You had to have had loads of characters and get to Legacy Level 6, or get 1 character to level 50, which was well easy to do, and then they gave you time to achieve that as well.
Whether it was easy or not is not the question, question is how many people has received this free month, 6 months subscribers in particular.
People who bought 6 months subs would have to be dedicated to the game, so more liklely to get it, than the one monthers, who sub and then unsub to do other things.
Originally posted by superniceguy People who bought 6 months subs would have to be dedicated to the game, so more liklely to get it, than the one monthers, who sub and then unsub to do other things.
Maybe, still does not move us an inch to how many of those 1.7M subscribers in February were 6 monthers and how many of them got the Free month subscription.
People who bought 6 months subs would have to be dedicated to the game, so more liklely to get it, than the one monthers, who sub and then unsub to do other things.
Maybe, still does not move us an inch to how many of those 1.7M subscribers in February were 6 monthers and how many of them got the Free month subscription.
Nothing we say will ever will, but should be more than 50% as not many will pay 6 months at launch and then just play it casually. I bought a 12 months sub for SWG in 2007, as I knew what the game was all about, but I did not even consider a 3 month sub in 2003, because I did not know the game nor how much I would actually play it. If you know you will put the time into the game, you buy the long subs.
I can't remember the name of the game, but there was an MMO that only lasted 2 months or something like that before they pulled the plug...but I can't remember the name. Funny thing is that everything in the game worked.
Originally posted by superniceguyI bought a 12 months sub for SWG in 2007, as I knew what the game was all about, but I did not even consider a 3 month sub in 2003, because I did not know the game nor how much I would actually play it. If you know you will put the time into the game, you buy the long subs.
Player expectations and behavior is rarely reasonable and what players say is not necessarily the same what they do so without any data, our guesses can be in heavy conflict with reality
Back to topic.
I think EA is doing fine now. They exploited P2P model as much as they could and now shift to model that will bring more revenue.
I agree with you on your last paragraph and think that the biggest problem of SWTOR is the costs. The game was expensive to make and market is highly competitive, making the venture risky.
It really depends on all in all numbers and EA said they are ready to operate SWTOR on many different profit levels for many years.
I often wonder that someone is still making MMO games. You either have to come with something very unique, which bears a lot of risk or you have to spend a lot on development to deliver competitive content, which is also very risky.
I bought a 12 months sub for SWG in 2007, as I knew what the game was all about, but I did not even consider a 3 month sub in 2003, because I did not know the game nor how much I would actually play it. If you know you will put the time into the game, you buy the long subs.
Player expectations and behavior is rarely reasonable so without any data, our guesses can be in heavy conflict with reality
Back to topic.
I think EA is doing fine now. They exploited P2P model as much as they could and now shift to model that will bring more revenue.
I agree with you on your last paragraph and think that the biggest problem of SWTOR is the costs. The game was expensive to make and market is highly competitive, making the venture risky.
It really depends on all in all numbers and EA said they are ready to operate SWTOR on many different profit levels for many years.
I often wonder that someone is still making MMO games. You either have to come with something very unique, which bears a lot of risk or you have to spend a lot on development to deliver competitive content, which is also very risky.
probably, EA arent the types to let things drag on, if the game wasnt profitable, on some level, then they would have shut it down, they've done it before, Earth and Beyond etc, must admit im very surprised though at their move to F2P/P2P hybrid sub model for SW;TOR, not sure how thats going to work really.. as long as they continue to work on the game, then fair enough, theres a lot needs doing, i just hope that their not thinking of taking it down to maintenance level and just get what they can out of it.
I bought a 12 months sub for SWG in 2007, as I knew what the game was all about, but I did not even consider a 3 month sub in 2003, because I did not know the game nor how much I would actually play it. If you know you will put the time into the game, you buy the long subs.
Player expectations and behavior is rarely reasonable so without any data, our guesses can be in heavy conflict with reality
Back to topic.
I think EA is doing fine now. They exploited P2P model as much as they could and now shift to model that will bring more revenue.
I agree with you on your last paragraph and think that the biggest problem of SWTOR is the costs. The game was expensive to make and market is highly competitive, making the venture risky.
It really depends on all in all numbers and EA said they are ready to operate SWTOR on many different profit levels for many years.
