EA Conference call: SWTOR with just under 500k subs, 1.7 million free to play

DaRoamer

Just announced on the EA 4th quarter conference call.  Subs currently sitting at just under half a million subs, 1.7 million new free to play players since Nov and doubled revenues.  Sub number still growing.

Ralstlin

link?

DaRoamer

Originally posted by Ralstlin
link?

No link yet, I was listening to the conference call live, it just finished.  Wait for the transcript.  The first question in the QA was about SWTOR and that was the answer he gave.

RefMinor

http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/ERTS/2466401751x0x661559/d34b9685-e689-44d1-925e-86a19acbd995/Q4_FY13_Script_FINAL.pdf

RefMinor

That's just the prepared script

DaRoamer

http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/7/4309866/star-wars-the-old-republic-revenue-doubled-free-to-play

AG-Vuk

Congrats EA, not the game I hoped for or expected, but obvious popular enough to gain control of the IP for games a make money.

Vlacke

Good numbers indeed.

SWTOR is growing both in term of the game's quality and the number of people playing it, all the recent content with Makeb was very good and new update is on the way, the fact of the matter is that this game is much better now than it was six+ months ago.

With the exclusive SW licence EA just obtained from Disney i can see them giving a lot more money to Bioware in order to expand and improve this game.

That is why i am also of the opinion that this deal they made with Disney is a good thing for SW core games, the IP is huge, new movies are in the works, EA has the money, 3 great devoper studios, Bioware, Visceral and of course Dice who will hopefully make Battlefront 3, this is a big chance for them, an opportunity, and i think and hope they will do right.

asmkm22

Originally posted by DaRoamer
Just announced on the EA 4th quarter conference call.  Subs currently sitting at just under half a million subs, 1.7 million new free to play players since Nov and doubled revenues.  Sub number still growing.

1.7 million new free to play players doesn't mean a whole lot on it's own.  Is that just new accounts that get created?  Is that a number for active players?  I'm not surprised about the revenue doubling, since they can milk the cash shop for a bit before people leave, but that's it.

The fact that subs are still not able to stay above 500k is a real problem.  Is the game considered profitable yet, or are they still being vague on that point?

DaRoamer

Originally posted by asmkm22

Originally posted by DaRoamer
Just announced on the EA 4th quarter conference call.  Subs currently sitting at just under half a million subs, 1.7 million new free to play players since Nov and doubled revenues.  Sub number still growing.

1.7 million new free to play players doesn't mean a whole lot on it's own.  Is that just new accounts that get created?  Is that a number for active players?  I'm not surprised about the revenue doubling, since they can milk the cash shop for a bit before people leave, but that's it.

The fact that subs are still not able to stay above 500k is a real problem.  Is the game considered profitable yet, or are they still being vague on that point?

They were quite happy with the performance (they called it solid) and said during the conference call that they have a lot of new content in the pipeline and are committed to their 6-8 week releases schedule for content patches.

Consider what they said in 2011:

"During an investor call yesterday, the CFO stated that with a half a million subscribers, the game would be "substantially profitable, but not the kind of thing [EA] would write home about."

So they currently have that PLUS the F2P/Cartel Market revenue.

Zandil

Most MMO's would kill for 500K subs

Look at EVE it's been around for years and never had that many subs and it's considered a success.

superniceguy

Subs were under 1 million in August. Under 500K subs is not good when they need 500K subs to break even.

Also it depends on when they took those figures. Even I subbed for Makeb, when I have been unsubbed since F2P went live, and was probably included in that figure for subs, but now I am unsubbed. They probably got quite a few more subs for Makeb since it got you the expansion for $10.

1.7 million new accounts is not great when WOW has had way more than 10 million new accounts for a subbed based games, and still has about 9 million subbers.

Clone Wars Adventures managed to get 8 million users within the first year, reckon SWTOR will beat that by Nov?

Elevenb4

It could have over a million subs and people would still find something to "nay-say" about. Just admit it, it's doing well and will only get better with Disney backing the project, and once the other movies come out.

asmkm22

Originally posted by DaRoamer

Originally posted by asmkm22

Originally posted by DaRoamer
Just announced on the EA 4th quarter conference call.  Subs currently sitting at just under half a million subs, 1.7 million new free to play players since Nov and doubled revenues.  Sub number still growing.

1.7 million new free to play players doesn't mean a whole lot on it's own.  Is that just new accounts that get created?  Is that a number for active players?  I'm not surprised about the revenue doubling, since they can milk the cash shop for a bit before people leave, but that's it.

The fact that subs are still not able to stay above 500k is a real problem.  Is the game considered profitable yet, or are they still being vague on that point?

They were quite happy with the performance (they called it solid) and said during the conference call that they have a lot of new content in the pipeline and are committed to their 6-8 week releases schedule for content patches.

Consider what they said in 2011:

"During an investor call yesterday, the CFO stated that with a half a million subscribers, the game would be "substantially profitable, but not the kind of thing [EA] would write home about."

So they currently have that PLUS the F2P/Cartel Market revenue.

Most analysts seem to think those claims were a bunch of crap, even when they were made, mainly due to the sheer size of the games budget.  The fact that the game had such problems and drama with the developers after release, when it was sitting at around 500k seems to back that assumption up.

500k subscribers might be fine for most MMO's, but most don't have budgets like TOR did, much less the licensing overhead that you know comes with Star Wars.

I do agree that the Cartel Market thing is working out for them, but it's not going to be a long-term solution at all, and certainly doesn't benefit the players much because you end up with a game that's very bottom-heavy (lots of new players in the starter areas, with not so many active at end-game).  LotRO went through a similar phase, where they saw revenue increasing by something like 400% in the first year, but it's all but died back down to mostly subscribers again.

asmkm22

Originally posted by MyBoot

Most MMO's would kill for 500K subs

Look at EVE it's been around for years and never had that many subs and it's considered a success.

