Imagine that your mmorpg is your virtual world with tools and fun, different from world of warcraft. Then one day it is ripped out from underneath you and given to a theme park clone because of its IP. You lose your friends, your money, your achievements, your house and painstaking hours.
I have to admit that I never played SWG, I have played SWTOR and quite frankly I'd rather play wow than any other themepark mmo. (Note: I do not currently play wow, just sayin). I know empathy is very lacking on this forum but even I can see why a committed gamerwould take to the grave their frustration of their game being pulled from underneath them.
My frustration is the killing off of city of heroes in this case, no one is to blame but NCSOFT.
Again, more history revision.
SWTOR KILLED SWG!
No it didn't. SWG was killed because SOE decided not to renew their Star Wars license.
We have the CEO of SOE saying 'we decided not to on our own volition' so the whole 'SWTOR killed SWG' is a factually false statement.
Like I said, SWTOR is hated because it isn't SWG 2 The Electric Bigaloo which is weird, funny and sad.
Gdemami - Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
This. What you should understand is that SWTOR only became profitable when it went f2p.
EA haven't actually said that the game is making a profit. They said the initial response to the f2p option was good - but they said that about subs as well. And both times they wisely added: to early to tell.
Interesting question!
In May EA said that revenue had doubled since the game went f2p.
In August that sub etc. revenue was down 25% compared to the previous year mainly due to SWTOR.
In October EA that sub etc. revenue was down 16% mainly because of SWTORs.
Now the drops of 25% and 16% were against a bunch of games but, given that EA used SWTOR as the scapegoat in both we can say that roughly SWTORs revenue dropped about 40% in the 6 months prior to going f2p. Remember: could be more, could be less as SWTOR was just one game amongst many and advertising and other stuff was in the numbers as well.
So - crudely - in May 2013 SWTOR had recovered to where it was in May 2012 - but with greatly reduced costs.
So Is it profitable? In May? Today?
Covering its day-to-day costs I suspect. EA let a lot of staff go but I could be wrong because it will come down to how overheads are applied (there is still a CEO to pay for example!)
Sustaining a gross profit margin of c. 68% however - EA's gross profit target - I suspect not. And that EA's answer to is SWTOR now making a profit could well be "to early to tell".
What is there coming now once the SSSP / Galactic Starfighter goes live? All the content that Bioware / EA has been going on about over the last 2 years and more, will all be in on Dec 3rd.
All I can see happening are the events repeating, to keep people playing, and double XP weekends
The Bounty Hunter event was not in long to get enough rewards, was only around 7 days, and you needed to do 5 days to get harder mission with greater rewards. If your sub runs out before the event returns, then you need to resub to finish off (that is if you prefer subbing to enjoy the most out of the game) - A sneaky way to keep people playing and / or subbing, but soon people will tire of it.
Oh your one of those guys? Who thinks all the content they have released was done before launch lmao. Man you guys are a hoot. Everything since Makeb has been built worked on after release. Even Makeb was being worked on after release. I bet if I look at your history you probably claimed sssp was going to be on rails yeah again your kind was wrong. Just going to guess you have also made predictions of Swtor closing ? Yep looks like your would be wrong again. Anyways I hope people like you enjoy your crazy claims for the next ten years .
Every time they add anything new to the game he's back saying the same thing about it all being done before launch and what will they do now!! The next time they add new content look for him to be back in the thread posting the same thing. The first year of it, it made sense. Now I just expect him to start throwing cats at people shouting SWG WAS THE GREATEST GAME EVER!!!
Everything up until now was done before launch, it is all over the internet being stated by EA/Bioware. Now that the Galactic Starfighter (formerly known as SSSSP) is in then there is nothing left that they have mentioned since launch, so I can not say it any more. 2014 will be crunch time, as will there be MAJOR new updates or not?
I have explained to you that a lot of content is new , brand new in SWTOR in this thread and another. Makeb and SSSP where put on hold for about 8 months so they could concentrate on the transition to F2P , so those 2 where not even half finished until recently. The gree event , bounty hunter event , new rakghoul plague event and life day events are all new and not finished years ago. Oricon and cz-198 are both new , the reputation systems scattered all over the place are all new. Really not sure what this obsession is with nothing is new in SWTOR. You even thought SSSP wouldn't be out until 2015 but it's out in a few days. Mind you if you like convincing yourself that nothing is new in SWTOR go right ahead , it annoys us who play but seems to give you pleasure.
Cheers,
BadOrb.
PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing. "SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13 The original propoganda pixie dust villain :[]
This. What you should understand is that SWTOR only became profitable when it went f2p.
EA haven't actually said that the game is making a profit. They said the initial response to the f2p option was good - but they said that about subs as well. And both times they wisely added: to early to tell.
Interesting question!
In May EA said that revenue had doubled since the game went f2p.