I often wonder that someone is still making MMO games. You either have to come with something very unique, which bears a lot of risk or you have to spend a lot on development to deliver competitive content, which is also very risky.
I do not think EA or SWTOR is doing fine now. Now that F2P is coming I doubt many will carry on subbing now, and then just finish the game off when it goes F2P. SWTOR will only be fine if F2P actually works for EA. I do not think they will be able to do it. Turbine got it to work with DDO and LOTRO as they knew what they were doing, but EA just seem intent on making a quick fast profit instead of trying to please the customer, but if they pleased the customer then they would get their money.
I bought a 12 months sub for SWG in 2007, as I knew what the game was all about, but I did not even consider a 3 month sub in 2003, because I did not know the game nor how much I would actually play it. If you know you will put the time into the game, you buy the long subs.
Player expectations and behavior is rarely reasonable so without any data, our guesses can be in heavy conflict with reality
Back to topic.
I think EA is doing fine now. They exploited P2P model as much as they could and now shift to model that will bring more revenue.
I agree with you on your last paragraph and think that the biggest problem of SWTOR is the costs. The game was expensive to make and market is highly competitive, making the venture risky.
It really depends on all in all numbers and EA said they are ready to operate SWTOR on many different profit levels for many years.
I often wonder that someone is still making MMO games. You either have to come with something very unique, which bears a lot of risk or you have to spend a lot on development to deliver competitive content, which is also very risky.
probably, EA arent the types to let things drag on, if the game wasnt profitable, on some level, then they would have shut it down, they've done it before, Earth and Beyond etc, must admit im very surprised though at their move to F2P/P2P hybrid sub model for SW;TOR, not sure how thats going to work really.. as long as they continue to work on the game, then fair enough, theres a lot needs doing, i just hope that their not thinking of taking it down to maintenance level and just get what they can out of it.
They probably could not shut down SWTOR so easily due to the contract they have with LA. They probably bought 3-5 years worth.
I do not think there will be another SW MMO after this unless LA do it themselves.SWG has given a (bigger) bad name to SOE, and now it is giving EA/Bioware more bad reputation. I think 3rd party developers will stay away from LA and MMOs after this.
Eww, please enlighten me how do you make "quick profit" on a game that takes years to develop?
Pleasing the customers is what everyone is trying to achieve but it is easier to say than to do.
Well said Gdemami, besides which EA already has plenty of "fast buck" franchises (CoD, FIFA, etc), they have wanted to move to "service provision" quite a long time, I imagine that they see themselves as a "digital service" provider in much the same way as the TV networks like ABC/BBC.
This has got to be the most monumental MMO failure
Tabula Rasa never had as much as effort or ambition poured into it as SWTOR did.
Tabula Rasa... Way way bigger, and not the effort. For it's time it was the most over-hyped debacle made. Sure it did not have full VO but then agaoin not many other games have had that so far and this was a few years ago. And for it's time i think Motorcity Online was a pretty big fail to. Ultima Online 2 was also a pretty big fail.
And least but not last... SW:ToR did not fail... EA might be considerd a fail as they completley missjudge the market, they are now rectifying it and i think the game have a very good chance of making EA very big piles of money...
But as the second poster said, don't let me rain on your parade as nothing i say will change your mind.
Your completely right, it's the same logic that suggests on these forums that RIFT is an amazing successful highly populated game. Why? Simply because a majority of people on this site like Trion but SWTOR is a failure, because they hate EA.
Is SWTOR as successful as EA wanted it to be? No, not by a longshot, but it still has more subs then most games in the western market that you'd compare it to. That's the facts, it doesn't matter how many, 'SWTOR is dead', or, 'SWTOR is a failure', threads you make, your fantasy isn't going to come true.
You know what they say, never argue with idiots, becasue they'll bring you down to their level and then beat you with experience.
Good post and I completely agree. Nice to see some common sense in here instead of all the blind hate these forums tend to have.
