If people think the timing of the free buddy key / trial release is a coincidence, that is not an accident either.
With Q1 ending in a few weeks, with all the trial accts being offered, EA/BW can "honestly" say... "We had x.x million subs in the month of March."
They will simply not differentiate between paying subs and trial (non-paying) subs.
And while technically not "lying" it will be omitting a very large and important point.
And it will also be a way to hide the decrease in paying subs since launch.
This is all a planned corporate strategy from "go".
Yep, another good point. EAware WILL count those trials as "active subs", bet on it.
Were I a corporate type in the same place, I would probably do the same.
Analysts like numbers and if they get those, they'll be thinking about the numbers and not what is behind them. And most investors / analysts (non-gaming) are not going to be savy enough to know the difference or ask what the split between trial and paying subs on the conference call. Only TOR has x.x mil subs.
And even if asked, EA/BW can always say "We don't have the sub numbers broken down that way... some of the trial subs might have converted to paying subs... blah blah blah."
This is a pure corporate tactic and not even an illegal one, just one likely to obscure the true scope of the post launch population decline.
Smart and likely to work unless investors ask the right questions.
The vast majority of the posters on this site have already refuted the original 1.7M claim so it obviously can't be true now either.
Right?
Ya, I'll take this guys word over the opinions of those posting here.
Nah posters here are just not gullible enough (any more?) to believe everything this or other CEO says. Shows some independent thinking imho.
We saw how capable they are in hyping and showing numbers before the release.
Heh, that has nothing to do with being gullible. The simple and straight truth is unless they announced a massive fallen playerbase or something that shines them in poor light you wouldn't believe. Period. That has little to do with you being 'not gullible'. It's more about not being objective and narrow minded in wanting to see only what you desire or more pointedly, what you 'believe' is reality. Whether one is or not is rather irrelevant. You only seek one truth and it is the one you believe in. Anything less than that is false in your eyes.
And in the end I still wonder...why the heck do people care so much? If you already decided it isn't the game for you the best you can do is move on. You only give it more attention with every post even if it is to fume. You keep folks looking, peaking their interest and curious.
Want to show independent thinking? Be like the other posters (much respect to you guys) who said straight up they don't like the game but congrats to Bioware and to those who do enjoy it. That' s a simple 'It's not my cup of tea but well wishes' and they moved on. That's an independent thinker and an objective one.
You people saying CEOs lie while true THEY DO NOT LIE on offical financial reports or to investors as often as you may pretend to think. You cannot lie about something so easy to find out the truth about. Do CEOs misrepresent themselfs sure ? But they do not outright lie about offical numbers. What they do is mix that data in with other parts of the company so no one notices that is not lying or illegal, but it would be VERY illegal for them to say we have 1.7 mil Subscribers and not actually have that number in one way or another. What do you people not get about that ? He is giving an exact number CEOs DO NOT do that for investors when it would be so easy to get caught.
Not to mention Bioware and this game are a fraction of EAs revenue and business interest why would a CEO risk his job and freedom over such a small part of the company ?
No, he didn't give an exact number. He gave an estimate. What don't YOU not get about that?
He didn't give an estimate, he said near 1.7 million, which means its under 1.7 mil and he rounded up. The only estimates from this article came from a seperate industry analyst that estimated it will reach 2 million by june 2012. No where in the ceo's statement did he mention anything about estimating.
I think some of you are having a difficult time understanding the definition of estimate lol.
Boggles the mind.
And just under your post. The guy admits he was reading the article wrong.
Boggles the mind.
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has told investors that BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is up to nearly 1.7 million monthly subscribers as of the end of February. A "vast majority" of players have passed beyond the free month of playtime that comes with the game and are in full-on paid subscription mode.
That there is an estimate.
When you say:
He didn't give an estimate, he said near 1.7 million
You're saying he didn't give an estimate and then turn around and quote his estimate!
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
Just did some googling regarding the analyst company, rather interesting. The same guy can be found on record both calling SWTOR as a WoW reskin, but also offering sales estimates of 3M. Amusing, if nothing else. No real interest in this game myself (not for me,but power to everyone who enjoys it), but REALLY looking forward to seeing how the dust settles in half a year from now.