In August that sub etc. revenue was down 25% compared to the previous year mainly due to SWTOR.
In October EA that sub etc. revenue was down 16% mainly because of SWTORs.
Now the drops of 25% and 16% were against a bunch of games but, given that EA used SWTOR as the scapegoat in both we can say that roughly SWTORs revenue dropped about 40% in the 6 months prior to going f2p. Remember: could be more, could be less as SWTOR was just one game amongst many and advertising and other stuff was in the numbers as well.
So - crudely - in May 2013 SWTOR had recovered to where it was in May 2012 - but with greatly reduced costs.
So Is it profitable? In May? Today?
Covering its day-to-day costs I suspect. EA let a lot of staff go but I could be wrong because it will come down to how overheads are applied (there is still a CEO to pay for example!)
Sustaining a gross profit margin of c. 68% however - EA's gross profit target - I suspect not. And that EA's answer to is SWTOR now making a profit could well be "to early to tell".
A quote from the article from the OP -
"It's a great business that's very repeatable," he added. "We brought the economics in line so it's a profitable business for us.
There you go and to be fair they most likely broke even from just the box sales and the first 3 months of release. It makes money in other words.
Cheers,
BadOrb.
PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing. "SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13 The original propoganda pixie dust villain :[]
What is there coming now once the SSSP / Galactic Starfighter goes live? All the content that Bioware / EA has been going on about over the last 2 years and more, will all be in on Dec 3rd.
All I can see happening are the events repeating, to keep people playing, and double XP weekends
The Bounty Hunter event was not in long to get enough rewards, was only around 7 days, and you needed to do 5 days to get harder mission with greater rewards. If your sub runs out before the event returns, then you need to resub to finish off (that is if you prefer subbing to enjoy the most out of the game) - A sneaky way to keep people playing and / or subbing, but soon people will tire of it.
Oh your one of those guys? Who thinks all the content they have released was done before launch lmao. Man you guys are a hoot. Everything since Makeb has been built worked on after release. Even Makeb was being worked on after release. I bet if I look at your history you probably claimed sssp was going to be on rails yeah again your kind was wrong. Just going to guess you have also made predictions of Swtor closing ? Yep looks like your would be wrong again. Anyways I hope people like you enjoy your crazy claims for the next ten years .
Every time they add anything new to the game he's back saying the same thing about it all being done before launch and what will they do now!! The next time they add new content look for him to be back in the thread posting the same thing. The first year of it, it made sense. Now I just expect him to start throwing cats at people shouting SWG WAS THE GREATEST GAME EVER!!!
Everything up until now was done before launch, it is all over the internet being stated by EA/Bioware. Now that the Galactic Starfighter (formerly known as SSSSP) is in then there is nothing left that they have mentioned since launch, so I can not say it any more. 2014 will be crunch time, as will there be MAJOR new updates or not?
I have explained to you that a lot of content is new , brand new in SWTOR in this thread and another. Makeb and SSSP where put on hold for about 8 months so they could concentrate on the transition to F2P , so those 2 where not even half finished until recently. The gree event , bounty hunter event , new rakghoul plague event and life day events are all new and not finished years ago. Oricon and cz-198 are both new , the reputation systems scattered all over the place are all new. Really not sure what this obsession is with nothing is new in SWTOR. You even thought SSSP wouldn't be out until 2015 but it's out in a few days. Mind you if you like convincing yourself that nothing is new in SWTOR go right ahead , it annoys us who play but seems to give you pleasure.
Cheers,
BadOrb.
There is no obsession, EA/Bioware have said they had content already written at launch to last 2 years, and at the time that was assuming the game was going to succeed, now it has not it may spread out longer. Unless anyone can link to a recent article by EA/Bioware clearly stating they have been working on these fresh new content during 2012 (mainly after Aug) or 2013 then I will just go by what EA / Bioware have already stated.
What I say is not an opinion, it is from information as commented by EA/Bioware, and if true, then I do not see any major new updates like Makeb or SSSP coming ever again. They were quite vocal and explicit with their info with SWTOR from launch to the announcement of F2P, but since then they have been extremely quiet about it all.
Imagine that your mmorpg is your virtual world with tools and fun, different from world of warcraft. Then one day it is ripped out from underneath you and given to a theme park clone because of its IP. You lose your friends, your money, your achievements, your house and painstaking hours.
I have to admit that I never played SWG, I have played SWTOR and quite frankly I'd rather play wow than any other themepark mmo. (Note: I do not currently play wow, just sayin). I know empathy is very lacking on this forum but even I can see why a committed gamerwould take to the grave their frustration of their game being pulled from underneath them.
My frustration is the killing off of city of heroes in this case, no one is to blame but NCSOFT.
Again, more history revision.
SWTOR KILLED SWG!
No it didn't. SWG was killed because SOE decided not to renew their Star Wars license.