Common sense that is ignoring the fact that SWTOR needs 500k subs to break even, RIFT does not, and as the 6 months subs expire at the end of this month, plus those naturally expiring, so chances are the subs will be below the 500k mark, and for the next couple of months will actually be losing money, and still could if no one actually buys anything or subs, and just takes advantage of the free 1-50 content. My sub runs out in under 2 weeks, and was thinking I may resub later,, periodically, but now that it is going F2P and the content from 1-50 is free there will be no need now. Everything else the game has to offer that you need to pay for, I do not need.
EA/Bioware made this game too big to handle. Trion made Rift adequate to handle as they did not go for the WOW figures. There is no hate for EA and love for Trion. EA/Bioware were just greedy, plain and simple, and now the fans lose out. If they did not make the game so BIG, like Rift, they would not need to be taking it F2P so soon.
They have seen the massive freefall all year, from all the free trial weekends virtually every week, then the friend trials, then the boost to the number of friend invites, then the free trial to level 15, and the speeder for a friend invite, and the layoffs, and now it is actually F2P. This year has been nothing but a panic attack for EA to and pulling every trick out the book to stop themselves going under with the game. If what they say that they need 500K to break even, after this month, it looks like they will be going under with this game.
If all MMOs need 500K to break even, there will be no MMOs other than WOW left, and I bet even WOW does not need 500K to break even. EA/Bioware just went too big with SWTOR, and it could be the first F2P MMO to get shut down.
You clearly don't browse these forums or you have blinkers on. There are a certain amount of people on this site who hate EA and think SWTOR should die for the, 'good', of the industry, which of course is bollocks. There are lots of games I don't like but I don't think they should disappear to suit my own egocentric views.
TRION did target the WOW crowd/figures, or have you convienently chosen to ignore all the WOW baiting ads? You only have to browse the history of these forum posts on the RIFT side to find people predicting millions of subs for that game and how great it is. Regardless of what I think of RIFT, people like TRION on these forums because of past glories associated with them, (i.e. DAOC). Hence TRION get an easier ride here.
Have you even looking at the F2P option? It's more restrictive then you think. RIFT was made the way it was because of time constraints and trying to, rather smartly, launch in a time without much competition. It's probably why they churned out so many updates, because the base game didn't have a huge amount there.
I'm not sure about the greedy argument they did spend 200million on the project. Then again EA expected this to be hugely successful and it simple isn't. There are plenty of people playing, just not the numbers EA wanted considering the investment and they are known for abandoning projects which aren't doing as well as they'd like, (i.e Earth and Beyond). Clearly they've gone for broke on this and it may be a fatal flaw, especially for Biowares relationship with EA, and the future of the corporation as a whole.
I heard a couple of days ago that DA3 has only started production now, when most assumed that it had been in the works for a while. Were Bioware having issues with EA putting their hands in their pocket again? Time will tell I suppose.
I would say that SWTOR is NOT the biggest MMO failure ever. I personally save that title for games that never launched (The Agency, Jumpgate MMO, etc) and those games that lived amazingly short lives (Gods and Heroes, Tabula Rasa, etc).
Was SWTOR what I wanted? No. Could it have been so much better? Yes. Can we move on now?
People who bought 6 months subs would have to be dedicated to the game, so more liklely to get it, than the one monthers, who sub and then unsub to do other things.
Maybe, still does not move us an inch to how many of those 1.7M subscribers in February were 6 monthers and how many of them got the Free month subscription..
1. Anyone who couldn't get the free 30 days won't have been interested / will have finished with the game and not re-subbed by now. Remember that the power players hit 50 in less than 3 (maybe 4) days.
2. How many 6 month subs? We don;t know. We do know however that EA did not have 1.7M "continuing subscribers" in February - JR qualified his Feb' comments in early March to say that just about half were continuing subscribers - so 850k. Which also means that quite a lot of the people who bought the game in Dec had left by then as well.
3 Haven't there been free weekends as well - before the 30 days for example.
This has got to be the most monumental MMO failure
Tabula Rasa never had as much as effort or ambition poured into it as SWTOR did.
Tabula Rasa... Way way bigger, and not the effort. For it's time it was the most over-hyped debacle made. Sure it did not have full VO but then agaoin not many other games have had that so far and this was a few years ago. And for it's time i think Motorcity Online was a pretty big fail to. Ultima Online 2 was also a pretty big fail.
And least but not last... SW:ToR did not fail... EA might be considerd a fail as they completley missjudge the market, they are now rectifying it and i think the game have a very good chance of making EA very big piles of money...