I have to say though, considering that the strength of the game's IP was obviously a factor in high initial sales, plus considering that losing subs after the initial launch is pretty much the norm, it would actually be pretty impressive for a game to then have a really strong of a subscriber boost half a year after launch.
A Modest Proposal for MMORPGs: That the means of progression would not be mutually exclusive from the means of enjoyment.
I feel much pain for these 1.7 Million. For they are trapped and can't understand. But when they finally get it...Tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of their lives. Their breakfast will taste better than any meal you or I have ever tasted.
The vast majority of the posters on this site have already refuted the original 1.7M claim so it obviously can't be true now either.
Right?
Ya, I'll take this guys word over the opinions of those posting here.
Nah posters here are just not gullible enough (any more?) to believe everything this or other CEO says. Shows some independent thinking imho.
We saw how capable they are in hyping and showing numbers before the release.
Instead they'll just throw out statements from people who actually have the numbers and know what they are talking about and insist their own are more accurate.
Yes I am pretty sure they have the exact number of subscriptions. I just dont know why the need to throw out estimates. Listen, the number in the database is pretty exact - to one person.
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has confirmed that Star Wars: The Old Republic is sporting 1.7 million subscribers and indicated that the "vast majority" of the subscribers have passed beyond the thirty days of game time that was included in the purchase price.
This says that the day after the free month was over they had 1.7 subs. That was Jan 20.
You people saying CEOs lie while true THEY DO NOT LIE on offical financial reports or to investors as often as you may pretend to think. You cannot lie about something so easy to find out the truth about. Do CEOs misrepresent themselfs sure ? But they do not outright lie about offical numbers. What they do is mix that data in with other parts of the company so no one notices that is not lying or illegal, but it would be VERY illegal for them to say we have 1.7 mil Subscribers and not actually have that number in one way or another. What do you people not get about that ? He is giving an exact number CEOs DO NOT do that for investors when it would be so easy to get caught.
Not to mention Bioware and this game are a fraction of EAs revenue and business interest why would a CEO risk his job and freedom over such a small part of the company ?
No, he didn't give an exact number. He gave an estimate. What don't YOU not get about that?
He didn't give an estimate, he said near 1.7 million, which means its under 1.7 mil and he rounded up. The only estimates from this article came from a seperate industry analyst that estimated it will reach 2 million by june 2012. No where in the ceo's statement did he mention anything about estimating.
I think some of you are having a difficult time understanding the definition of estimate lol.
Boggles the mind.
And just under your post. The guy admits he was reading the article wrong.
Boggles the mind.
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has told investors that BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is up to nearly 1.7 million monthly subscribers as of the end of February. A "vast majority" of players have passed beyond the free month of playtime that comes with the game and are in full-on paid subscription mode.
That there is an estimate.
When you say:
He didn't give an estimate, he said near 1.7 million
You're saying he didn't give an estimate and then turn around and quote his estimate!
NO an estimate would be saying we intend to have NEARLY 1.7 million that is an estimate or saying we predict 2 million subs by june or by the end of this date that is an estimate. Saying nearly 1.7 million to INVESTORS means they have NEARLY 1.7 mil not 1.2 or some far away number like 500k that people think the game has.
"We estimate 2MM paying subs by the end of June 2012 (and then sustained for the remainder of the year). We also note that the company plans to launch Star Wars in the Asia-Pacific region later this month," Creutz said in a statement. "
The news would have been stronger without the underlined part. Forcasting modest increases after opening in a brand-new, population-dense region? Dunno about that part, tbh.
A Modest Proposal for MMORPGs: That the means of progression would not be mutually exclusive from the means of enjoyment.
You people saying CEOs lie while true THEY DO NOT LIE on offical financial reports or to investors as often as you may pretend to think. You cannot lie about something so easy to find out the truth about. Do CEOs misrepresent themselfs sure ? But they do not outright lie about offical numbers. What they do is mix that data in with other parts of the company so no one notices that is not lying or illegal, but it would be VERY illegal for them to say we have 1.7 mil Subscribers and not actually have that number in one way or another. What do you people not get about that ? He is giving an exact number CEOs DO NOT do that for investors when it would be so easy to get caught.
Not to mention Bioware and this game are a fraction of EAs revenue and business interest why would a CEO risk his job and freedom over such a small part of the company ?
