Trying to figure out Star Wars:TOR's finacial plan.

[Ranorak]

I imagine that they'll have some sort of microtransaction system, too, similar to how Blizzard incorporated purchasable vanity pets/mounts into World of Warcraft. Perhaps merchandising (apparel, trinkets, etc) will provide EA with a large profit, I mean, they're able to market Star Wars goods now, so that'll definitely help them.

I would be willing to pay a euro or 2 for a nice unique colour crystal

 

[cookyy2k]

A good rule of thumb is to say from a video game sold via a shop (i.e not digital distribution) the Publisher is making 30% profit. That means from the $60 shelf price EA got $18 profit, on origins however this margin will be much much better.

 

[demotion1]

Im really hoping to get into the MMO, But first i need to buy the game. But it looks much, much better than WoW; Less emphasis on PvP and more on the character - This i like. I havent tried it, but it looks almost exacticaly like what i want.

Its very fun mate. Yet I would encourage you to try some PvP. The war zones they have are very very cool.

I hope they do turn a profit, its a damn fun game and I think it was well made!

Nah, i hate PvP, for two reasons; One) I Live in Australia. In Perth. Were the arse end of the country in the arse end of the world, So its even harder to connect to proper American servers; I hear that americans complain of connections of 300 in World of Warcraft. I though that having a connection of 600 was good.

Two) There are allways builds, allways sets of gear, and rotations, and capture points, and spell counters, and class counters and... and... and... It goes on and on. I do like playing games with a bit of variety; In WoW, i could choose between a Frost Mage and a Arcane Mage whenever i wanted to PvE - But in PvP theres a special build thats the best, along with a special staff which, if i didnt have, meant i was a "Complete and utter retarded Wanker" as someone put it. (Exact Quote, too!).

Nah, i just prefer PvE.

I prefer PVE too for the same reasons. It is funny when people claim things that have nothing to do with the truth. Like Origin. The game does not need Origin. I do not have Origin and i can play TOR with no problems. Please do some reaserch before claiming anything. My guild has some 60 people and almost everyone loves the game. I have not seen anyone in-game saying they do not like it. It also has a huge of group quests. I really do not see any valid reason to blast it for low content. If anything, it has much more content than i personally expected.

 

[Jimmybobjr]

Im really hoping to get into the MMO, But first i need to buy the game. But it looks much, much better than WoW; Less emphasis on PvP and more on the character - This i like. I havent tried it, but it looks almost exacticaly like what i want.

Its very fun mate. Yet I would encourage you to try some PvP. The war zones they have are very very cool.

I hope they do turn a profit, its a damn fun game and I think it was well made!

Nah, i hate PvP, for two reasons; One) I Live in Australia. In Perth. Were the arse end of the country in the arse end of the world, So its even harder to connect to proper American servers; I hear that americans complain of connections of 300 in World of Warcraft. I though that having a connection of 600 was good.

Two) There are allways builds, allways sets of gear, and rotations, and capture points, and spell counters, and class counters and... and... and... It goes on and on. I do like playing games with a bit of variety; In WoW, i could choose between a Frost Mage and a Arcane Mage whenever i wanted to PvE - But in PvP theres a special build thats the best, along with a special staff which, if i didnt have, meant i was a "Complete and utter retarded Wanker" as someone put it. (Exact Quote, too!).

Nah, i just prefer PvE.

I prefer PVE too for the same reasons. It is funny when people claim things that have nothing to do with the truth. Like Origin. The game does not need Origin. I do not have Origin and i can play TOR with no problems. Please do some reaserch before claiming anything. My guild has some 60 people and almost everyone loves the game. I have not seen anyone in-game saying they do not like it. It also has a huge of group quests. I really do not see any valid reason to blast it for low content. If anything, it has much more content than i personally expected.

You saying that basicaly made me buy the game
I get my first Debit card in a few days (Woo able to but stuff online) and i think i know where my first US$60 are going! (Well, the Ozzie buck is still higher, i think, so im gettin it cheaper!)

Also, i do hear that SWTOR requires Origin to install, but once its installed, Origin is irellevant, Right? At least, thats what the "Buy Game" page seems to suggest.

EDIT: Man, i need to learn to allways google before asking questions... But anyway, i figured it out. Thanks anyway.

 

[sifffffff]

So from what I can tell from this thread, EA had no clue what they were doing with this game right?
I don't know whether to be happy or sad about that. On one hand it's always sad to see what looks like a decent game fail. Yet on the other hand it's made by EA......and I hate EA.

Yep obviously EA must not know what they're doing because some dude on an internet forum said so.

I can't speak from a MMO gamer's perspective. This is my first MMO and I'm really really enjoying it. I did my first flashpoint yesterday and had a blast. It's been a ton of fun taking a group to do the heroic quests as well. So far I haven't run into a single "douchy" player either so that's been cool.

My biggest problem? Trying to fight the urge to start a different class just because of how cool they look to play. I'm a Scoundrel Smuggler and I played a quest with a Jedi Consular yesterday and she did some crazy stuff that I want to do.

 

[Something Amyss]

Really no one finds this the least bit intresting? That makes me a sad panda.

You're speculating based on speculation based on complete ass-pulls.

If not for that, I'd find this VERY interesting.

Unfortunately, without real numbers, there's not much of interest here. It's all sort of guesswork. Especially devoid of any context or timeframe.

 

[Mastodonic]

The game is a mess. It's a single player game to max level, then the endgame content is thin. Near impossible to group or even SEE someone else once you hit 30. PvP is completely broken. They have this terrible ability delay issue atm that makes pvp near unplayable unless you're a key-turner. HUGE faction imbalance towards the Empire side means pvp is essentially huttball 24/7.

