is to the game.

I'll be happy to burst your bubble here, because BioWare have said and shown plenty of material that indicates a non-linear world (EDIT: or rather a galaxy with many worlds) with multiple storylines and option sidequests, as well as raid content and crafting/gathering.

 

[Gasaraki]

I can't help but be amused by all the people saying that it's a WoW clone, like as if WoW didn't copy a bunch of games itself

 

[Kingsnake661]

I find it intresting people think a bioware starwars game based off KoToR, can't get or hold onto a halfmillions subs... I mean.. Bioware are RPG gods, and have yet, IMO, to deliver a BAD game. (though, in all honesty, i have not played Dragon Age, but i hear good things.)

I mean... look at SWG. Sure, it's sucriber base is nothing like what it used to be, nor what bioware/ea needs, but it's be around 10 years, still updates, and has even had a few different emulinations projects trying to revive the original expearince.

Star Wars fans are a dedicated lot, is what i'm trying to say. And if the game is decent, which, with bioware making it, i have confidence it will be, How can it not hold on to 500k subs for a few years? 10 might be a bit of a streach, but, that'll really depend on game support, and updates. Add in micro transactions you KNOW are coming, expansions, and the like, and this game has got to make money.

A WoW killer? Prolly not. A profitable MMO? I'd suspect the chances are better for that then alot of people seem to think. And, i hope i'm right, obivously, since i'm really looking forward to this game.

 

[Kirky]

I'm on the fence about TOR. I love BioWare. I loved KotOR, and I'm a Star Wars fan.

But, and here's the issue, I don't play MMOs. It's not that I haven't tried them; I've played WoW, EVE, Lord of the Rings Online and even Star Wars: Galaxies - I just can't get into them. And despite my love for BioWare, despite my love for KotOR, I just can't see TOR being any different.

Don't get me wrong; the prospect of getting to experience yet another BioWare-developed story is an exciting one, but in the end, I just don't think the gameplay, or game structure, is going to be able to hold my interest. I'll probably try TOR, as I've tried countless (or, well, four) MMOs before it, but I doubt I'll enjoy it.

Even if I don't enjoy it myself, I hope the game's successful, and if it's not, I sincerely hope that it's failure doesn't put a black mark on BioWare's record, or - gods forbid - jeopardises the studio itself.

 

[Mcface]

It's going to be a linear instanced based game. Weather you want to believe it or not.

Oh, so what you're doing here is looking at the short sequences shown from the Class Stories and Flashpoints and assuming that that's all there is to the game.

I'll be happy to burst your bubble here, because BioWare have said and shown plenty of material that indicates a non-linear world (EDIT: or rather a galaxy with many worlds) with multiple storylines and option sidequests, as well as raid content and crafting/gathering.

How the hell can you have a story be unique to every player, and not be instanced?
They said multiple times, if I kill this NPC during a quest, he wont be in my game. But he will be in the city still for everyone else.

The game is going to be so heavily instanced regardless of what they say.
Bookmark this thread, and when the game is launched, i will come back and laugh.

 

[Captain Pancake]

I agree that it would be sad to see it fail, but Ive given it much thought and Ive decided that I dont want to be playing two MMORPGs at once, so I'm going to stick with WoW.

 

[veloper]

500K soon after release is no big deal. The difficulty is keeping those players.

If you look at other high profile MMOGs (even failed ones like Warhammer), a big spike is the least you'd expect.
A million or two during the first couple months wouldn't be surprising.

If it fails, they´ll prolly retain 100K players for a couple years, like other failed big bugdet MMOs. It´s reasonable to expect TOR to do better than that.

So entirely plausible.

 

[Leviathan_]

Well, Guild Wars managed to get about 6 million 'subs', I think this should certainly be manageable.



I'm not planning to buy this game as I already have my eyes set on Guild Wars 2, but I really hope it becomes popular enough for it to be a profitable game for Bioware, they deserve it.

 

[Undeadpool]

I'm rooting for this game ONLY for Bioware's sake. I have no intention of playing it, however, and I reeeeally doubt they're going to hit a million subscribers.

 

[JediMB]

It's going to be a linear instanced based game. Weather you want to believe it or not.

Oh, so what you're doing here is looking at the short sequences shown from the Class Stories and Flashpoints and assuming that that's all there is to the game.

I'll be happy to burst your bubble here, because BioWare have said and shown plenty of material that indicates a non-linear world (EDIT: or rather a galaxy with many worlds) with multiple storylines and option sidequests, as well as raid content and crafting/gathering.

How the hell can you have a story be unique to every player, and not be instanced?
They said multiple times, if I kill this NPC during a quest, he wont be in my game. But he will be in the city still for everyone else.

Selectively displayed content (through cutscenes or otherwise) does not make the game instanced.

 

[bob1052]

Don't bioware games regularly sell over a Million in the first week? Or am I just pulling that out of my arse?

The 500,000 number needed in first week sales. It is the number needed of people who continue to play after 10 years.