I'm barely playing it any more in between SWG Emu and a few other games but it;s nice to see a good news story, particularly concerning the financials.
Of course, the usual bitter and butt hurt haters will continue to hate the game and thats fine, however at least nobody, not even on THESE forums can continue to say the game is not a financial success....
Not if they hope to retain a shred of credability anyway....
Driz
Yeah I'd say its time for them to just accept that the game is doing well and move on. I'm not sure which news hit them the hardest: EA being named sole maker of future Star Wars games or this latest earnings report.Clearly TOR has recovered after it's rocky first year and the future is bright.
The financial success equals game is acceptable has never held water. It's a bad MMO, and it's really just moving toward a lobby PVP game with each new add-on. It takes 20 seconds to write this, just as it would to post "I love doing the same stupid dailies with my cleft-palate Ewok mistress sidekick" so spare me the junior psychologist diagnosis.
Anything to add that isn't based on a personal opinion?
**
Because this really looks like an example of someone being angry because the game is doing well.
Well you can see it that way if you want I guess, but it's more like someone who hates the game regardless of how much money EA/Bioware makes from it.
What if I told you they are making an additional $90M a year on subscriptions from box sales and that shows that there are many, many people who are very happy with the game and while some of that could be attributed to mind control on the part of EA, the majority of it would have to be attributed to the perceived quality of the game on the part of the game's players?
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
What if I told you they are making an additional $90M a year on subscriptions from box sales and that shows that there are many, many people who are very happy with the game and while some of that could be attributed to mind control on the part of EA, the majority of it would have to be attributed to the perceived quality of the game on the part of the game's players?
*gasp*
Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.
Glad SWTOR is doing well because the stories are fantastic,best part of the game and I think many like me agree and do sub. I enjoy the game and I do think people who spend time on forums of games they do not play just to bad mouth it are not very smart and must lead boring lives if this is what they do in their spare time. Give up your crusade you have lost SWTOR is a success.
Q: What type of data do we have and where do we get it?
A: Every month we collect the spending data of 2,850,000 paying online gamers directly from publishers and developers, totaling 50+ publishers and 450+ game titles."
In other words, it is a bogus list worth nothing because they are basing the numbers off of a very small segment of the gaming population.
450+ games. There are how many MMOs?
This next one here makes this entire thread worthless
"Analyzing
Q: How do we analyze data?
A: We combine the digital point of sale data with qualitative consumer INSIGHTS to speak to the "why" of the market. Total monthly audience X conversion rate X Average revenue per paying customer"
Bogus numbers boys and girls, they are taking the amount of players times the conversion rate of the shops times the AVERAGE PER PAYING CUSTOMER which blows the numbers way out of perportion. Also, guess what. BIG BUBBLE BURST COMING HERE EA themselves lists SWTOR and TWO FIFA games together in their last quarterly report as having the earnings on this chart. Not just SWTOR, all three games.
Did you miss the "gets data directly from publishers" part? LOL Then you claim it's bogus. EA is listed as one of the companies they work with. That section of the website is referring to their market analysis and forecasting services, their services are not in "guesssing" numbers for digital sales. What they do is take the actual data they have and try to help companies analyse and generate strategies for profit growth in digital sales.
I'm sure EA, who has troubles coming clean with their own investors, goes to that company and says, "hey guys, here is all of our data for your report". Makes a lot of sense...
If you can't see what's wrong with that picture, believe what you want, you are the target audience.
Boycotting EA. Why? They suck, even moreso since 2008.
EA themselves lists SWTOR and TWO FIFA games together in their last quarterly report as having the earnings on this chart. Not just SWTOR, all three games.
Did you miss the "gets data directly from publishers" part? LOL
Sniped my post for what YOU clearly missed.
EA is telling their OWN investors the lie then? Fanboys, see what they want to see if they think that a company is going to give an outside service real information while telling their own investors AND the FCC something else.