But as the second poster said, don't let me rain on your parade as nothing i say will change your mind.
Your completely right, it's the same logic that suggests on these forums that RIFT is an amazing successful highly populated game. Why? Simply because a majority of people on this site like Trion but SWTOR is a failure, because they hate EA.
Is SWTOR as successful as EA wanted it to be? No, not by a longshot, but it still has more subs then most games in the western market that you'd compare it to. That's the facts, it doesn't matter how many, 'SWTOR is dead', or, 'SWTOR is a failure', threads you make, your fantasy isn't going to come true.
You know what they say, never argue with idiots, becasue they'll bring you down to their level and then beat you with experience.
Good post and I completely agree. Nice to see some common sense in here instead of all the blind hate these forums tend to have.
Common sense that is ignoring the fact that SWTOR needs 500k subs to break even, RIFT does not, and as the 6 months subs expire at the end of this month, plus those naturally expiring, so chances are the subs will be below the 500k mark, and for the next couple of months will actually be losing money, and still could if no one actually buys anything or subs, and just takes advantage of the free 1-50 content. My sub runs out in under 2 weeks, and was thinking I may resub later,, periodically, but now that it is going F2P and the content from 1-50 is free there will be no need now. Everything else the game has to offer that you need to pay for, I do not need.
EA/Bioware made this game too big to handle. Trion made Rift adequate to handle as they did not go for the WOW figures. There is no hate for EA and love for Trion. EA/Bioware were just greedy, plain and simple, and now the fans lose out. If they did not make the game so BIG, like Rift, they would not need to be taking it F2P so soon.
They have seen the massive freefall all year, from all the free trial weekends virtually every week, then the friend trials, then the boost to the number of friend invites, then the free trial to level 15, and the speeder for a friend invite, and the layoffs, and now it is actually F2P. This year has been nothing but a panic attack for EA to and pulling every trick out the book to stop themselves going under with the game. If what they say that they need 500K to break even, after this month, it looks like they will be going under with this game.
If all MMOs need 500K to break even, there will be no MMOs other than WOW left, and I bet even WOW does not need 500K to break even. EA/Bioware just went too big with SWTOR, and it could be the first F2P MMO to get shut down.
You clearly don't browse these forums or you have blinkers on. There are a certain amount of people on this site who hate EA and think SWTOR should die for the, 'good', of the industry, which of course is bollocks. There are lots of games I don't like but I don't think they should disappear to suit my own egocentric views.
TRION did target the WOW crowd/figures, or have you convienently chosen to ignore all the WOW baiting ads? You only have to browse the history of these forum posts on the RIFT side to find people predicting millions of subs for that game and how great it is. Regardless of what I think of RIFT, people like TRION on these forums because of past glories associated with them, (i.e. DAOC). Hence TRION get an easier ride here.
Have you even looking at the F2P option? It's more restrictive then you think. RIFT was made the way it was because of time constraints and trying to, rather smartly, launch in a time without much competition. It's probably why they churned out so many updates, because the base game didn't have a huge amount there.
I'm not sure about the greedy argument they did spend 200million on the project. Then again EA expected this to be hugely successful and it simple isn't. There are plenty of people playing, just not the numbers EA wanted considering the investment and they are known for abandoning projects which aren't doing as well as they'd like, (i.e Earth and Beyond). Clearly they've gone for broke on this and it may be a fatal flaw, especially for Biowares relationship with EA, and the future of the corporation as a whole.
I heard a couple of days ago that DA3 has only started production now, when most assumed that it had been in the works for a while. Were Bioware having issues with EA putting their hands in their pocket again? Time will tell I suppose.
I do not have blinkers on, there are obviously people who hate EA, but they are easy targets right now , for people who hate them or not.
Levels 1-50 looks free to me, and that is all I care about, and what others will too, other things like Warzones, Operations and Flashpoints are restrcitive, but I can easily not bother with them.
They probably can not abandon SWTOR due to the contract with LA
As for DA3 it has been in the works for a while but got frozen for them to focus on SWTOR, but from what you say it now seems that they have resumed working on it.
