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has it ever been posted...

feldrinfeldrin Member UncommonPosts: 210
in SWG Veteran Refuge
I keep seeing this $10mil figure that SOE is suppose to pay LEC every year. I'm just wondering if this is just a random number or if some one has some type of proof for this number..

I don't claim to be right, I'm just posting.

Comments

  • MrArchyMrArchy Member Posts: 643
    it is purportedly documented on the starwars.com website, although I am not a member and cannot confirm this.  You should sign up there and check.

    SWG Veteran and Refugee, Intrepid server
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  • ExuperyExupery Member Posts: 45

    People often cite this number as one of SWG's biggest expense and one of the reason's it will shut down due to lack of profitabilty.....these people never bothered to consult a calculator.  Let's assume (for the sake of argument) they have on average, over the course of a year 100,000 subscriptions (before I get flamed...no, I am NOT saying there are 100K players in SWG, I'm saying over a year they average 100K subscriptions, most players only play for two or three months, but new players do step up, or vets return to check things out).  100K x $15 x 12 = $18,000,000 a year.

    That pays the LEC fee and leaves plenty of money to pay Devs and CSRs.  Even if you lower the assumption and say they only have 50K a year that still makes them $9 Mil...I'm sure they pick up at least another mil from COA box sales, expansion sales, character transfers, etc.

     

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  • iskareotiskareot Member Posts: 2,143
    Originally posted by Exupery


    People often cite this number as one of SWG's biggest expense and one of the reason's it will shut down due to lack of profitabilty.....these people never bothered to consult a calculator.  Let's assume (for the sake of argument) they have on average, over the course of a year 100,000 subscriptions (before I get flamed...no, I am NOT saying there are 100K players in SWG, I'm saying over a year they average 100K subscriptions, most players only play for two or three months, but new players do step up, or vets return to check things out).  100K x $15 x 12 = $18,000,000 a year.
    That pays the LEC fee and leaves plenty of money to pay Devs and CSRs.  Even if you lower the assumption and say they only have 50K a year that still makes them $9 Mil...I'm sure they pick up at least another mil from COA box sales, expansion sales, character transfers, etc.
     
    I would say right now they are barley breaking even if not going under now though.

    ______________________________
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  • RekrulRekrul Member Posts: 2,961
    I don't know the details, but I'm willing to bet that $15 isn't $15, but quite nicely deducted by various taxes and other expenses.



    Other expenses are somewhat more difficult to determine. The datacenter I believe is hosted in-house for all games. Sharing the resources blurs the individual costs, and allows for much more freedom.



    Administrative costs, such as billing, are once again shared.



    Developers are shared at least to some extent, or they move between projects.



    And so on.



    Unlike PlayNC, which has its teams and companies clearly separated, SOE is one big family, and individual expenses are quite hard to pinpoint.



    For all it's worth, SWG section might have 0 resources allocated, resulting in 0 expenses, with the development done in extra time of 2 hours per week by shared pool of developers or, for example, EQ developers.



    But above all, one-trick-pony companies need to cash in fast, since that's all they get. Companies like Vivendi and SOE don't worry about petty numbers in this way.
  • KazaraKazara Member UncommonPosts: 1,086

    SWG could easily be losing money, but since it can leech off funds generated by the Station Pass, it will continue as Station Pass filler and remain on virtual life-support indefinitely. Hmmm...the word 'parasite' comes to mind.

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  • viadiviadi Member Posts: 816
    no way would LA let SOE get away with paying a fixed fee for the star wars licence I know it will never happen but what if SWG had 8 mill subs do you thjnk LA would not like a slice of that pie? LA will be paid a % of what ever SWG brings in (prolly about 25-35%)

    Tin Foil hats dont work.. its all a conspiracy

  • dgenemdgenem Member Posts: 47
    Originally posted by feldrin

    I keep seeing this $10mil figure that SOE is suppose to pay LEC every year. I'm just wondering if this is just a random number or if some one has some type of proof for this number..
         I heard it was posted on one of the SW websites, but since then has been removed. Details on it were vague. There is also a problem of paying accounts vs played accounts in SWG.



      Regardless of the number of accounts, there is still an extreme lack of playing customers in the game compared to the better days. The NGE's goals are still a failure. It was supposed to bring and keep new customers, make publishes come out faster, make game more exciting for everyone. It has failed every single one of these goals. Sure, SWG is still better than alot of others, but the fact that it's quality and level of fun has gone down along with player activity is still a serious problem.



      I just wish they would of given the CURB a live try. FYI, the CURB was the original pre-cu combat system that was rebalanced, but never made it live. It was only on a test server for a short while before the CU replaced it instead.
  • viadiviadi Member Posts: 816
    Originally posted by dgenem

    Originally posted by feldrin

    I keep seeing this $10mil figure that SOE is suppose to pay LEC every year. I'm just wondering if this is just a random number or if some one has some type of proof for this number..
         I heard it was posted on one of the SW websites, but since then has been removed. Details on it were vague. There is also a problem of paying accounts vs played accounts in SWG.



      Regardless of the number of accounts, there is still an extreme lack of playing customers in the game compared to the better days. The NGE's goals are still a failure. It was supposed to bring and keep new customers, make publishes come out faster, make game more exciting for everyone. It has failed every single one of these goals. Sure, SWG is still better than alot of others, but the fact that it's quality and level of fun has gone down along with player activity is still a serious problem.



      I just wish they would of given the CURB a live try. FYI, the CURB was the original pre-cu combat system that was rebalanced, but never made it live. It was only on a test server for a short while before the CU replaced it instead.

    the "CURB" is only what the nge is good for....

    Tin Foil hats dont work.. its all a conspiracy

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