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Can SWTOR be saved?
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That would be short-term profitable in a contribution margin type of accounting in that they would bring in more money in the current period than they paid out in the current period. So, yes, they'd point out the game was profitable. But they'd be fooling you by extension because they know you'd assume that it would include all the costs associated with MMO, but doesn't really..
The truth is, it would not pay back the investment in the game for a very, very long time. It may never pay back the investment. It would still be short-term, contribution-margin profitable though. It just would have had a negative Return on Investment (ROI).
Essentially, in these reporting cases, you'll get a financial statement that says:
MMO Revenue: 500K
MMO expense: 100K
MMO profit: 400K
But they don't show you the 150K of licensing fees going to LA because that's under royalties and licensing. They don't show you the 50K share of unallocated G&A charges because that's a seperate, entity wide number. They don't show you the 250K amortization because that's under depreciation and amortization. So you don't see that the MMO is actually not profitable because much is hidden in other categories.
And, btw, this example is still a positive in contribution margin profitability. 400K - 150K - 50K = +200K contribution margin. Amortization (-250K) is a non-cash charge recognizing previous period capitalized expenses. They spent that money a long time ago and are only recognizing the charges against income now. Accounting is complex and even simplifying to the bare bones, it's still complex and I have to leave out tons.
So, here it is, looking profiable, while actually brining in a postive cash flow, showing a postive contribution margin, yet is not actually profitable. And most people cannot comprehend what's going on with the financial status of the MMO and believes what the Company tells them because they lack the education to see through the lies. Every day, people are fooled by Companies that like through selective reporting (like above) and misdirection (as EA always does) when it comes to financial reporting.
And while many think 'someone should do something about financial reporting' it really can't be done. Accounting and finance are hard and takes years of college an experience to master. Which is why the words “easily” or “average citizen” do not appear in FASB’s definition of the abilities of the external user. Financial statements are for people like me -- trained investors, business men in the financial and credit industry and professionals within the financial industry -- and not the general public.
Just like MRIs are for doctors and not truck drivers or accountants.
lol. A game is as good as it's retention.
Through March 31st:
2.2 million sales
1.3 customers remaining (not all active)
900K quit.
The servers are so much deader now than then, all but the most die-hard fanboy can't believe this game has retained even half it's purchasers.
There has been no showings of what is to come. They seem to have no plans or structure for the future
With SWG we knew we were getting space, mounts, vehicles, player cities etc added. LOTRO knew there was getting player housing. STO knew that we would be able to explore our ships. etc
SWTOR we know nothing. It just seems that it is going to stay in the same restrictive stale state it is at, just tweaking existing systems. The only thing we will probably get as content is more Flashpoints and Operations which can get done within a day and bored of within a week. Pretty much like s single player game with DLC. It can add extra content just can not expand the game like other MMOs
Last months event I knew nothing of it until it was over, and was playing the game at that time too. In LOTRO and City of Heroes you get email or in game messages when you log in. WIth SWG they put out emails or messages to to begin with, but wityh SWG did not have in game events until a lot later except at christmas. the devs / Pex did do a lot of manual events, like dropping Boba Fett into a city with other NPCS, on a random server.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
ofcourse it can... but not under EA
"Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life."
-------------------------------
This^ do this and you may save this game, don't, and enjoy your spot next to SWG in the major screw up bin. Both games had the recipe/opportunity for succes, mind boggling success and both blew it out of the water, completely. James Ohlen has no business in the video game industry. Honestly.
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.
I think the problem is it's billed as something it's not. Had it been sold as a single player experience with co op features it could have been very successful. But calling it an mmo is reaching.
To me, they should have went with box sales, no sub, dlc for expansions and specialty item/packs. In a different genre with a different set of expectations I think the game would do alright.
They also need to fix bugs. Some of the bugs I experienced were fixed, but others like the inability to fix my light side points bug made me question their programming acumen. My guild tab was bugged, and many times my groups ability to start a flashpoint together was bugged where one or more of us could would not be able to join in the quest dialogue to get social points. There were wierd things like this that are really fundamental to the experience that were not corrected when I left. It does not bode well for the game.