No, he didn't give an exact number. He gave an estimate. What don't YOU not get about that?
He didn't give an estimate, he said near 1.7 million, which means its under 1.7 mil and he rounded up. The only estimates from this article came from a seperate industry analyst that estimated it will reach 2 million by june 2012. No where in the ceo's statement did he mention anything about estimating.
I think some of you are having a difficult time understanding the definition of estimate lol.
Boggles the mind.
And just under your post. The guy admits he was reading the article wrong.
Boggles the mind.
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has told investors that BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is up to nearly 1.7 million monthly subscribers as of the end of February. A "vast majority" of players have passed beyond the free month of playtime that comes with the game and are in full-on paid subscription mode.
That there is an estimate.
When you say:
He didn't give an estimate, he said near 1.7 million
You're saying he didn't give an estimate and then turn around and quote his estimate!
NO an estimate would be saying we intend to have NEARLY 1.7 million that is an estimate or saying we predict 2 million subs by june or by the end of this date that is an estimate. Saying nearly 1.7 million to INVESTORS means they have NEARLY 1.7 mil not 1.2 or some far away number like 500k that people think the game has.
As I said, some of you are confused on the definition of estimate lol!
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
The vast majority of the posters on this site have already refuted the original 1.7M claim so it obviously can't be true now either.
Right?
Ya, I'll take this guys word over the opinions of those posting here.
Nah posters here are just not gullible enough (any more?) to believe everything this or other CEO says. Shows some independent thinking imho.
We saw how capable they are in hyping and showing numbers before the release.
Heh, that has nothing to do with being gullible. The simple and straight truth is unless they announced a massive fallen playerbase or something that shines them in poor light you wouldn't believe. Period. That has little to do with you being 'not gullible'. It's more about not being objective and narrow minded in wanting to see only what you desire or more pointedly, what you 'believe' is reality. Whether one is or not is rather irrelevant. You only seek one truth and it is the one you believe in. Anything less than that is false in your eyes.
And in the end I still wonder...why the heck do people care so much? If you already decided it isn't the game for you the best you can do is move on. You only give it more attention with every post even if it is to fume. You keep folks looking, peaking their interest and curious.
Want to show independent thinking? Be like the other posters (much respect to you guys) who said straight up they don't like the game but congrats to Bioware and to those who do enjoy it. That' s a simple 'It's not my cup of tea but well wishes' and they moved on. That's an independent thinker and an objective one.
Heh. You know the truth? Congratz.
Yes I agree with you, I dont know the truth and I remain skeptic.
You people saying CEOs lie while true THEY DO NOT LIE on offical financial reports or to investors as often as you may pretend to think. You cannot lie about something so easy to find out the truth about. Do CEOs misrepresent themselfs sure ? But they do not outright lie about offical numbers. What they do is mix that data in with other parts of the company so no one notices that is not lying or illegal, but it would be VERY illegal for them to say we have 1.7 mil Subscribers and not actually have that number in one way or another. What do you people not get about that ? He is giving an exact number CEOs DO NOT do that for investors when it would be so easy to get caught.
Not to mention Bioware and this game are a fraction of EAs revenue and business interest why would a CEO risk his job and freedom over such a small part of the company ?
No, he didn't give an exact number. He gave an estimate. What don't YOU not get about that?
He didn't give an estimate, he said near 1.7 million, which means its under 1.7 mil and he rounded up. The only estimates from this article came from a seperate industry analyst that estimated it will reach 2 million by june 2012. No where in the ceo's statement did he mention anything about estimating.
I think some of you are having a difficult time understanding the definition of estimate lol.
Boggles the mind.
And just under your post. The guy admits he was reading the article wrong.
Boggles the mind.
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has told investors that BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is up to nearly 1.7 million monthly subscribers as of the end of February. A "vast majority" of players have passed beyond the free month of playtime that comes with the game and are in full-on paid subscription mode.
That there is an estimate.
When you say:
He didn't give an estimate, he said near 1.7 million
You're saying he didn't give an estimate and then turn around and quote his estimate!
Estimating is when you don't know the actual number but are using the data that you do have to come up with a guess as to what it is. He stated it as "near 1.7 million" because you don't go out and state to a board or a business partner that you have 1,681,579 subscriptions. The difference is so little that it doesn't matter, basically the same principal of when you fill out your tax forms you don't put the cents in - just on a larger scale.