I cancelled my sub before i got billed and will no doubt be sucked into D3 and GW2. Don't be surprised if swtor turns out to be a huge stinker. Great fun to level 25ish on empire side, that's about it.

 

[sifffffff]

The game is a mess. It's a single player game to max level, then the endgame content is thin. Near impossible to group or even SEE someone else once you hit 30. PvP is completely broken. They have this terrible ability delay issue atm that makes pvp near unplayable unless you're a key-turner. HUGE faction imbalance towards the Empire side means pvp is essentially huttball 24/7.

I cancelled my sub before i got billed and will no doubt be sucked into D3 and GW2. Don't be surprised if swtor turns out to be a huge stinker. Great fun to level 25ish on empire side, that's about it.

So because you enjoy PVP and the PVP isn't up to your standards the game sucks ass? What about those of us who don't care for PVP and are enjoying the PVE. It's not impossible to see somebody once you hit 30. That may have been your experience but it hasn't been mine. As far as end-game goes once I'm done with my current class I'll start a new one. That's the joy of having 8 unique storylines.

 

[craftomega]

500k buy the game = 30$ profit per game (Estimate) = $15 million.

500K Subscibe for a year at $180 = 90 million (This does not include upkeep costs)

So with this math they only make $105 million....I am now very confused. So lets try new numbers.

2 million buy the game = $60 million

1 million (averaged) subsciber for a year = $180 million
OR
500K Subscibe for 2 years at $180 = $180 million

Thats only $240 million... So im guessing this is what they ment. Only if they spent $200 million on the game.

Thoughts?

Except the game launched with over a million pre-orders(supposedly).

The basic game costs $60, with the deluxe and collector's versions costing even more.

1 million x $60 per game = $60 million

Then consider that is only the preorders, many people bought the game on day 1, so the numbers are closer to 2 million($120 million already).

That means BW and EA are already half way to paying off the cost of developing TOR.

They dont make $60 profit on a $60 game..... its closer to $30 or $20 as reflected in my calculations.

How much does it cost for shipping?

How much does it cost to make the game?

How much do the stores who sell the games make?

Really no one finds this the least bit intresting? That makes me a sad panda.

You're speculating based on speculation based on complete ass-pulls.

If not for that, I'd find this VERY interesting.

Unfortunately, without real numbers, there's not much of interest here. It's all sort of guesswork. Especially devoid of any context or timeframe.

In my OP i did state that what there were saying was the exact same thing. And yes I am well aware of how little information is there that is accurate as stated above.

You need a better hobby mate, accounting is not exactly up there with the particularly amusing ones.

Lol indeed, I get bored sometimes. Plus with my overwhelming hate of EA I always enjoy making fun of them.

A good rule of thumb is to say from a video game sold via a shop (i.e not digital distribution) the Publisher is making 30% profit. That means from the $60 shelf price EA got $18 profit, on origins however this margin will be much much better.

That why i put $30 on it instead of $20.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

The game is a mess. It's a single player game to max level, then the endgame content is thin. Near impossible to group or even SEE someone else once you hit 30. PvP is completely broken. They have this terrible ability delay issue atm that makes pvp near unplayable unless you're a key-turner. HUGE faction imbalance towards the Empire side means pvp is essentially huttball 24/7.

I cancelled my sub before i got billed and will no doubt be sucked into D3 and GW2. Don't be surprised if swtor turns out to be a huge stinker. Great fun to level 25ish on empire side, that's about it.

Grouped easily at all levels.
Near constant grouping going on at fleet every time I log in.
PvP is fine, I PvP daily.
Ability delay is being overstated, PvP is perfectly playable.
There is definitely a huge faction imabalance.

Anecdotal experiences aside, 90% of what you're talking about is totally server dependent, or you're exaggerating hugely.

 

[craftomega]

-snip- double post -_-

 

[krazykidd]

I hope all doesn't go well and EA crashes and burns into the ground .

You must not enjoy playing video games if you want one of the biggest publishers in the business to go bankrupt. Maybe one day you'll get some perspective and form an opinion of your own instead of hating on EA because it's the "cool thing to do"

Oh i do , just nothing for activision and EA . Am i cool yet? My problem with EA is that it's TOO big . They basically call all the shots when it comes to video games with their brand on it . It's a quantity over quality with EA. I do understand that it's a business , but EA is taking over and my fear is EA will have the monopoly over video games . That would mean that anyone that wants to play AAA titles will Have to play By their rules . I am more of a small company kind of guy instead of big corperations . With smaller companies they actually care if their quality is good because if not , well people will go elsewhere . With big companies , they milk the little man for every dollar they are worth , with the most "popular" titles . It will be a sad day , when EA owns everything ( or almost) because gamers will be forced to play how they tell us . You might laugh as this pessimistic view of things , and i really hope it doesn't happen . But i for one will dread the day when every other video game title has EA brand on it .

I disagree with most of EAs practices , and if EA becomes as big as i expect it to , those practices will be the norme with EVERY game . And that will completely kill any interest i have in the medium .

 

[Samechiel]

Because you don't like em?

Because sometimes the only way stupid people learn that the stove is hot is to let them burn themselves on it. It's called tough love.

EA needs to learn a lesson. They have to find out that their stupidity is poisoning the market. If they need to lose millions of dollars on a failed enterprise in order to do so, then so be it.

 

[AD-Stu]

There's no way EA commissioned this game expecting it to only have a lifespan of a couple of years - they'll be thinking 5+ years.

I don't play MMOs so I don't know how likely the game is to keep an audience for that long, but I'd be almost certain it's what they're aiming for.