Most MMO's don't have expensive IP's to license, or development budgets in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  

superniceguy

Originally posted by Elevenb4
It could have over a million subs and people would still find something to "nay-say" about. Just admit it, it's doing well and will only get better with Disney backing the project, and once the other movies come out.

If it had over a million subs then it would not be F2P and had the extortionate cartel market, and the game would be deemed a success, but that is not the case

Dihoru

Originally posted by MyBoot

Most MMO's would kill for 500K subs

Look at EVE it's been around for years and never had that many subs and it's considered a success.

Yeah... CCP is owned by a major developer, EVE had a 8 digit development budget and is also a major IP that isn't expanding across multiple linked games and it is struggling to match a game launched with the same criteria after 10 years of existence!

 

Excuse me while I go pray lightsabers become public domain so SW games sink like a stone, the IP has been raped enough for glowbats as is.

Sevenstar61

It would have probably slightly more subs if it was not F2P, as many players decided to switch to preferred status. The Cartel Market is definitely working for them LOL. I know they got plenty of my money.

I am happy they are committed to new content. This is what this game needs to grow. Especially that now it is clear that there will be no other SW MMO in the next 5 to 10 years or so.

Awaiting for new single player SW games as well.

 

Life is GOOD

udon

Originally posted by asmkm22

Originally posted by MyBoot

Most MMO's would kill for 500K subs

Look at EVE it's been around for years and never had that many subs and it's considered a success.

Most MMO's don't have expensive IP's to license, or development budgets in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  

Regardless it still makes it the 2nd largest Sub based MMO I believe. 

Sevenstar61

Originally posted by udon

Originally posted by asmkm22

Originally posted by MyBoot

Most MMO's would kill for 500K subs

Look at EVE it's been around for years and never had that many subs and it's considered a success.

Most MMO's don't have expensive IP's to license, or development budgets in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  

Regardless it still makes it the 2nd largest Sub based MMO I believe. 

^ This

asmkm22

Originally posted by udon

Originally posted by asmkm22

Originally posted by MyBoot

Most MMO's would kill for 500K subs

Look at EVE it's been around for years and never had that many subs and it's considered a success.

Most MMO's don't have expensive IP's to license, or development budgets in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  

Regardless it still makes it the 2nd largest Sub based MMO I believe. 

When 2nd best means 95% worse than 1st, that's not something to brag about.

doodphace

Originally posted by Sevenstar61

Originally posted by udon

Originally posted by asmkm22

Originally posted by MyBoot

Most MMO's would kill for 500K subs

Look at EVE it's been around for years and never had that many subs and it's considered a success.

Most MMO's don't have expensive IP's to license, or development budgets in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  

Regardless it still makes it the 2nd largest Sub based MMO I believe. 

^ This

Considering its "slightly under half a mil", and EVE is just over 500k, that would rank it 3rd.

Vunak23

Originally posted by Sevenstar61

Originally posted by udon

Originally posted by asmkm22

Originally posted by MyBoot

Most MMO's would kill for 500K subs

Look at EVE it's been around for years and never had that many subs and it's considered a success.

Most MMO's don't have expensive IP's to license, or development budgets in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  

Regardless it still makes it the 2nd largest Sub based MMO I believe. 

^ This

Wrong.

Lineage 1 and 2 as well as RIFT and AION are much much much bigger than SWTOR in terms of accounts and subs. I even think TERA has more lol. Hell UO has 500k right now. 

Sevenstar61

Originally posted by asmkm22

Originally posted by udon

Originally posted by asmkm22

Originally posted by MyBoot

Most MMO's would kill for 500K subs

Look at EVE it's been around for years and never had that many subs and it's considered a success.

Most MMO's don't have expensive IP's to license, or development budgets in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  

Regardless it still makes it the 2nd largest Sub based MMO I believe. 

When 2nd best means 95% worse than 1st, that's not something to brag about.

2nd is still 2nd... and we all know that WoW is a phenomena nothing can reproduce.

Sevenstar61

Originally posted by DaRoamer

Originally posted by asmkm22

Originally posted by DaRoamer
Just announced on the EA 4th quarter conference call.  Subs currently sitting at just under half a million subs, 1.7 million new free to play players since Nov and doubled revenues.  Sub number still growing.

1.7 million new free to play players doesn't mean a whole lot on it's own.  Is that just new accounts that get created?  Is that a number for active players?  I'm not surprised about the revenue doubling, since they can milk the cash shop for a bit before people leave, but that's it.

The fact that subs are still not able to stay above 500k is a real problem.  Is the game considered profitable yet, or are they still being vague on that point?

They were quite happy with the performance (they called it solid) and said during the conference call that they have a lot of new content in the pipeline and are committed to their 6-8 week releases schedule for content patches.

Consider what they said in 2011:

"During an investor call yesterday, the CFO stated that with a half a million subscribers, the game would be "substantially profitable, but not the kind of thing [EA] would write home about."

So they currently have that PLUS the F2P/Cartel Market revenue.

And based on their comments cartel market more than doubled monthly revenue, means they are getting equivalent of at least 1 million subs.

Quote:

"The really interesting thing that's happening inside the service right now is monthly average revenue for the game has more than doubled since we introduced the free-to-play option. And as we look forward, we're going to continually invest in new content for the service and for players every six weeks or so."

Cecropia

Originally posted by doodphace

Originally posted by Sevenstar61

Originally posted by udon

Regardless it still makes it the 2nd largest Sub based MMO I believe. 

^ This

Considering its "slightly under half a mil", and EVE is just over 500k, that would rank it 3rd.

Yup.

EVE is still number 2, they surpassed 500K back in February I think it was.