BTW, lying to the FCC would have serious consequences. Reality, it isn't your thing.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
SWTOR Cartel Market: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.
Should we be more embarrassed for the people still spending money on this game or the fact that this game is in the black. If things made sense in this world the financials would be in the red and the game would have been canceled. Then maybe we could get a good Star Wars mmo.
Why make a new game or real content or even fix game breaking features and bugs when you can still make money hand over fist selling junk cosmetics and mounts. EA is strong with the dark side of the Force. A domain of evil it is
Q: What type of data do we have and where do we get it?
A: Every month we collect the spending data of 2,850,000 paying online gamers directly from publishers and developers, totaling 50+ publishers and 450+ game titles."
In other words, it is a bogus list worth nothing because they are basing the numbers off of a very small segment of the gaming population.
450+ games. There are how many MMOs?
This next one here makes this entire thread worthless
"Analyzing
Q: How do we analyze data?
A: We combine the digital point of sale data with qualitative consumer INSIGHTS to speak to the "why" of the market. Total monthly audience X conversion rate X Average revenue per paying customer"
Bogus numbers boys and girls, they are taking the amount of players times the conversion rate of the shops times the AVERAGE PER PAYING CUSTOMER which blows the numbers way out of perportion. Also, guess what. BIG BUBBLE BURST COMING HERE EA themselves lists SWTOR and TWO FIFA games together in their last quarterly report as having the earnings on this chart. Not just SWTOR, all three games.
Did you miss the "gets data directly from publishers" part? LOL Then you claim it's bogus. EA is listed as one of the companies they work with. That section of the website is referring to their market analysis and forecasting services, their services are not in "guesssing" numbers for digital sales. What they do is take the actual data they have and try to help companies analyse and generate strategies for profit growth in digital sales.
I'm sure EA, who has troubles coming clean with their own investors, goes to that company and says, "hey guys, here is all of our data for your report". Makes a lot of sense...
If you can't see what's wrong with that picture, believe what you want, you are the target audience.
This would be an incredibly d@mning statement if it were actually made by investors. Especially since investors can sue EA for just not putting enough effort into a product. Oddly enough, it's only made on internet forums.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
SWTOR Cartel Market: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.
Should we be more embarrassed for the people still spending money on this game or the fact that this game is in the black. If things made sense in this world the financials would be in the red and the game would have been canceled. Then maybe we could get a good Star Wars mmo.
Why make a new game or real content or even fix game breaking features and bugs when you can still make money hand over fist selling junk cosmetics and mounts. EA is strong with the dark side of the Force. A domain of evil it is
Cry me a river that people have money to spend on hobbies they enjoy.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.' -Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid." -Luke McKinney
This would be an incredibly d@mning statement if it were actually made by investors. Especially since investors can sue EA for just not putting enough effort into a product. Oddly enough, it's only made on internet forums.
You still aren't getting it. Any data inconsistent with the tin-foil hat theories of frothing at the mouth forum neckbeards is clearly being faked.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.
Q: What type of data do we have and where do we get it?
A: Every month we collect the spending data of 2,850,000 paying online gamers directly from publishers and developers, totaling 50+ publishers and 450+ game titles."
In other words, it is a bogus list worth nothing because they are basing the numbers off of a very small segment of the gaming population.
450+ games. There are how many MMOs?
This next one here makes this entire thread worthless
"Analyzing
Q: How do we analyze data?
A: We combine the digital point of sale data with qualitative consumer INSIGHTS to speak to the "why" of the market. Total monthly audience X conversion rate X Average revenue per paying customer"
Bogus numbers boys and girls, they are taking the amount of players times the conversion rate of the shops times the AVERAGE PER PAYING CUSTOMER which blows the numbers way out of perportion. Also, guess what. BIG BUBBLE BURST COMING HERE EA themselves lists SWTOR and TWO FIFA games together in their last quarterly report as having the earnings on this chart. Not just SWTOR, all three games.