*
Moses, really: sale = subscription?
*cough*
(there are expert and there are people who claim to know what they are saying..., sometimes the two are the same, sometimes not.)
Can ea be arsed to save it.
History says no.
No, there's no Save game in MMO's.
No, it can't and here's a perfect example of why:
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=4472438#edit4472438
It would be funny if it wasn't sad.
Somebody should stop those Bioware guys.
200 of them were stopped a few days ago. lol
I think the only thing that can save this game is epic spsce system put in. Spmething on par with x wing vs tie fighter.
The game needs a huge social upgrade. Make npc's interesting, interactive and be able to sit! More emotes and make cantina's intersting. Expand space game and merge worlds so the population increases 10 fold.
With all this it would only be a start.
You stay sassy!
Really? They said SWTOR is profitable or just EA? It wasn't "sustainable", or "bringing in money" or something equally vague? They said they'd be profitable with 500K subs, but nobody has said how long those subs would have to be sustained to become profitable. If it would take 2 to 3 years on 500K subs, then they have a long and painful road ahead of them.
As far as saving he game goes, I think they shot themselves in the foot from the get go with the choice of the HERO engine. Saving TOR would simply cost too much. Miracles can happen, but I don't see it in this case.
I have some mixed feelings on this topic. I am a huge SW fan (played every game in the IP that was released), and I have played all bioware games since Baldur's Gate. I honestly was quite disappointed in how the game progressed from development to launch. The simplification of the stat and crafting systems, the added grinds, faltering with Ilum, increased cost to attain legacy levels, and ever increasing costs of pvp/pve gear resulting in more grind has (in my mind) tarnished this title. I sometimes imagine that the game has sent its own astromech to Obi Wan begging for help (help me Obi Wan, you're my only hope).
I believe that the legacy system is really adding little to the game, but seems to be one of the major focus' atm. Grouping with mates is a pain at times. I wish there was a system where you could form a group and teleport to the leader. With all the load screens its a pain to get around at times (especially if your planet and fleet recalls are on cooldown). I advocate voting with your dollars, and I feel I may have to let my sub end to express my displeasure with the course this title has been on since beta last summer.
Cheers!
MMO Vet since AOL Neverwinter Nights circa 1992. My MMO beat up your MMO. =S
Interesting post.
See, for me things were partially at least the opposite: I was one of the first to bring Baldur's Gate to Europe, a full 4 months before the EU release. And me and all my D&D buddies loved it (thanks to cracks lol) but, while latter I still assumed that BW would produce good quality, the temptation to buy BW games was limited (due to not being MMOs).
And while I like SW movies (well, the originals), I was never one to fall into the SW IP trap: "I need to buy this game just because it has SW on there somewhere" - not for me!
Finally, the first time I ever really became aware of SWTOR was mid-2011. I'm sure I had heard the news, seen the updates, but I never cared, I think in part because of the story-driven concept that was attached to this MMO which seemed to limit the overall freedom of a MMO universe.
So, when I got into the SWTOR beta it was really just because I wanted to see how well it would run on my laptop, if at all. I had no plan to buy it.
But within 10 hrs I was hooked.
So maybe it's that people who had been following SWTOR's birthing thru the years, who had played KOTOR1&2, who had played SWG had certain expectations... and reality, well, maybe didn't fall short but took a spin to the left?
To me the Legacy system stands a bit at it's core - please note: I'm not saying it is SWTOR's core.
The game is about not just having one character but actually creating a "family" of multiple (different) characters. Which is an interesting approach if you think about it: today's gamers can't be asked to slow-grind their one character up - as you did 10 years ago because levelling multiple characters up at the same time would just take too long.
Today's gamer expects his character to be in "endgame" within 2-3 weeks, maybe even days.
