SWtOR has 1.7 million subscribers, sells 2 million copies.

[Sillywilly]

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/pos...million-units/

BioWare took a huge gamble on Star Wars: The Old Republic, and it's paying off, according to EA's Q3 report. "Star Wars: The Old Republic is developing a committed community of players with more than 1.7 million active subscribers and growing," said Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello in a statement.

Not only does SWTOR have 1.7 million subscribers it has also sold through more than two million units in a month.

The creation of a top-tier, subscription based MMO is an incredibly risky endeavor, especially when it's an MMO based on a fictional universe that already had an MMO--remember Star Wars: Galaxies? You can bet EA and Bioware were keen to make a very different kind of game than that one, with a different result.You can also bet that nerves were on edge at both companies while they awaited the results of the The Old Republic launch. Today's financial announcement makes it official: SW:TOR is healthy.

Here are a few more just-released SW:TOR facts:

* Over 239 million in-game hours, or over 332,000 months and over 27,000 years of in-game time
* Over 20 billion NPCs killed
* Over 148 billion credits spent

“We’re truly honored and humbled by the incredibly strong support from our players who are enjoying Star Wars: The Old Republic,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Co-Founder of BioWare and General Manager of EA’s BioWare Label. “Our entire team worked very hard over the holidays to deliver a smooth experience at launch, and the resulting response to the game from our fans and critics has been exceptionally gratifying.”

Are you playing SWTOR?

[VKhaun]

No I cancelled after the free month.

Rift had what? 1.2 when it was at this point?

[Draconian]

Didn't stay past beta. Appreciated the storyline driven quests, snoozefest on everything else. Was particularly disappointed with what "Space Combat!" turned out to be.

[Boxy Brown]

I just cancelled my sub. It's a great game but DotA 2 is in full swing and between that and DAoC I don't have the time.

[Norska]

I played for about two hours.

[NAH Grahm Cracker]

I didn't even think for a second about the possibility of playing this game.

[Taolas]

So now we get to watch how the numbers fall?

[Alex Mars]

Still playing and having a lot of fun.

[Graveworm]

Got bored around the end of the first month. Stayed subbed for the founders title because I feel like I might come back to it later, but for now I'll be canceling my subscription.

[Andile™]

Fuck Stars Wars.

[Ziel]

Yo SWTOR, I'm really happy for you, but WoW sold the most millions of copies of all time. Of all time!

To put it less obnoxiously, expect this to plateau. I will be seriously impressed if SWTOR continues to grow in millions, because I don't think it has the same type of untapped market that WoW discovered. Not to mention all the people it'll lose in the coming months due to it being the same old same old. We'll see.

[Sillywilly]

I don't think it has the same type of untapped market that WoW discovered.

This. ^ It's true for every MMORPG since WoWs release and I don't know why developers/investors can't wrap their head around it.

[Draconian]

They don't have to - most publishing and investing companies don't lose money, even on MMO's that fade away, it's the developers that lose jobs or get absorbed if their studios don't have a success story to keep their perceived worth protected.


Plus, the gaming market just keeps growing and I think it was last year that it outpaced the movie industry in the USA for total revenue for the first time. It will be unlikely that anything will topple WoW anytime soon, especially while people keep doing the same things in games - but the market is also exploding with new consumers constantly. There isn't much fear over the MMO market when you're a publisher or investor, developers on the other hand... there's a lot to lose.


And this, IMO, is why we don't see innovation. Both ends are putting pressure NOT to innovate. There's no need to financially, profits are better when you don't have to come up with new ideas and spend time on them, and development studios are either a) under control of major publishing already, or b) independent and don't often have resources to hedge against the kind of market risk innovation creates for them.

[Sillywilly]

They don't have to - most publishing and investing companies don't lose money, even on MMO's that fade away, it's the developers that lose jobs or get absorbed if their studios don't have a success story to keep their perceived worth protected.


Plus, the gaming market just keeps growing and I think it was last year that it outpaced the movie industry in the USA for total revenue for the first time. It will be unlikely that anything will topple WoW anytime soon, especially while people keep doing the same things in games - but the market is also exploding with new consumers constantly. There isn't much fear over the MMO market when you're a publisher or investor, developers on the other hand... there's a lot to lose.


And this, IMO, is why we don't see innovation. Both ends are putting pressure NOT to innovate. There's no need to financially, profits are better when you don't have to come up with new ideas and spend time on them, and development studios are either a) under control of major publishing already, or b) independent and don't often have resources to hedge against the kind of market risk innovation creates for them.

Yeah it's pretty disheartening to think that we may never see another DAoC again simply because making copies is easier and more profitable. I still think in 10 years or less the market will be ready for a real MMORPG along the lines of what Marou would want I think. The MMO to break the mold and tame the market will be one that goes all out on immersion/realism simply because that will be the only thing left to be new under the sun. The latest MMOs have moved away from the immersion and persistent world part of the genre and begun making massively populated single player RPGs with dungeon match making.

---EDIT---

That actually wasn't me asking if you play SWtoR lol. That was from the article as well.

I'm still playing and I enjoy it but the PvsP is actually getting on my nerves more and more rather than growing on me. I wish they'd try to make some big changes before the next month is up as I don't know that I'll subscribe again just for the PvsE in hopes that PvsP picks up. Right now the PvsP is just a warhammer rehash. Shorter duration CC than DAoC but so many fucking variations that you spend at least half of your combat time in a stun or daze or knock back or something. There's also too many overpowered classes just like warhammer. The Jedi Sage and it's imperial counterpart are nothing but a rehash of WH Warrior Priest and DoK. My sentintel is well geared and lvl 42 and rarely ranks higher for damage than my lvl 23 sage, yet my sage also consistently finishes in the top 4 for healing AS WELL as finishing in the top 6 or so for damage. Not to mention how much assistance I can give both with my various forms of crowd control and my healing abilities.

Unfortunately right now the sentinel is alot of bark with no bite. The damage just isn't there to be effective with the abscence of CC and CC counters that the sentinel has to deal with. That and alot of my best abilities don't even function in RvsR lol. I'll have an ability that can only be used on immobilized or slowed enemies but it can't be triggered in PvsP even though force leap immoblizes them.

The PvsP just reminds me of Warhammer waaaaay too much, from annoying abilities to annoying class design to annoying balance. It's like they literally just let Mythic cut and paste as much as possible from Warhammer over to the PvsP in SWtOR.

With me being this close to finishing a play through of the game and PvsP not grabbing me in much of any shape or form I actually might not be subscribing again next month. If I want deep, immersive PvsE you can get that at it's best in LotRO for free.