TRION did target the WOW crowd/figures, or have you convienently chosen to ignore all the WOW baiting ads? You only have to browse the history of these forum posts on the RIFT side to find people predicting millions of subs for that game and how great it is. Regardless of what I think of RIFT, people like TRION on these forums because of past glories associated with them, (i.e. DAOC). Hence TRION get an easier ride here.
I can't seem to find any articles stating that Trion needed 500K subs to stay afloat. I remeber the WOW like ads though. Who would not want the WOW figures?
EA/Bioware just did not want WOW figures, they NEEDED WOW figures.
Originally posted by superniceguy Originally posted by GdemamiOriginally posted by superniceguyEA just seem intent on making a quick fast profit
Eww, please enlighten me how do you make "quick profit" on a game that takes years to develop?Pleasing the customers is what everyone is trying to achieve but it is easier to say than to do. Exactly why F2P will fail.
P2P was their long term goal
Huh? I am sorry but I am not following your "exactly" there.
P2P is not their goal, their goal is revenue - P2P is only a way to reach the goal.
This has got to be the most monumental MMO failure
Tabula Rasa never had as much as effort or ambition poured into it as SWTOR did.
Tabula Rasa... Way way bigger, and not the effort. For it's time it was the most over-hyped debacle made. Sure it did not have full VO but then agaoin not many other games have had that so far and this was a few years ago. And for it's time i think Motorcity Online was a pretty big fail to. Ultima Online 2 was also a pretty big fail.
And least but not last... SW:ToR did not fail... EA might be considerd a fail as they completley missjudge the market, they are now rectifying it and i think the game have a very good chance of making EA very big piles of money...
But as the second poster said, don't let me rain on your parade as nothing i say will change your mind.
Your completely right, it's the same logic that suggests on these forums that RIFT is an amazing successful highly populated game. Why? Simply because a majority of people on this site like Trion but SWTOR is a failure, because they hate EA.
Is SWTOR as successful as EA wanted it to be? No, not by a longshot, but it still has more subs then most games in the western market that you'd compare it to. That's the facts, it doesn't matter how many, 'SWTOR is dead', or, 'SWTOR is a failure', threads you make, your fantasy isn't going to come true.
You know what they say, never argue with idiots, becasue they'll bring you down to their level and then beat you with experience.
Good post and I completely agree. Nice to see some common sense in here instead of all the blind hate these forums tend to have.
Common sense that is ignoring the fact that SWTOR needs 500k subs to break even, RIFT does not, and as the 6 months subs expire at the end of this month, plus those naturally expiring, so chances are the subs will be below the 500k mark, and for the next couple of months will actually be losing money, and still could if no one actually buys anything or subs, and just takes advantage of the free 1-50 content. My sub runs out in under 2 weeks, and was thinking I may resub later,, periodically, but now that it is going F2P and the content from 1-50 is free there will be no need now. Everything else the game has to offer that you need to pay for, I do not need.
EA/Bioware made this game too big to handle. Trion made Rift adequate to handle as they did not go for the WOW figures. There is no hate for EA and love for Trion. EA/Bioware were just greedy, plain and simple, and now the fans lose out. If they did not make the game so BIG, like Rift, they would not need to be taking it F2P so soon.
They have seen the massive freefall all year, from all the free trial weekends virtually every week, then the friend trials, then the boost to the number of friend invites, then the free trial to level 15, and the speeder for a friend invite, and the layoffs, and now it is actually F2P. This year has been nothing but a panic attack for EA to and pulling every trick out the book to stop themselves going under with the game. If what they say that they need 500K to break even, after this month, it looks like they will be going under with this game.
If all MMOs need 500K to break even, there will be no MMOs other than WOW left, and I bet even WOW does not need 500K to break even. EA/Bioware just went too big with SWTOR, and it could be the first F2P MMO to get shut down.
You clearly don't browse these forums or you have blinkers on. There are a certain amount of people on this site who hate EA and think SWTOR should die for the, 'good', of the industry, which of course is bollocks. There are lots of games I don't like but I don't think they should disappear to suit my own egocentric views.
TRION did target the WOW crowd/figures, or have you convienently chosen to ignore all the WOW baiting ads? You only have to browse the history of these forum posts on the RIFT side to find people predicting millions of subs for that game and how great it is. Regardless of what I think of RIFT, people like TRION on these forums because of past glories associated with them, (i.e. DAOC). Hence TRION get an easier ride here.