If you weren't so busy being obtusly critical about the definition to prove yourself right instead of admit that just maybe you may have made an incorrect statement, you might see it.
2 weeks ago my server had the most people i had ever seen in every zone. This week less than 30 people in the cap city and the same on the fleet.
I can feel your anger. This game is defenseless. Take your weapon. Strike this game down with all of your hatred, and your journey towards towards the Dark Side will be complete.
It's stars war anything less than that would be a complete failure. the thing is this game wont grow in subs, the people who want to play this game already have so subs will only decline.
You people saying CEOs lie while true THEY DO NOT LIE on offical financial reports or to investors as often as you may pretend to think. You cannot lie about something so easy to find out the truth about. Do CEOs misrepresent themselfs sure ? But they do not outright lie about offical numbers. What they do is mix that data in with other parts of the company so no one notices that is not lying or illegal, but it would be VERY illegal for them to say we have 1.7 mil Subscribers and not actually have that number in one way or another. What do you people not get about that ? He is giving an exact number CEOs DO NOT do that for investors when it would be so easy to get caught.
Not to mention Bioware and this game are a fraction of EAs revenue and business interest why would a CEO risk his job and freedom over such a small part of the company ?
No, he didn't give an exact number. He gave an estimate. What don't YOU not get about that?
He didn't give an estimate, he said near 1.7 million, which means its under 1.7 mil and he rounded up. The only estimates from this article came from a seperate industry analyst that estimated it will reach 2 million by june 2012. No where in the ceo's statement did he mention anything about estimating.
I think some of you are having a difficult time understanding the definition of estimate lol.
Boggles the mind.
And just under your post. The guy admits he was reading the article wrong.
Boggles the mind.
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has told investors that BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is up to nearly 1.7 million monthly subscribers as of the end of February. A "vast majority" of players have passed beyond the free month of playtime that comes with the game and are in full-on paid subscription mode.
That there is an estimate.
When you say:
He didn't give an estimate, he said near 1.7 million
You're saying he didn't give an estimate and then turn around and quote his estimate!
Estimating is when you don't know the actual number but are using the data that you do have to come up with a guess as to what it is. He stated it as "near 1.7 million" because you don't go out and state to a board or a business partner that you have 1,681,579 subscriptions. The difference is so little that it doesn't matter, basically the same principal of when you fill out your tax forms you don't put the cents in - just on a larger scale.
If you weren't so busy being obtusly critical about the definition to prove yourself right instead of admit that just maybe you may have made an incorrect statement, you might see it.
That IS an estimate lol! He didn't say 1,534,957 did he? He said "nearly", ie, estimation.
es·ti·mate
[v. es-tuh-meyt; n. es-tuh-mit, -meyt] Show IPAverb, -mat·ed, -mat·ing, noun
verb (used with object)an approximate judgment or calculation, as of the value,amount, time, size, or weight of something.
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
You people saying CEOs lie while true THEY DO NOT LIE on offical financial reports or to investors as often as you may pretend to think. You cannot lie about something so easy to find out the truth about. Do CEOs misrepresent themselfs sure ? But they do not outright lie about offical numbers. What they do is mix that data in with other parts of the company so no one notices that is not lying or illegal, but it would be VERY illegal for them to say we have 1.7 mil Subscribers and not actually have that number in one way or another. What do you people not get about that ? He is giving an exact number CEOs DO NOT do that for investors when it would be so easy to get caught.
Not to mention Bioware and this game are a fraction of EAs revenue and business interest why would a CEO risk his job and freedom over such a small part of the company ?
No, he didn't give an exact number. He gave an estimate. What don't YOU not get about that?
He didn't give an estimate, he said near 1.7 million, which means its under 1.7 mil and he rounded up. The only estimates from this article came from a seperate industry analyst that estimated it will reach 2 million by june 2012. No where in the ceo's statement did he mention anything about estimating.
I think some of you are having a difficult time understanding the definition of estimate lol.
Boggles the mind.
And just under your post. The guy admits he was reading the article wrong.
Boggles the mind.
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has told investors that BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is up to nearly 1.7 million monthly subscribers as of the end of February. A "vast majority" of players have passed beyond the free month of playtime that comes with the game and are in full-on paid subscription mode.