We have the CEO of SOE saying 'we decided not to on our own volition' so the whole 'SWTOR killed SWG' is a factually false statement.
Like I said, SWTOR is hated because it isn't SWG 2 The Electric Bigaloo which is weird, funny and sad.
I bet SOE and Lucasarts believed SWTOR will be so awesome and great that it would kill SWG anyway (also, any other MMO), so they shut it down. Yes SWTOR owes me SWG. Better, SWG2
You'd think that people would move on after 2 years but nope, SWTOR will continue to be hated by people in this community for not being SWG PRECU / SWG EMU / SWG2 / SWG Electric Boogaloo / SWG In the Mountains.
*shakes head*
/Facepalm
yea,,those 1.5 mio players , who left in the first year? we were all swg players
every..single..one
Cause SWG had 1.5 Million players right?
Hang on a sec... LOLWUT!
While history revision is common on the internet forums, lets not do that to history that's not even a decade old.
I do find it funny (and sad) that people still 'hate' a video game for not being something else.
Its like hating something just because it exists which is a weird concept but whatever, keep on hating and promoting SWTOR!
See sig on why. ^_^
Swtor probably has the same amount of paying players that swg had, Swg lasted 7 years as a subscription mmo, i doubt swtor will.
Originally posted by asmkm22 So basically the soonest we'll possibly see a new Star Wars MMO *(that's halfway decent) is 2024? Nice
It depends. The deal may include hidden clauses like they have to continue to develop it. If they don't they lose it. This is why WAR was shut down. Once they put that game on cruse control GWS called them on the "must make improvments " clause and pulled the license from it.
Disney probably doesn't really care what happens with a star wars mmo so I doubt it will ever be an issue for EA this time. So it's probably going to be longer than that before we ever see one again.
This is true. I think maybe the Star Wars IP is just one I need to let go of anyway. I wasn't a big fan of 1-3, and and I doubt whatever yearly releases they bring out over the next decade will change that any. Maybe I'm just getting old.
Exactly.
Only because some people are obsessed over the space fantasy that was filmed almost half a century ago, you don't have to and you are free to say: It doesn't have that much potential.
Because it doesn't. The story just happened at the right time when the movie industry was stagnated and it had a break.
I hardly see many people obsessed over Chronicles of Riddick (which is much better movie than SW-movies combined) after 30 years of release. May happen though, there's enough weirdos around...
That's hopeful news for SWTOR , maybe even a SWTOR 2. I liked reading that they don't want to make actual movie tie ins too. The best bit was this though and I don't know how true it is , isn't everything true on the internet ? Was this quote from the replies in that thread.
"(REDDIT figures, feel free to completely ignore but just for sh*ts and giggles)
Total sales of all Star Wars titles across handheld, TV'd boxes and PC for the last 15 years - ~$2,000,000,000
Total spent by SW:TOR players (1,000,000 active) Average $28.50 per month for the last 12 months(mostly from microtrans but includes subs and the sales of first expansion, does not include first year of sales or subs for some reason) - $342,000,000. Roughly 1/6 that of every Star Wars game added together this generation.
SW:TOR is the most successful Star Wars title of all time, and will only become more so for as long as it runs." quote from distanlurker.
Will this news shut up the SWG people from asking for a SWG2 ? No , obviously.
"Turning to our Q2 results, EA’s non-GAAP net revenue was $1.04 billion, which was above our guidance and 4% lower than last year. The quarter’s revenue was driven by our sports titles and continued strength in our catalog offerings, like FIFA 13, SimCity, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Battlefield 3"
"First, extra content and free-to-play contributed $127 million, up 11% over the prior year, led by continued growth in FIFA Ultimate Team, FIFA Online 3, and Star Wars: The Old Republic."
"And fourth, subscriptions, advertising, and other digital revenue contributed $62 million, down 16% over the same period last year. In the previous year, Star Wars: The Old Republic was a subscription-only based MMO. This year, some of the revenue was recognized in the free-to-play category as we expanded this title to be both a subscription and free-to-play game. "
Cheers,
BadOrb.
3 mentions in a 12 page report and that's "all over it"? Well, if you want to believe that means SWTOR is doing great then go ahead, but your proof is far from conclusive.
You'd think that people would move on after 2 years but nope, SWTOR will continue to be hated by people in this community for not being SWG PRECU / SWG EMU / SWG2 / SWG Electric Boogaloo / SWG In the Mountains.
*shakes head*
/Facepalm
yea,,those 1.5 mio players , who left in the first year? we were all swg players
every..single..one
Cause SWG had 1.5 Million players right?
Hang on a sec... LOLWUT!
While history revision is common on the internet forums, lets not do that to history that's not even a decade old.
I do find it funny (and sad) that people still 'hate' a video game for not being something else.
Its like hating something just because it exists which is a weird concept but whatever, keep on hating and promoting SWTOR!