Have you even looking at the F2P option? It's more restrictive then you think. RIFT was made the way it was because of time constraints and trying to, rather smartly, launch in a time without much competition. It's probably why they churned out so many updates, because the base game didn't have a huge amount there.
I'm not sure about the greedy argument they did spend 200million on the project. Then again EA expected this to be hugely successful and it simple isn't. There are plenty of people playing, just not the numbers EA wanted considering the investment and they are known for abandoning projects which aren't doing as well as they'd like, (i.e Earth and Beyond). Clearly they've gone for broke on this and it may be a fatal flaw, especially for Biowares relationship with EA, and the future of the corporation as a whole.
I heard a couple of days ago that DA3 has only started production now, when most assumed that it had been in the works for a while. Were Bioware having issues with EA putting their hands in their pocket again? Time will tell I suppose.
I think other companies will learn from the mistakes EA made developing SWTOR. And there will never be any more games like it. Players that dont like that type of game think that is good. Thats why they claim its good for the industri. It makes some sense I think. There is probably a better chance that future games will satisfie those players. If SWTOR was a huge success there would be more games like that in the future. Now investors and corporations will think about SWTOR and say "no" when the next developer asks for money. Players with an agenda wanting very different games will hope that money will be invested in what they think are better games. That POV is not difficult to understand.
Comments
People who bought 6 months subs would have to be dedicated to the game, so more liklely to get it, than the one monthers, who sub and then unsub to do other things.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
Maybe, still does not move us an inch to how many of those 1.7M subscribers in February were 6 monthers and how many of them got the Free month subscription.
Nothing we say will ever will, but should be more than 50% as not many will pay 6 months at launch and then just play it casually. I bought a 12 months sub for SWG in 2007, as I knew what the game was all about, but I did not even consider a 3 month sub in 2003, because I did not know the game nor how much I would actually play it. If you know you will put the time into the game, you buy the long subs.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
Player expectations and behavior is rarely reasonable and what players say is not necessarily the same what they do so without any data, our guesses can be in heavy conflict with reality
Back to topic.
I think EA is doing fine now. They exploited P2P model as much as they could and now shift to model that will bring more revenue.
I agree with you on your last paragraph and think that the biggest problem of SWTOR is the costs. The game was expensive to make and market is highly competitive, making the venture risky.
It really depends on all in all numbers and EA said they are ready to operate SWTOR on many different profit levels for many years.
I often wonder that someone is still making MMO games. You either have to come with something very unique, which bears a lot of risk or you have to spend a lot on development to deliver competitive content, which is also very risky.
EVE is growing, part you are missing out is that it reached the low in December 2011 so it is growing, but only back from the low.
On a year-to-year basis, it stagnates.
probably, EA arent the types to let things drag on, if the game wasnt profitable, on some level, then they would have shut it down, they've done it before, Earth and Beyond etc, must admit im very surprised though at their move to F2P/P2P hybrid sub model for SW;TOR, not sure how thats going to work really.. as long as they continue to work on the game, then fair enough, theres a lot needs doing, i just hope that their not thinking of taking it down to maintenance level and just get what they can out of it.
I do not think EA or SWTOR is doing fine now. Now that F2P is coming I doubt many will carry on subbing now, and then just finish the game off when it goes F2P. SWTOR will only be fine if F2P actually works for EA. I do not think they will be able to do it. Turbine got it to work with DDO and LOTRO as they knew what they were doing, but EA just seem intent on making a quick fast profit instead of trying to please the customer, but if they pleased the customer then they would get their money.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
They probably could not shut down SWTOR so easily due to the contract they have with LA. They probably bought 3-5 years worth.
I do not think there will be another SW MMO after this unless LA do it themselves.SWG has given a (bigger) bad name to SOE, and now it is giving EA/Bioware more bad reputation. I think 3rd party developers will stay away from LA and MMOs after this.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
Eww, please enlighten me how do you make "quick profit" on a game that takes years to develop?
Pleasing the customers is what everyone is trying to achieve but it is easier to say than to do.