That there is an estimate.
When you say:
He didn't give an estimate, he said near 1.7 million
You're saying he didn't give an estimate and then turn around and quote his estimate!
Dude, it's sad, read my sig, but they have virtually 1.7m current subs at the end of feb. now how many of those will fall down at the end of march is a different estimate.
" We estimate 2MM paying subs by the end of June 2012 (and then sustained for the remainder of the year"
Reading between the lines..... they claim 1.7 million subs now... so based on the above statement....Bioware is only planning on netting give or take 300k more subs than they currently claim for the asia pacific release to end Q3?
" We estimate 2MM paying subs by the end of June 2012 (and then sustained for the remainder of the year"
Reading between the lines..... they claim 1.7 million subs now... so based on the above statement....Bioware is only planning on netting give or take 300k more subs than they currently claim for the asia pacific release to end Q3?
Except bioware/ea had nothing to do with that statement. That was a seperate industry analyst group that made that quote that really didn't need to be in the article in the first place.
You people saying CEOs lie while true THEY DO NOT LIE on offical financial reports or to investors as often as you may pretend to think. You cannot lie about something so easy to find out the truth about. Do CEOs misrepresent themselfs sure ? But they do not outright lie about offical numbers. What they do is mix that data in with other parts of the company so no one notices that is not lying or illegal, but it would be VERY illegal for them to say we have 1.7 mil Subscribers and not actually have that number in one way or another. What do you people not get about that ? He is giving an exact number CEOs DO NOT do that for investors when it would be so easy to get caught.
Not to mention Bioware and this game are a fraction of EAs revenue and business interest why would a CEO risk his job and freedom over such a small part of the company ?
No, he didn't give an exact number. He gave an estimate. What don't YOU not get about that?
He didn't give an estimate, he said near 1.7 million, which means its under 1.7 mil and he rounded up. The only estimates from this article came from a seperate industry analyst that estimated it will reach 2 million by june 2012. No where in the ceo's statement did he mention anything about estimating.
I think some of you are having a difficult time understanding the definition of estimate lol.
Boggles the mind.
And just under your post. The guy admits he was reading the article wrong.
Boggles the mind.
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has told investors that BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is up to nearly 1.7 million monthly subscribers as of the end of February. A "vast majority" of players have passed beyond the free month of playtime that comes with the game and are in full-on paid subscription mode.
That there is an estimate.
When you say:
He didn't give an estimate, he said near 1.7 million
You're saying he didn't give an estimate and then turn around and quote his estimate!
Dude, it's sad, read my sig, but they have virtually 1.7m current subs at the end of feb. now how many of those will fall down at the end of march is a different estimate.
Indeed, it is sad when Suzie Ford of MMORPG.com is either paid to give a positive opinion of SWTOR, or buys into the hype. I've seen mountains more evidence to the direct contradiction to her statement. I'll trust more than 1000 players all spamming youtube with how lifeless SWTOR is rather than a board admin on an MMO forum.
Additionally, they were correct in the fact that they "guestimated" their numbers rather than giving a definitive number on their subscribers. Additionally, they had 1.7million current subs in January. So either the numbers are going down, or they're not gaining ANY subscribers since January. So, again, SWTOR is not doing well, and will probably drop like a rock come another "Hope of the MMO genre" like GW2, TERA, etc etc.
I'll sit here and patiently wait for PlanetSide 2 !
The Theory of Conservative Conservation of Ignorant Stupidity: Having a different opinion must mean you're a troll.
You people saying CEOs lie while true THEY DO NOT LIE on offical financial reports or to investors as often as you may pretend to think. You cannot lie about something so easy to find out the truth about. Do CEOs misrepresent themselfs sure ? But they do not outright lie about offical numbers. What they do is mix that data in with other parts of the company so no one notices that is not lying or illegal, but it would be VERY illegal for them to say we have 1.7 mil Subscribers and not actually have that number in one way or another. What do you people not get about that ? He is giving an exact number CEOs DO NOT do that for investors when it would be so easy to get caught.
Not to mention Bioware and this game are a fraction of EAs revenue and business interest why would a CEO risk his job and freedom over such a small part of the company ?