See sig on why. ^_^
Swtor probably has the same amount of paying players that swg had, Swg lasted 7 years as a subscription mmo, i doubt swtor will.
Really don't know what swtor could do except scrapping their terribad engine and do a relaunch.
but they seem to hate every bit of SWG too, so all they are going to add will probably be the same wowclone stuff, dailies and raids. meh
Cool. Hopefully they get Mythic to develop a totally sweet mobile SW mmo. Competitive, open-world nerf-herding, Jedi-style. "Forceville." Greatness awaits. Trust in EA guys. They respect this beloved IP.
That's hopeful news for SWTOR , maybe even a SWTOR 2. I liked reading that they don't want to make actual movie tie ins too. The best bit was this though and I don't know how true it is , isn't everything true on the internet ? Was this quote from the replies in that thread.
"(REDDIT figures, feel free to completely ignore but just for sh*ts and giggles)
Total sales of all Star Wars titles across handheld, TV'd boxes and PC for the last 15 years - ~$2,000,000,000
Total spent by SW:TOR players (1,000,000 active) Average $28.50 per month for the last 12 months(mostly from microtrans but includes subs and the sales of first expansion, does not include first year of sales or subs for some reason) - $342,000,000. Roughly 1/6 that of every Star Wars game added together this generation.
SW:TOR is the most successful Star Wars title of all time, and will only become more so for as long as it runs." quote from distanlurker.
Will this news shut up the SWG people from asking for a SWG2 ? No , obviously.
of course it won't. Different Time Period, different GAME, different rules. Different Product to be honest.
If I were the current owner of the SW I.P. I would let a SWG2 get made, for I don't think it would grab that many of SWTORs current customers away frankly. It's blatantly obvious BioWare and EA don't want the old SWG vets in their game and I would hazard a guess that most of the true hard core SWG vets wouldn't touch SWTOR even with my keyboard, so I really don't understand why they aren't getting greedy and cleaning house with this IP.
But obviously I ain't the current owner of the SW IP. Maybe the reason why the IP owners won't authorize a SWG2 is because the IP owners don't want to have any old school MMO Players as customers any more.... as I mentioned in another thread. I am getting the distinct opinion that the customer base known as "old school MMO gamers" is one customer base no one wants to do business with any more. If this is true it might be the reason why we will never see a SWG2 or a rebirth of SWG.
We could just ask some of the Devs and MMO Suits that post on these forums... maybe they will honestly answer this query... but I doubt it.
i actually want a knights of the old republic 3 by bioware, with the new technology and next gen systems it would be amazing.
Quotations Those Who make peaceful resolutions impossible, make violent resolutions inevitable. John F. Kennedy
Life... is the shit that happens while you wait for moments that never come - Lester Freeman
Lie to no one. If there 's somebody close to you, you'll ruin it with a lie. If they're a stranger, who the fuck are they you gotta lie to them? - Willy Nelson
I bet SOE and Lucasarts believed SWTOR will be so awesome and great that it would kill SWG anyway (also, any other MMO), so they shut it down. Yes SWTOR owes me SWG. Better, SWG2
And I bet we'll meet aliens tomorrow. ROFL!
Lets stick with what we know and not what some forum poster believes. LOL!
And here comes the real answer; the entitlement. The 'The World Owes Me' reason.
I wish you the best of luck in the real world cause with reasoning like that, you'll need it.
Gdemami - Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
"It's a great business that's very repeatable," he added. "We brought the economics in line so it's a profitable business for us.
There you go and to be fair they most likely broke even from just the box sales and the first 3 months of release. It makes money in other words.
Cheers,
BadOrb.
Absolutely. That confirms it is covering its day-to-day costs; so making a profit. Which is good. And he is also hopeful that the new movies might bring more people in - which is very positive. For a development team to know that their game isn't slated to close for at least 2 years .... must be a good feeling.
Based on what EA said they originally needed though I don't think they are anywhere near "68%" profitable - direct staff are only one part of the cost base; and as the number of games that EA churns out drops each game has to pick up a bigger share of the overheads. So I think cost control will continue to be very tight.
As far as box sales go - no. Analysts estimated that the initial 2M sales will have brought in a profit of $60M. For box sales profit is around 20%. Amazon, Best Buy etc. Production costs etc. EA may get more as they are the distributors but $60M is what analysts estimated. And Jorgensen's predecessor basically said that it hadn't made a profit.
And the article does say "Jorgensen talked about the failure" - if box sales alone had covered the costs I think he would have said. No I think they have been written off and it now comes down to "day-to-day" revenue which is "profitable".
For me the real key was his comment about the film potentially generating more excitement. Which makes me wonder what they are planning for SWTOR.
2014: Keep things ticking over through 2014 - only tiny developments to keep costs down (have to assume that revenue will fall off as interest wanes through next year).