Did you miss the "gets data directly from publishers" part? LOL Then you claim it's bogus. EA is listed as one of the companies they work with. That section of the website is referring to their market analysis and forecasting services, their services are not in "guesssing" numbers for digital sales. What they do is take the actual data they have and try to help companies analyse and generate strategies for profit growth in digital sales.
I'm sure EA, who has troubles coming clean with their own investors, goes to that company and says, "hey guys, here is all of our data for your report". Makes a lot of sense...
If you can't see what's wrong with that picture, believe what you want, you are the target audience.
This would be an incredibly d@mning statement if it were actually made by investors. Especially since investors can sue EA for just not putting enough effort into a product. Oddly enough, it's only made on internet forums.
I should have said shareholders, not investors. EA is technically the investor anyways so the statement is still true in a political point of view. The reason they dont give all the info out is because it may hurt future sales which for any shareholder is perfectly acceptable.
Boycotting EA. Why? They suck, even moreso since 2008.
I'm sure EA, who has troubles coming clean with their own investors, goes to that company and says, "hey guys, here is all of our data for your report". Makes a lot of sense...
If you can't see what's wrong with that picture, believe what you want, you are the target audience.
This would be an incredibly d@mning statement if it were actually made by investors. Especially since investors can sue EA for just not putting enough effort into a product. Oddly enough, it's only made on internet forums.
I suggest you read up on the situation around the departure of the last CEO. He was being lambasted by the investors for combining the numbers of games not meeting expectations to make them look better than they were. Also, an investor cannot sue based on their opinion that the company is not putting in enough effort. Well, they can try to sue but it would be tossed out of court.
None of this changes the fact that their earnings reports say that its SWTOR and two FIFA games with the revenue listed by this site and there is no way in hell EA would give correct information to an outside company while lying to the FCC and investors. Also, if the numbers by this company was correct, the numbers in their revenue report would be insanely higher to show investors that all is well.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
What if I told you they are making an additional $90M a year on subscriptions from box sales and that shows that there are many, many people who are very happy with the game and while some of that could be attributed to mind control on the part of EA, the majority of it would have to be attributed to the perceived quality of the game on the part of the game's players?
*gasp*
I know, right?
I find myself in an odd position in threads like this. On the one hand, I don't particularly like SWToR. I don't think it's a very good game. However, looking at the world that exists outside my head, there are a LOT of people playing the game. It obviously offers something that players want, such that they would rather play SWToR than whatever else they can do. I also find their F2P system restrictive. Not so much that if I found the game fun to play it would cause me to stop playing, but I can see how only 2 action slot bars is a pretty blatant attempt at getting everyone who plays the game to spend $5. This isn't wrong, mind you, but it does seem a bit heavy handed. Running parallel to this thought is that, again, a LOT of people are playing the game, and apparently a LOT of people are giving money to SWToR. It must be providing value to those players such that they aren't playing other games or engaging in other activities and spending money elsewhere. Their F2P model works, and works well.
So the position I find myself in is that I really don't like the game, but I'm in the position of a game defender because the people who say the game is bad, is crashing or is somehow going to corrupt the genre just don't make sense. If someone says they don't like the game, and they have a list of reasons, that makes sense. To say the game is objectively bad when it so obviously serves the wants of so many consumers does not make sense. I've been posting a picture of a dog wearing a tie on a computer with the caption, "I have no idea what I am doing" and I think this is why. I feel compelled to defend a game I don't like because the arguments being used are so bad.
Also, I have a golden retriever and she often doesn't look like she knows what she's doing, or why she's doing it so I find the picture amusing.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Their revenue would be used in part to pay for the amount they spent making the game so perhaps it would not be reflected because they could still despite these figures be in the red , No idea actually.
What i find hilarious is that haters frothing at mouth since SWTOR hasn't shut down as predicted by them. Infact SWTOR is going forward and is making money hand over fist. Even if JESUS himself appears and tell him that he still won't believe it.