No, he didn't give an exact number. He gave an estimate. What don't YOU not get about that?
He didn't give an estimate, he said near 1.7 million, which means its under 1.7 mil and he rounded up. The only estimates from this article came from a seperate industry analyst that estimated it will reach 2 million by june 2012. No where in the ceo's statement did he mention anything about estimating.
I think some of you are having a difficult time understanding the definition of estimate lol.
Boggles the mind.
And just under your post. The guy admits he was reading the article wrong.
Boggles the mind.
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has told investors that BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is up to nearly 1.7 million monthly subscribers as of the end of February. A "vast majority" of players have passed beyond the free month of playtime that comes with the game and are in full-on paid subscription mode.
That there is an estimate.
When you say:
He didn't give an estimate, he said near 1.7 million
You're saying he didn't give an estimate and then turn around and quote his estimate!
Dude, it's sad, read my sig, but they have virtually 1.7m current subs at the end of feb. now how many of those will fall down at the end of march is a different estimate.
Indeed, it is sad when Suzie Ford of MMORPG.com is either paid to give a positive opinion of SWTOR, or buys into the hype. I've seen mountains more evidence to the direct contradiction to her statement. I'll trust more than 1000 players all spamming youtube with how lifeless SWTOR is rather than a board admin on an MMO forum.
Additionally, they were correct in the fact that they "guestimated" their numbers rather than giving a definitive number on their subscribers. Additionally, they had 1.7million current subs in January. So either the numbers are going down, or they're not gaining ANY subscribers since January. So, again, SWTOR is not doing well, and will probably drop like a rock come another "Hope of the MMO genre" like GW2, TERA, etc etc.
I'll sit here and patiently wait for PlanetSide 2 !
Dude your idea of 'not doing well' is to have the second most subs of any mmo. I don't think any Soe game ever has had that many subs. If Planetside 2 hits those numbers, and I don't got anything against Planetside 2. It would be Soe most succesful MMO.
You can argue whether it holds subs or not. We will see after 1.2 thats a big patch for them.
Edited for in NA/Eu. When i'm talking sub numbers.
dont get me wrong, i hope SWTOR succeds... but "the CEO told investors"... really? CEO's lie left and right.
Public companies are required by federal law to make PUBLIC information such as their financials and reviewed by 3rd party accounting firms. Have some lied over the years ? of course, but it is very rare and very serious crime. So much so, that you see people who commit fraud in this sector go to jail for the rest of their lives ( bernie madoff) or commit suicide when caught, see execs for Enron. Educate yourself a little and you wont make such silly comments. EA isnt going to risk it all by lying about how many subs some stupid game has.
" We estimate 2MM paying subs by the end of June 2012 (and then sustained for the remainder of the year"
Reading between the lines..... they claim 1.7 million subs now... so based on the above statement....Bioware is only planning on netting give or take 300k more subs than they currently claim for the asia pacific release to end Q3?
Except bioware/ea had nothing to do with that statement. That was a seperate industry analyst group that made that quote that really didn't need to be in the article in the first place.
Wow Votan, good way to destroy your own credibility. Quote something from an outside source and then make it look like the developer of the game itself is making the statement. You must work for a politician.
"If half of what you tell me is a lie, how can I believe any of it?"
The problem with this game will be longevity, especially when some new games hit the market this year with more interesting offerings. When you have a generally uninspiring game, people are fast to jump ship for the latest and greatest. Me, I'm waiting for the next game I will play for at least a year, and hopefully 2-3 years. If I look at an MMO and only see 2-3 months worth of play time, I won't even bother. I have single player games for that kind of wham-bam-thankyou-ma'am gaming.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
Comments
Were I a corporate type in the same place, I would probably do the same.
Analysts like numbers and if they get those, they'll be thinking about the numbers and not what is behind them. And most investors / analysts (non-gaming) are not going to be savy enough to know the difference or ask what the split between trial and paying subs on the conference call. Only TOR has x.x mil subs.
And even if asked, EA/BW can always say "We don't have the sub numbers broken down that way... some of the trial subs might have converted to paying subs... blah blah blah."
This is a pure corporate tactic and not even an illegal one, just one likely to obscure the true scope of the post launch population decline.
Smart and likely to work unless investors ask the right questions.