2015: Battlefront will be launched in maybe summer - so they won't want to interfere with that - but plan in something 2more significant" to tie in with the film? Something at least on a par with Makeb. Maybe a couple of Makeb type expansions - one to "re-boot" things and another for 3 months later to sustain the momentum.
Originally posted by asmkm22 So basically the soonest we'll possibly see a new Star Wars MMO *(that's halfway decent) is 2024? Nice
It depends. The deal may include hidden clauses like they have to continue to develop it. If they don't they lose it. This is why WAR was shut down. Once they put that game on cruse control GWS called them on the "must make improvments " clause and pulled the license from it.
Disney probably doesn't really care what happens with a star wars mmo so I doubt it will ever be an issue for EA this time. So it's probably going to be longer than that before we ever see one again.
This is true. I think maybe the Star Wars IP is just one I need to let go of anyway. I wasn't a big fan of 1-3, and and I doubt whatever yearly releases they bring out over the next decade will change that any. Maybe I'm just getting old.
Exactly.
Only because some people are obsessed over the space fantasy that was filmed almost half a century ago, you don't have to and you are free to say: It doesn't have that much potential.
Because it doesn't. The story just happened at the right time when the movie industry was stagnated and it had a break.
I hardly see many people obsessed over Chronicles of Riddick (which is much better movie than SW-movies combined) after 30 years of release. May happen though, there's enough weirdos around...
the original trilogy are in the movie classics
riddick is a good movie, but its NOT a Classic, do they even still sell copies of it?
and diesel is like seagal, after a certain number of movies,..simply boring
timing wasnt the reason for success, galactica movies was before SW, and they didnt
riddick is a good movie, but its NOT a Classic, do they even still sell copies of it?
and diesel is like seagal, after a certain number of movies,..simply boring
timing wasnt the reason for success, galactica movies was before SW, and they didnt
make nearly as much money
Battle star galactica came out in 78-79 ( the movie was just ep 1 with a different edit ) , and there's a lot more to it's story than just " it didn't make as much money "
Originally posted by BadOrb That's hopeful news for SWTOR , maybe even a SWTOR 2. I liked reading that they don't want to make actual movie tie ins too. The best bit was this though and I don't know how true it is , isn't everything true on the internet ? Was this quote from the replies in that thread.
"(REDDIT figures, feel free to completely ignore but just for sh*ts and giggles)Total sales of all Star Wars titles across handheld, TV'd boxes and PC for the last 15 years - ~$2,000,000,000Total spent by SW:TOR players (1,000,000 active) Average $28.50 per month for the last 12 months(mostly from microtrans but includes subs and the sales of first expansion, does not include first year of sales or subs for some reason) - $342,000,000. Roughly 1/6 that of every Star Wars game added together this generation.SW:TOR is the most successful Star Wars title of all time, and will only become more so for as long as it runs." quote from distanlurker.
Will this news shut up the SWG people from asking for a SWG2 ? No , obviously.
Cheers,
BadOrb.
Why should it? There is room for two SW titles, and I think all can agree that SWG and SW:TOR only have Star Wars and MMO in common. Beyond that, they are almost apples and oranges.
So yes, please make a SWG 2 and then we can leave you SW:TOR miscreants to your game.
I would like a open world focused SW MMO, and unfortunately swtor fails to deliver on that in respects to open world pvp, and even the pve content since its a very static world.
The success of swtor is mostly in its strong points ( wow clone with story and with a few 'twists'), and it goes to show for a game in the SW genre that is what matters unfortunately.
Also, more unfortunate, is how the new battle front will be the alternative to swtor's short coming in terms of pvp. Battlefront is its own attraction with its own style, but with dissappointed fans in terms of combat not being properly adapted in a full fledge tripple A MMO, they will most likely see battle front not for what it is, but how it does not fullfill thier wants.
Swtor in reality is barely an MMO, it barely delivers on the experience, but is successful due to the cash shop and having 'story' in a SW title MMO. Thats thier recipe, which is not bad, if it were at least more consistent with more story, and a more refined experience with a less static world. Since a single player swtor would be better. A single player swtor with an online mode, and player created content would be also better, but not as profitable for EA. At the end of the day, its making the best of of what exists in the market or somehow creating your own product.
For me swtor will only be story, pazaak/swoop racing, and maybe space combat. I am not interesting in anything else... which is unfortunate since i love to pvp, but gear grinds wear me out, and I do not like to feel useless when out dpsed with healers also outhealing my dps and I see no damage done... imagine a warzone and teamed against a better group with more healers and maybe 1 person dies. I am good enough in pvp that I can solo against 2 players and win with all cool downs... but against a team with enough healers it becomes boring with a gear grind on top of that. I really wish they reduced the effectives of healing and made tanking more important and thus healers always had to travel with tanks or die.
Write bad things that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to you on a piece of marble
No it didn't. SWG was killed because SOE decided not to renew their Star Wars license.
