[Averon]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...since-february

Star Wars: The Old Republic has lost 400,000 subs since February

Star Wars: The Old Republic currently has 1.3 million active subscribers, publisher EA has announced. That's a sizable drop on the 1.7 million reported in February. The figure comes out of its annual financial report, released earlier today, which saw the publisher boast net annual income of $76 million, compared to a loss of $276 million this time last year. Total revenue for the fiscal year came in at $4.14 billion, up from $3.59 billion 12 months ago. EA noted "strong results" for traditional boxed products such as Mass Effect 3, SSX and Kingdoms of Amalur, but put the focus squarely on digital. FIFA 12 had its best year ever, raking in $108 million in downloads and microtransactions, while full game downloads were up 76 per cent year-on-year, contributing $60 million to its coffers over the last three months. Meanwhile, EA's Play4Free brand is currently bringing in $2 million a month. Total digital revenue for the year was $1.2 billion, up 42 per cent. Battlefield 3 is still going great guns too - 6.3 million gamers logged in during March alone. "We are proud to report a strong quarter and a fiscal year highlighted with $1.2 billion of digital revenue," commented CEO John Riccitiello. "In the coming year, we break away from the pack, with a very different profile than the traditional game companies and capabilities that none of our new digital competitors can match." Elsewhere in its report, EA revealed plans to invest $80 million over the next year "in development of games for Gen4 console systems."

[TheMan]

should have just made KOTOR 3

[nemss]

I'm not surprised. I hit around level 25, and realized that the game just wasn't that good.

[Dicer]

f2p incoming

[Zeal]

Game over

[lastplayed]

Save this thread and replace the title with Elder Scrolls Online when it's time. :p

[OldJadedGamer]

An MMO not named "WoW" is struggling? Hmmm, interesting.

[Divvy]

Well I stopped playing in April.

[sillymonkey321]

should have just made KOTOR 3

Legend of Dragoon 2 and KOTOR 3 were pretty much the only games i wanted to come out yet never did. KOTOR MMO was a gaming hope dagger.

should have just made KOTOR 3

But it's KOTOR 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 all rolled into one!

[Weenerz]

WoW Killer.

[Vinci]

Still lots of options before moving to f2p, though that's certainly a viable option in the future. They'll still make money on it, likely more than they would have with KOTOR 3.

An MMO not named "WoW" is struggling? Hmmm, interesting.

Depending on who you ask, even WoW is struggling. Lots of drama in MMO land these days.

[Mama Robotnik]

should have just made KOTOR 3

I want to go to the universe where the trilogy was completed.

[Criminal Upper]

should have just made KOTOR 3

yep

[HarryDemeanor]

Still lots of options before moving to f2p, though that's certainly a viable option in the future. They'll still make money on it, likely more than they would have with KOTOR 3.

But just think of the trillions of dollars that KOTOR 3 would have made, man! Trillions!

[Won]

And that with all the free months they handed out to everyone to keep that number as high as possible.

[Zefah]

And that's it. We could still keep speculating when all we had was the initial 1.7 million number, but now we know that they have a downward trend. MMORPGs do not reverse downward trends. It's only a matter of time now. They'll probably be at sub-500k before the first anniversary.

[Orayn]

[radicalchris]

1.3 mil subscribers is struggling?

[Ashodin]

I wonder how ArenaNet will do with "people logged into GW2" numbers.

Curiouser and curiouser.

[RPGCrazied]

Just F2P this already. Get these threads about losing subs, or struggling to keep numbers up alot. Charging monthly for an MMO these days is quite rare.

[Trigger]

I still don't regret cancelling my subscription. There just wasn't much there for someone that prefers a single-player experience, and MMO vets keep referring to it as WoW with lightsabers. I'm curious what they'll do it to keep the interest going.

should have just made KOTOR 3

Nailed it.

[Zefah]

1.3 mil subscribers is struggling?

Losing over 400,000 subscribers (over 20% of your subscriber base) in a period of three months is definitely down the path to struggling.

[massoluk]

1.3 mil subscribers is struggling?

I don't know, but ROI has to be incredibly bad so far. KOTOR 3 may bring in less money, but I'd imagine it would have cost much less.

[TheLucifer]

I wanted to try TOR since it was announced, I was so close to actually buy it, then I luckily decided not to. Will wait for F2P.

should have just made KOTOR 3

An open wound.