Which BW made possible in SWTOR. But rather than feeding that "topped" character more "endgame" material, they figured that ppl would come to understand the idea of creating alts. Which of course effects Lagacy and vice versa.
Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to lecture you on what the "right" way of playing SWTOR is but that's how I understood/understand it and it seems to click just fine with what SWTOR is offering.Other ppl may see things differently...
Anyhow, a big topic I keep seeing brought up (by you as well) is grouping. And the more I read what people are complaining about, the more I feel like - sorry, but that's the way it looks to me! - they are just fucking lazy (maybe with a fair touch of socially "handicapped".
You are complaining that when you want to play with your mates a) it's the general distance you have to travel that is too far, and b) the loading screens make it all take too long...
First, congrats on having evolved over all the LFG whiners who actually can't get their arse in gear to set up mates but just work with a "maybe I'll find some ppl to group with for today" concept! Wish more ppl would understand that yes, having a (large(r)) group of (fixed) mates in game makes creating a group much easier!
Now, second: I look at "game mates" sort of with the same eyes as with RL friends: if I call them on my way home to go and catch a flick at the movies, I don't expect them to already stand at my door when I get home.
Yes, with the internet it's really just go online, log in, and there they could be. But MMOs try to create the illusion of a "real" world, so yes, you will know that your mate is online (just like you'll know that he is not dead in RL) but just like as if you are in London and he is in Manchester, either you travel up to him, he travels down to you, or you two meet in the middle i.e. you may have to travel to Hoth, or he may have to Travel to Tatooine or you both may have to travel to Alderaan.
Which really shouldn't be a big deal: a few quick IMs during the day, set a time where to be, and easy goes: yes, you still have to travel... but you can coordinate that you can get wherever you are supposed to meet the others easy enough. And even if your fleetpass was on cooldown, always remember that planets also offer shuttles to Fleet ;-)
So yeah, I think a lot of these complaints are people just being not happy about having to travel the distance... while at the same time ppl are complaining that SWTOR's worlds are not big enough for real exploration... oh well...
Third, the loading screens... honestly, I'd call the "loading screen issue" one of the biggest crybaby "excuses" in SWTOR!
People have given me times for how long the loading screens take for them. I have tested the same scenarios on my (non-gaming) laptop (1 year old) and usually came up with half the duration. People using SSDs even cut (claimed) loading times of multiple minutes on other systems down to no more than a few secs on their system.
So, in all fairness, if you are complaining about loading times being too long, don't blame the game, blame your PC!
I'm not saying that everybody should feel like SWTOR is a good game... but on the other side you (read: SWTOR dislikers) may want to yield and accept that just because they don't like it, it's not automatically a bad game ;-)
If a game fails it fails. They all have their chance to make it in this universe.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
SW:TOR's doing fine, and many will return as soon as they announce their single player expansion with 10 new levels, 30 hours of new levelling per class or whatever, because people like RPGs.
In terms of sustaining player numbers at endgame, no way will it stay at 1.3. Isn't Rift at like 250k or something by now?
It's not worth the subscription fee, then again I wouldn't play it if was F2P because it's just a bad game.
Tera already has and without any story quests at all. Quest lines in Tera suck but everything else is amazing!
Exactly. If it's suddendly a good game because it turns F2P, then that means the player is just cheap.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
Some of you folks are truly a curiosity, the level of stupidity expressed in some of these posts is shear entertainment. SWTOR is already in the black, the 1.3 million subs is pretty good incentive for them to continue working on the game.
And all the suggestions of shutting it down are laughable, I think the game needs more sandbox like content at endgame to be better once the personal stories run out , but the statements in here are rediculous.
They have alot they can do to improve this game, no question but get real with the "Guild Wars 2 is the final nail" and "they are gona have to go F2P", maybe later this year if they cant get the needed content in, but right now it's making alot of money for Bioware.
The game is kind of semi-F2P right now. It has been... what? A little over 5 months since SWTOR's release? And 2/5 of those months were free to a lot of people. The F2P thing might not be too far-fetched.