We have the CEO of SOE saying 'we decided not to on our own volition' so the whole 'SWTOR killed SWG' is a factually false statement.
Like I said, SWTOR is hated because it isn't SWG 2 The Electric Bigaloo which is weird, funny and sad.
I bet SOE and Lucasarts believed SWTOR will be so awesome and great that it would kill SWG anyway (also, any other MMO), so they shut it down. Yes SWTOR owes me SWG. Better, SWG2
I'm surprised that you and everyone else who was playing the older MMOs aren't at the doors of Blizzard with torches and pitchforks since WOW's success is what really killed SWG and many other MMOs. It was WOW's success that marked a change in the MMO industry from sandbox to themepark and was behind SOE's decision to radically alter SWG.
Welcome to the free market and capitalism. There's some old fans of Disco crying in this corner and in the other is fans of old TV Westerns.
SWG died because LucasArts wanted to market and promote the new prequel trilogy, and Galaxies was based on (and felt like) the original Star Wars universe. They wanted more action, less crafting, less strategy. LucasArts forced SOE to make the changes that would become known as the "Combat Upgrade" and the "New Game Experience", to try and force Galaxies to play more like their console franchise, and thus fit better with the short-attention-span crowd the prequel movies were aimed at.
SOE later put the rotting corpse of SWG in the ground, after SWTOR was announced, and their license to the Star Wars IP ran out.
Considering the history of Electronic Arts as a studio, in the last decade, I don't see their holding an exclusive IP contract as a good thing, in any way. Competition is good. Monopoly is bad, except the board game.
riddick is a good movie, but its NOT a Classic, do they even still sell copies of it?
and diesel is like seagal, after a certain number of movies,..simply boring
timing wasnt the reason for success, galactica movies was before SW, and they didnt
make nearly as much money
Battle star galactica came out in 78-79 ( the movie was just ep 1 with a different edit ) , and there's a lot more to it's story than just " it didn't make as much money "
Theres always more to it, but the BSG remake has shown its true potential
the Classic BSG Space battles? the same explosions, over, and over
it wasnt really good scifi, but it was pretty much the only scifi back then
That's hopeful news for SWTOR , maybe even a SWTOR 2. I liked reading that they don't want to make actual movie tie ins too. The best bit was this though and I don't know how true it is , isn't everything true on the internet ? Was this quote from the replies in that thread.
"(REDDIT figures, feel free to completely ignore but just for sh*ts and giggles)
Total sales of all Star Wars titles across handheld, TV'd boxes and PC for the last 15 years - ~$2,000,000,000
Total spent by SW:TOR players (1,000,000 active) Average $28.50 per month for the last 12 months(mostly from microtrans but includes subs and the sales of first expansion, does not include first year of sales or subs for some reason) - $342,000,000. Roughly 1/6 that of every Star Wars game added together this generation.
SW:TOR is the most successful Star Wars title of all time, and will only become more so for as long as it runs." quote from distanlurker.
Will this news shut up the SWG people from asking for a SWG2 ? No , obviously.
The haters are going to have a hard time spinning those numbers.
You do realize those number are completely made up, right? I'm guessing it was just an attempt at trolling.
I guessed you missed the highlighted part ? Also the beginning of the quote from reddit itself says please feel free to ignore it. So no i am not trolling.
Cheers,
BadOrb.
PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing. "SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13 The original propoganda pixie dust villain :[]
Comments
Again, more history revision.
SWTOR KILLED SWG!
No it didn't. SWG was killed because SOE decided not to renew their Star Wars license.
We have the CEO of SOE saying 'we decided not to on our own volition' so the whole 'SWTOR killed SWG' is a factually false statement.
Like I said, SWTOR is hated because it isn't SWG 2 The Electric Bigaloo which is weird, funny and sad.
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
EA haven't actually said that the game is making a profit. They said the initial response to the f2p option was good - but they said that about subs as well. And both times they wisely added: to early to tell.
Interesting question!
In May EA said that revenue had doubled since the game went f2p.
In August that sub etc. revenue was down 25% compared to the previous year mainly due to SWTOR.
In October EA that sub etc. revenue was down 16% mainly because of SWTORs.
Now the drops of 25% and 16% were against a bunch of games but, given that EA used SWTOR as the scapegoat in both we can say that roughly SWTORs revenue dropped about 40% in the 6 months prior to going f2p. Remember: could be more, could be less as SWTOR was just one game amongst many and advertising and other stuff was in the numbers as well.
So - crudely - in May 2013 SWTOR had recovered to where it was in May 2012 - but with greatly reduced costs.
So Is it profitable? In May? Today?
Covering its day-to-day costs I suspect. EA let a lot of staff go but I could be wrong because it will come down to how overheads are applied (there is still a CEO to pay for example!)
Sustaining a gross profit margin of c. 68% however - EA's gross profit target - I suspect not. And that EA's answer to is SWTOR now making a profit could well be "to early to tell".