Heh, that has nothing to do with being gullible. The simple and straight truth is unless they announced a massive fallen playerbase or something that shines them in poor light you wouldn't believe. Period. That has little to do with you being 'not gullible'. It's more about not being objective and narrow minded in wanting to see only what you desire or more pointedly, what you 'believe' is reality. Whether one is or not is rather irrelevant. You only seek one truth and it is the one you believe in. Anything less than that is false in your eyes.
And in the end I still wonder...why the heck do people care so much? If you already decided it isn't the game for you the best you can do is move on. You only give it more attention with every post even if it is to fume. You keep folks looking, peaking their interest and curious.
Want to show independent thinking? Be like the other posters (much respect to you guys) who said straight up they don't like the game but congrats to Bioware and to those who do enjoy it. That' s a simple 'It's not my cup of tea but well wishes' and they moved on. That's an independent thinker and an objective one.
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has told investors that BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is up to nearly 1.7 million monthly subscribers as of the end of February. A "vast majority" of players have passed beyond the free month of playtime that comes with the game and are in full-on paid subscription mode.
That there is an estimate.
When you say:
He didn't give an estimate, he said near 1.7 million
You're saying he didn't give an estimate and then turn around and quote his estimate!
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
Just did some googling regarding the analyst company, rather interesting. The same guy can be found on record both calling SWTOR as a WoW reskin, but also offering sales estimates of 3M. Amusing, if nothing else. No real interest in this game myself (not for me,but power to everyone who enjoys it), but REALLY looking forward to seeing how the dust settles in half a year from now.
I have to say though, considering that the strength of the game's IP was obviously a factor in high initial sales, plus considering that losing subs after the initial launch is pretty much the norm, it would actually be pretty impressive for a game to then have a really strong of a subscriber boost half a year after launch.
A Modest Proposal for MMORPGs:
That the means of progression would not be mutually exclusive from the means of enjoyment.
I feel much pain for these 1.7 Million. For they are trapped and can't understand. But when they finally get it...Tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of their lives. Their breakfast will taste better than any meal you or I have ever tasted.
Yes I am pretty sure they have the exact number of subscriptions. I just dont know why the need to throw out estimates. Listen, the number in the database is pretty exact - to one person.
Alot of wishful thinking here on EA's part.
Grim Dawn, the next great action rpg!
http://www.grimdawn.com/
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has confirmed that Star Wars: The Old Republic is sporting 1.7 million subscribers and indicated that the "vast majority" of the subscribers have passed beyond the thirty days of game time that was included in the purchase price.
This says that the day after the free month was over they had 1.7 subs. That was Jan 20.
What are the numbers today?
NO an estimate would be saying we intend to have NEARLY 1.7 million that is an estimate or saying we predict 2 million subs by june or by the end of this date that is an estimate. Saying nearly 1.7 million to INVESTORS means they have NEARLY 1.7 mil not 1.2 or some far away number like 500k that people think the game has.
From Article:
"We estimate 2MM paying subs by the end of June 2012 (and then sustained for the remainder of the year). We also note that the company plans to launch Star Wars in the Asia-Pacific region later this month," Creutz said in a statement. "
The news would have been stronger without the underlined part. Forcasting modest increases after opening in a brand-new, population-dense region? Dunno about that part, tbh.
A Modest Proposal for MMORPGs:
That the means of progression would not be mutually exclusive from the means of enjoyment.
As I said, some of you are confused on the definition of estimate lol!
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
Heh. You know the truth? Congratz.
Yes I agree with you, I dont know the truth and I remain skeptic.
Estimating is when you don't know the actual number but are using the data that you do have to come up with a guess as to what it is. He stated it as "near 1.7 million" because you don't go out and state to a board or a business partner that you have 1,681,579 subscriptions. The difference is so little that it doesn't matter, basically the same principal of when you fill out your tax forms you don't put the cents in - just on a larger scale.
If you weren't so busy being obtusly critical about the definition to prove yourself right instead of admit that just maybe you may have made an incorrect statement, you might see it.
2 weeks ago my server had the most people i had ever seen in every zone. This week less than 30 people in the cap city and the same on the fleet.
I can feel your anger. This game is defenseless. Take your weapon. Strike this game down with all of your hatred, and your journey towards towards the Dark Side will be complete.