Denial keeps the hate alive.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.' -Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid." -Luke McKinney
What i find hilarious is that haters frothing at mouth since SWTOR hasn't shut down as predicted by them. Infact SWTOR is going forward and is making money hand over fist. Even if JESUS himself appears and tell him that he still won't believe it.
Denial keeps the hate alive.
I can't believe that people on these forums are still convinced that the game has not yet made back its initial estimated development cost, let alone the game being a faileur, lol.
Even if JESUS himself appears and tell him that he still won't believe it.
Denial keeps the hate alive.
Volumes, they have been spoken.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
What if I told you they are making an additional $90M a year on subscriptions from box sales and that shows that there are many, many people who are very happy with the game and while some of that could be attributed to mind control on the part of EA, the majority of it would have to be attributed to the perceived quality of the game on the part of the game's players?
*gasp*
I know, right?
I find myself in an odd position in threads like this. On the one hand, I don't particularly like SWToR. I don't think it's a very good game. However, looking at the world that exists outside my head, there are a LOT of people playing the game. It obviously offers something that players want, such that they would rather play SWToR than whatever else they can do. I also find their F2P system restrictive. Not so much that if I found the game fun to play it would cause me to stop playing, but I can see how only 2 action slot bars is a pretty blatant attempt at getting everyone who plays the game to spend $5. This isn't wrong, mind you, but it does seem a bit heavy handed. Running parallel to this thought is that, again, a LOT of people are playing the game, and apparently a LOT of people are giving money to SWToR. It must be providing value to those players such that they aren't playing other games or engaging in other activities and spending money elsewhere. Their F2P model works, and works well.
So the position I find myself in is that I really don't like the game, but I'm in the position of a game defender because the people who say the game is bad, is crashing or is somehow going to corrupt the genre just don't make sense. If someone says they don't like the game, and they have a list of reasons, that makes sense. To say the game is objectively bad when it so obviously serves the wants of so many consumers does not make sense. I've been posting a picture of a dog wearing a tie on a computer with the caption, "I have no idea what I am doing" and I think this is why. I feel compelled to defend a game I don't like because the arguments being used are so bad.
Also, I have a golden retriever and she often doesn't look like she knows what she's doing, or why she's doing it so I find the picture amusing.
This is pretty much my view, the game is boring to me, but it seems to be making money now despite crashing badly at launch.
Personally I don't have a beef with the F2P system, if you aren't willing to put in $5 to a game after you have played to level 15 (approx where you need more than 2 bars) then you get no sympathy from me, you are a cheapskate and deserve a substandard experience. If you do like it then $20 odd on a few unlocks will give you a decent amount of options. If you are still playing and want more raids and PvP matches than you are given for free then you can buy a pass or subscribe. Personally I would rather see that than a game where a few whales keep it totally free for others and get a big advantage for doing so.
Even if JESUS himself appears and tell him that he still won't believe it.
Denial keeps the hate alive.
Volumes, they have been spoken.
And yet you are in denial.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.' -Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid." -Luke McKinney
I see a lot of difference. A set $15 per month access fee on par with other content delivery services (Netflix and cable television are probably the most prominent) vs a completely uncapped purchase of non-existent goods, often in the form of gambling boxes with unlisted odds of "winning", that can be taken away from the purchaser with no reimbursement whenever the company offering said non-existent goods feels like, per their EULA.
I understand they are both methods of monetizing online content, but in my own opinion, I feel that I am getting what I pay for with a subscription fee and being scammed with the purchase of non-existent digital goods that aren't even really mine after buying them. Of course, people are free to hold whatever opinion they wish.
Regardless of how you feel about subscription only vs. freemium or F2P, the Netflix and cable television comparisons just don't work. In both of those cases, you are paying a subscription for access to a wide range of content. The only MMO company that offers more than one game for the price of a sub is SOE.