I have explained to you that a lot of content is new , brand new in SWTOR in this thread and another. Makeb and SSSP where put on hold for about 8 months so they could concentrate on the transition to F2P , so those 2 where not even half finished until recently. The gree event , bounty hunter event , new rakghoul plague event and life day events are all new and not finished years ago. Oricon and cz-198 are both new , the reputation systems scattered all over the place are all new. Really not sure what this obsession is with nothing is new in SWTOR. You even thought SSSP wouldn't be out until 2015 but it's out in a few days. Mind you if you like convincing yourself that nothing is new in SWTOR go right ahead , it annoys us who play but seems to give you pleasure.
Cheers,
BadOrb.
PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing.
"SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13
The original propoganda pixie dust villain :[]
A quote from the article from the OP -
"It's a great business that's very repeatable," he added. "We brought the economics in line so it's a profitable business for us.
There you go and to be fair they most likely broke even from just the box sales and the first 3 months of release. It makes money in other words.
Cheers,
BadOrb.
PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing.
"SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13
The original propoganda pixie dust villain :[]
There is no obsession, EA/Bioware have said they had content already written at launch to last 2 years, and at the time that was assuming the game was going to succeed, now it has not it may spread out longer. Unless anyone can link to a recent article by EA/Bioware clearly stating they have been working on these fresh new content during 2012 (mainly after Aug) or 2013 then I will just go by what EA / Bioware have already stated.
What I say is not an opinion, it is from information as commented by EA/Bioware, and if true, then I do not see any major new updates like Makeb or SSSP coming ever again. They were quite vocal and explicit with their info with SWTOR from launch to the announcement of F2P, but since then they have been extremely quiet about it all.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
I bet SOE and Lucasarts believed SWTOR will be so awesome and great that it would kill SWG anyway (also, any other MMO), so they shut it down. Yes SWTOR owes me SWG. Better, SWG2
Swtor probably has the same amount of paying players that swg had, Swg lasted 7 years as a subscription mmo, i doubt swtor will.
Exactly.
Only because some people are obsessed over the space fantasy that was filmed almost half a century ago, you don't have to and you are free to say: It doesn't have that much potential.
Because it doesn't. The story just happened at the right time when the movie industry was stagnated and it had a break.
I hardly see many people obsessed over Chronicles of Riddick (which is much better movie than SW-movies combined) after 30 years of release. May happen though, there's enough weirdos around...
You do realize those number are completely made up, right? I'm guessing it was just an attempt at trolling.
3 mentions in a 12 page report and that's "all over it"? Well, if you want to believe that means SWTOR is doing great then go ahead, but your proof is far from conclusive.
Really don't know what swtor could do except scrapping their terribad engine and do a relaunch.
but they seem to hate every bit of SWG too, so all they are going to add will probably be the same wowclone stuff, dailies and raids. meh
http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/PerfArt
of course it won't. Different Time Period, different GAME, different rules. Different Product to be honest.
If I were the current owner of the SW I.P. I would let a SWG2 get made, for I don't think it would grab that many of SWTORs current customers away frankly. It's blatantly obvious BioWare and EA don't want the old SWG vets in their game and I would hazard a guess that most of the true hard core SWG vets wouldn't touch SWTOR even with my keyboard, so I really don't understand why they aren't getting greedy and cleaning house with this IP.
But obviously I ain't the current owner of the SW IP. Maybe the reason why the IP owners won't authorize a SWG2 is because the IP owners don't want to have any old school MMO Players as customers any more.... as I mentioned in another thread. I am getting the distinct opinion that the customer base known as "old school MMO gamers" is one customer base no one wants to do business with any more. If this is true it might be the reason why we will never see a SWG2 or a rebirth of SWG.
We could just ask some of the Devs and MMO Suits that post on these forums... maybe they will honestly answer this query... but I doubt it.
Quotations Those Who make peaceful resolutions impossible, make violent resolutions inevitable. John F. Kennedy
Life... is the shit that happens while you wait for moments that never come - Lester Freeman
Lie to no one. If there 's somebody close to you, you'll ruin it with a lie. If they're a stranger, who the fuck are they you gotta lie to them? - Willy Nelson
And I bet we'll meet aliens tomorrow. ROFL!
Lets stick with what we know and not what some forum poster believes. LOL!
And here comes the real answer; the entitlement. The 'The World Owes Me' reason.
I wish you the best of luck in the real world cause with reasoning like that, you'll need it.
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
Absolutely. That confirms it is covering its day-to-day costs; so making a profit. Which is good. And he is also hopeful that the new movies might bring more people in - which is very positive. For a development team to know that their game isn't slated to close for at least 2 years .... must be a good feeling.