It's stars war anything less than that would be a complete failure. the thing is this game wont grow in subs, the people who want to play this game already have so subs will only decline.
That IS an estimate lol! He didn't say 1,534,957 did he? He said "nearly", ie, estimation.
[v. es-tuh-meyt; n. es-tuh-mit, -meyt] Show IPA verb, -mat·ed, -mat·ing, nounes·ti·mate
verb (used with object)an approximate judgment or calculation, as of the value,amount, time, size, or weight of something.
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
No, he didn't give an exact number. He gave an estimate. What don't YOU not get about that?
He didn't give an estimate, he said near 1.7 million, which means its under 1.7 mil and he rounded up. The only estimates from this article came from a seperate industry analyst that estimated it will reach 2 million by june 2012. No where in the ceo's statement did he mention anything about estimating.
I think some of you are having a difficult time understanding the definition of estimate lol.
Boggles the mind.
And just under your post. The guy admits he was reading the article wrong.
Boggles the mind.
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has told investors that BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is up to nearly 1.7 million monthly subscribers as of the end of February. A "vast majority" of players have passed beyond the free month of playtime that comes with the game and are in full-on paid subscription mode.
That there is an estimate.
When you say:
He didn't give an estimate, he said near 1.7 million
You're saying he didn't give an estimate and then turn around and quote his estimate!
Dude, it's sad, read my sig, but they have virtually 1.7m current subs at the end of feb. now how many of those will fall down at the end of march is a different estimate." We estimate 2MM paying subs by the end of June 2012 (and then sustained for the remainder of the year"
Reading between the lines..... they claim 1.7 million subs now... so based on the above statement....Bioware is only planning on netting give or take 300k more subs than they currently claim for the asia pacific release to end Q3?
Except bioware/ea had nothing to do with that statement. That was a seperate industry analyst group that made that quote that really didn't need to be in the article in the first place.
Indeed, it is sad when Suzie Ford of MMORPG.com is either paid to give a positive opinion of SWTOR, or buys into the hype. I've seen mountains more evidence to the direct contradiction to her statement. I'll trust more than 1000 players all spamming youtube with how lifeless SWTOR is rather than a board admin on an MMO forum.
Additionally, they were correct in the fact that they "guestimated" their numbers rather than giving a definitive number on their subscribers. Additionally, they had 1.7million current subs in January. So either the numbers are going down, or they're not gaining ANY subscribers since January. So, again, SWTOR is not doing well, and will probably drop like a rock come another "Hope of the MMO genre" like GW2, TERA, etc etc.
I'll sit here and patiently wait for PlanetSide 2
!
The Theory of Conservative Conservation of Ignorant Stupidity:
Having a different opinion must mean you're a troll.
Dude your idea of 'not doing well' is to have the second most subs of any mmo. I don't think any Soe game ever has had that many subs. If Planetside 2 hits those numbers, and I don't got anything against Planetside 2. It would be Soe most succesful MMO.
You can argue whether it holds subs or not. We will see after 1.2 thats a big patch for them.
Edited for in NA/Eu. When i'm talking sub numbers.
Public companies are required by federal law to make PUBLIC information such as their financials and reviewed by 3rd party accounting firms. Have some lied over the years ? of course, but it is very rare and very serious crime. So much so, that you see people who commit fraud in this sector go to jail for the rest of their lives ( bernie madoff) or commit suicide when caught, see execs for Enron. Educate yourself a little and you wont make such silly comments. EA isnt going to risk it all by lying about how many subs some stupid game has.
Wow Votan, good way to destroy your own credibility. Quote something from an outside source and then make it look like the developer of the game itself is making the statement. You must work for a politician.
"If half of what you tell me is a lie, how can I believe any of it?"
The problem with this game will be longevity, especially when some new games hit the market this year with more interesting offerings. When you have a generally uninspiring game, people are fast to jump ship for the latest and greatest. Me, I'm waiting for the next game I will play for at least a year, and hopefully 2-3 years. If I look at an MMO and only see 2-3 months worth of play time, I won't even bother. I have single player games for that kind of wham-bam-thankyou-ma'am gaming.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
Well, I mean, they can say SW:TOR currently has 1.7m subscribers without delving into how many and how quickly people are leaving.