Well said Gdemami, besides which EA already has plenty of "fast buck" franchises (CoD, FIFA, etc), they have wanted to move to "service provision" quite a long time, I imagine that they see themselves as a "digital service" provider in much the same way as the TV networks like ABC/BBC.
You clearly don't browse these forums or you have blinkers on. There are a certain amount of people on this site who hate EA and think SWTOR should die for the, 'good', of the industry, which of course is bollocks. There are lots of games I don't like but I don't think they should disappear to suit my own egocentric views.
TRION did target the WOW crowd/figures, or have you convienently chosen to ignore all the WOW baiting ads? You only have to browse the history of these forum posts on the RIFT side to find people predicting millions of subs for that game and how great it is. Regardless of what I think of RIFT, people like TRION on these forums because of past glories associated with them, (i.e. DAOC). Hence TRION get an easier ride here.
Have you even looking at the F2P option? It's more restrictive then you think. RIFT was made the way it was because of time constraints and trying to, rather smartly, launch in a time without much competition. It's probably why they churned out so many updates, because the base game didn't have a huge amount there.
I'm not sure about the greedy argument they did spend 200million on the project. Then again EA expected this to be hugely successful and it simple isn't. There are plenty of people playing, just not the numbers EA wanted considering the investment and they are known for abandoning projects which aren't doing as well as they'd like, (i.e Earth and Beyond). Clearly they've gone for broke on this and it may be a fatal flaw, especially for Biowares relationship with EA, and the future of the corporation as a whole.
I heard a couple of days ago that DA3 has only started production now, when most assumed that it had been in the works for a while. Were Bioware having issues with EA putting their hands in their pocket again? Time will tell I suppose.
This looks like a job for....The Riviera Kid!
I would say that SWTOR is NOT the biggest MMO failure ever. I personally save that title for games that never launched (The Agency, Jumpgate MMO, etc) and those games that lived amazingly short lives (Gods and Heroes, Tabula Rasa, etc).
Was SWTOR what I wanted? No. Could it have been so much better? Yes. Can we move on now?
SWG NGE was not a failure it still kept people playing and still took over 3 years after that for them to "merge" servers
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
1. Anyone who couldn't get the free 30 days won't have been interested / will have finished with the game and not re-subbed by now. Remember that the power players hit 50 in less than 3 (maybe 4) days.
2. How many 6 month subs? We don;t know. We do know however that EA did not have 1.7M "continuing subscribers" in February - JR qualified his Feb' comments in early March to say that just about half were continuing subscribers - so 850k. Which also means that quite a lot of the people who bought the game in Dec had left by then as well.
3 Haven't there been free weekends as well - before the 30 days for example.
Exactly why F2P will fail.
P2P was their long term goal, but as SWTOR dropped subbed so fast they now need a quick fast turnaround to stay afloat.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
I do not have blinkers on, there are obviously people who hate EA, but they are easy targets right now , for people who hate them or not.
Levels 1-50 looks free to me, and that is all I care about, and what others will too, other things like Warzones, Operations and Flashpoints are restrcitive, but I can easily not bother with them.
They probably can not abandon SWTOR due to the contract with LA
As for DA3 it has been in the works for a while but got frozen for them to focus on SWTOR, but from what you say it now seems that they have resumed working on it.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
I can't seem to find any articles stating that Trion needed 500K subs to stay afloat. I remeber the WOW like ads though. Who would not want the WOW figures?
EA/Bioware just did not want WOW figures, they NEEDED WOW figures.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
Exactly why F2P will fail.
P2P was their long term goal
Huh? I am sorry but I am not following your "exactly" there.
P2P is not their goal, their goal is revenue - P2P is only a way to reach the goal.
So you consider 500k a WoW figure?
Youtube.com/TheNorseGamer
I think other companies will learn from the mistakes EA made developing SWTOR. And there will never be any more games like it. Players that dont like that type of game think that is good. Thats why they claim its good for the industri. It makes some sense I think. There is probably a better chance that future games will satisfie those players. If SWTOR was a huge success there would be more games like that in the future. Now investors and corporations will think about SWTOR and say "no" when the next developer asks for money. Players with an agenda wanting very different games will hope that money will be invested in what they think are better games. That POV is not difficult to understand.