Based on what EA said they originally needed though I don't think they are anywhere near "68%" profitable - direct staff are only one part of the cost base; and as the number of games that EA churns out drops each game has to pick up a bigger share of the overheads. So I think cost control will continue to be very tight.
As far as box sales go - no. Analysts estimated that the initial 2M sales will have brought in a profit of $60M. For box sales profit is around 20%. Amazon, Best Buy etc. Production costs etc. EA may get more as they are the distributors but $60M is what analysts estimated. And Jorgensen's predecessor basically said that it hadn't made a profit.
And the article does say "Jorgensen talked about the failure" - if box sales alone had covered the costs I think he would have said. No I think they have been written off and it now comes down to "day-to-day" revenue which is "profitable".
For me the real key was his comment about the film potentially generating more excitement. Which makes me wonder what they are planning for SWTOR.
2014: Keep things ticking over through 2014 - only tiny developments to keep costs down (have to assume that revenue will fall off as interest wanes through next year).
2015: Battlefront will be launched in maybe summer - so they won't want to interfere with that - but plan in something 2more significant" to tie in with the film? Something at least on a par with Makeb. Maybe a couple of Makeb type expansions - one to "re-boot" things and another for 3 months later to sustain the momentum.
Who knows!
the original trilogy are in the movie classics
riddick is a good movie, but its NOT a Classic, do they even still sell copies of it?
and diesel is like seagal, after a certain number of movies,..simply boring
timing wasnt the reason for success, galactica movies was before SW, and they didnt
make nearly as much money
Battle star galactica came out in 78-79 ( the movie was just ep 1 with a different edit ) , and there's a lot more to it's story than just " it didn't make as much money "
I would like a open world focused SW MMO, and unfortunately swtor fails to deliver on that in respects to open world pvp, and even the pve content since its a very static world.
The success of swtor is mostly in its strong points ( wow clone with story and with a few 'twists'), and it goes to show for a game in the SW genre that is what matters unfortunately.
Also, more unfortunate, is how the new battle front will be the alternative to swtor's short coming in terms of pvp. Battlefront is its own attraction with its own style, but with dissappointed fans in terms of combat not being properly adapted in a full fledge tripple A MMO, they will most likely see battle front not for what it is, but how it does not fullfill thier wants.
Swtor in reality is barely an MMO, it barely delivers on the experience, but is successful due to the cash shop and having 'story' in a SW title MMO. Thats thier recipe, which is not bad, if it were at least more consistent with more story, and a more refined experience with a less static world. Since a single player swtor would be better. A single player swtor with an online mode, and player created content would be also better, but not as profitable for EA. At the end of the day, its making the best of of what exists in the market or somehow creating your own product.
For me swtor will only be story, pazaak/swoop racing, and maybe space combat. I am not interesting in anything else... which is unfortunate since i love to pvp, but gear grinds wear me out, and I do not like to feel useless when out dpsed with healers also outhealing my dps and I see no damage done... imagine a warzone and teamed against a better group with more healers and maybe 1 person dies. I am good enough in pvp that I can solo against 2 players and win with all cool downs... but against a team with enough healers it becomes boring with a gear grind on top of that. I really wish they reduced the effectives of healing and made tanking more important and thus healers always had to travel with tanks or die.
Write bad things that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to you on a piece of marble
this could mean we wont see a better SW mmo made with a proper engine and all the features that BW isnt adding to Swtor.....
Thats not good.
I'm surprised that you and everyone else who was playing the older MMOs aren't at the doors of Blizzard with torches and pitchforks since WOW's success is what really killed SWG and many other MMOs. It was WOW's success that marked a change in the MMO industry from sandbox to themepark and was behind SOE's decision to radically alter SWG.
Welcome to the free market and capitalism. There's some old fans of Disco crying in this corner and in the other is fans of old TV Westerns.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
Nonsense.
SWG died because LucasArts wanted to market and promote the new prequel trilogy, and Galaxies was based on (and felt like) the original Star Wars universe. They wanted more action, less crafting, less strategy. LucasArts forced SOE to make the changes that would become known as the "Combat Upgrade" and the "New Game Experience", to try and force Galaxies to play more like their console franchise, and thus fit better with the short-attention-span crowd the prequel movies were aimed at.
SOE later put the rotting corpse of SWG in the ground, after SWTOR was announced, and their license to the Star Wars IP ran out.
Considering the history of Electronic Arts as a studio, in the last decade, I don't see their holding an exclusive IP contract as a good thing, in any way. Competition is good. Monopoly is bad, except the board game.
Theres always more to it, but the BSG remake has shown its true potential
the Classic BSG Space battles? the same explosions, over, and over
it wasnt really good scifi, but it was pretty much the only scifi back then
I guessed you missed the highlighted part ? Also the beginning of the quote from reddit itself says please feel free to ignore it. So no i am not trolling.
Cheers,
BadOrb.
PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing.
"SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13
The original propoganda pixie dust villain :[]