[Vinci]

But just think of the trillions of dollars that KOTOR 3 would have made, man! Trillions!

Oh, I know! Totally!

[Sho_Nuff82]

should have just made KOTOR 3

First post wins this round.

Though to be fair, selling 2 million copies at full price and then slowly bleeding subscribers probably still makes them more money than selling 3-4 million of a hypothetical KOTOR 3.

[TheMan]

Legend of Dragoon 2 and KOTOR 3 were pretty much the only games i wanted to come out yet never did. KOTOR MMO was a gaming hope dagger.

same here. i strongly dislike the mmorpg trend because 1. don't want to pay a sub to play just one game 2. don't have the time to invest to make a game like that worth it 3. even if i did have the time, i wouldn't want to spend it playing just 1 game 4. my pc sucks

i'll be happy when MMOs go the way of the gun shooters (lethal enforcers and the like)

[nickcv]

ouch

what's gaf consensus on the game btw?

[Mama Robotnik]

There's no chance we are ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever getting KoTOR III, is there?

Oh God, it still hurts.

[sflufan]

I got to the mid-30s and just hit a motivation to play wall.

[DMeisterJ]

should have just made KOTOR 3

Why is this thread still open?

[Vinci]

ouch what's gaf consensus on the game btw?

I only played in Beta, but... I decided not to buy it. So, there's my 2 cents on it.

[RoboPlato]

should have just made KOTOR 3

Yep. I would have preordered a CE of that the second it was announced.

[Zefah]

ouch what's gaf consensus on the game btw?

There are some diehards who really like it, but I think the majority see it for the mediocre game (and shit MMORPG) it is.

[Moaradin]

WoW lost like 800,000 subscribers recently before stabilizing. If they held 1.3 mil, that would definitely be a success.

ouch what's gaf consensus on the game btw?

A lot of people on gaf are very biased against Bioware and MMOs.

[Derrick01]

No surprise. The game is worthless after getting 1 character to max level and really outside of the class stories it's traditional WoW-like garbage. And the 1 unique class quest for every 10-15 normal MMO quests is not worth it.

[sflufan]

ouch what's gaf consensus on the game btw?

It's a really, really good game that doesn't stray all that far from the "tried and true" MMORPG conventions. I had a great time with it until I hit the motivation wall.

[Cels]

1.3 mil subscribers is struggling?

1.3M is quite good if they have growth or even just sustain that number...but the trend points to even more cancellations

[Iadien]

ouch what's gaf consensus on the game btw?

Not sure. But having played many mmos... it's the same old same old with voice added.

[Chairman Yang]

1.3 mil subscribers is struggling?

With the insane development/marketing budget TOR had, and the cut they have to give Lucasarts, and the monthly operating costs that they need 500K subscribers just to cover, and the free month they gave lots of subscribers, and so soon after release, and with strong competition coming soon? Absolutely, 1.3M subscribers is struggling.

[BurningNad]

I just stopped playing one day after playing hours on end each day before. There just wasn't anything there to keep me reeled in. Didnt really have the itch to go back once.

[inky]

I only played in Beta, but... I decided not to buy it. So, there's my 2 cents on it.

Make that 4 cents.

[Brannon]

They'll probably blame this one on used games. It's the hottest thing right now!

[Vinci]

It's a really, really good game that doesn't stray all that far from the "tried and true" MMORPG conventions. I had a great time with it until I hit the motivation wall.

Except for the whole part where adding new content to it involves a lot of money and effort. Voice acting demands, animation, and such.

[Hoo-doo]

ouch what's gaf consensus on the game btw?

It's offbrand WoW in space. That should tell you enough if you want to play it or not.

[Jake Tower]

TORtanic, abandon ship!

[Catchpenny]

FIFA 12 had its best year ever, raking in $108 million in downloads and microtransactions

That's impressive. I thought FIFA 12 would have done better in 2007.

[paranoidfortean]

the people responsible for this game should really just leave the industry. they took a pot of gold and turned it into a pot of rocks. such bad, safe, bland decisions.

[HP_Wuvcraft]

Holy shit.

This is really fascinating in a car wreck way.

[BigDug13]

EQ was 450,000 subscribers at its peak and was heralded as a huge success. Just because WoW blew that number away, that doesn't mean that's the proper measuring stick for successful subscriber numbers in an MMO.