Actually, if you simply define it as "providing content", it doesn't really matter how diverse the content is. The diversity of content will likely expand the target market of content consumers, but in the end it's all content being created for consumption. Watching 4 hours of television isn't much different than playing an MMORPG for 4 hours as far as the end result (ideally entertainment).
Only it's selling pixels, not tangible items, that you can access as long as EA says you can. I don't know if it makes me more sad that there are this many people willing to waste money in such a way or that I could never be the one to fleece people of millions in this way because I would feel terrible about myself. Life would be so much easier with more flexible morals.
This makes no sense in the current digital age.
Buying something digital shouldn't be something to be afraid of.
I mean.. jeez... It is 2014, not 1999.
The consumer should always be concerned about a purchase that doesn't result in their ownership of something. Even with digital media, assuming no DRM, the consumer owns a digital copy that they can do with as they please. They can put it on physical media, make multiple copies of it, back it up, store it in cloud storage, etc. However, you receive no ownership with pixels purchased in an MMORPG, even though it mimics a "real" transaction. The company that owns the MMORPG can, at any time, simply say that you no longer own that item, completely remove your access to their services or completely stop providing service resulting in your loss of purchased digital items.
That being said, part of the reason I prefer a sub model is because it's transparent in what it provides. You have access to this service as long as you choose to pay the monthly sub fee. If you stop paying, you no longer have access.
Even if JESUS himself appears and tell him that he still won't believe it.
Denial keeps the hate alive.
Volumes, they have been spoken.
And yet you are in denial.
There comes a time when you just have to accept that some people want the world to be the way they see it and are not looking to know anything. They talk to tell others, not because they're interested in hearing anything in return. He wants SWTOR to be failing, so it's going to be failing. He wants ESO to be bad, so it's going to be bad.
Revenue is only half the equation. What are its costs? Did it turn a profit? If so, did that profit meet their goal? Generating revenues is a good first step, but you have to do more than that to be successful.
___________________________ Have flask; will travel.
I find myself in an odd position in threads like this. On the one hand, I don't particularly like SWToR. I don't think it's a very good game. However, looking at the world that exists outside my head, there are a LOT of people playing the game. It obviously offers something that players want, such that they would rather play SWToR than whatever else they can do. I also find their F2P system restrictive. Not so much that if I found the game fun to play it would cause me to stop playing, but I can see how only 2 action slot bars is a pretty blatant attempt at getting everyone who plays the game to spend $5. This isn't wrong, mind you, but it does seem a bit heavy handed. Running parallel to this thought is that, again, a LOT of people are playing the game, and apparently a LOT of people are giving money to SWToR. It must be providing value to those players such that they aren't playing other games or engaging in other activities and spending money elsewhere. Their F2P model works, and works well.
So the position I find myself in is that I really don't like the game, but I'm in the position of a game defender because the people who say the game is bad, is crashing or is somehow going to corrupt the genre just don't make sense. If someone says they don't like the game, and they have a list of reasons, that makes sense. To say the game is objectively bad when it so obviously serves the wants of so many consumers does not make sense. I've been posting a picture of a dog wearing a tie on a computer with the caption, "I have no idea what I am doing" and I think this is why. I feel compelled to defend a game I don't like because the arguments being used are so bad.
Also, I have a golden retriever and she often doesn't look like she knows what she's doing, or why she's doing it so I find the picture amusing.
I know how you feel. Not on this particular game, since I happen to quite enjoy the class stories in TOR. (Rest of the game, no comment.) But a bad argument is a bad argument, whether you agree with some of the sentiments behind it or not, and it would be a beautiful thing if people stopped trying to pretend that whether they like a game and whether it's successful are two completely unrelated issues. I don't like WoW, not even a little bit, but I don't try to pretend it is objectively bad just because it doesn't cater to my tastes.
Originally posted by killion81
Actually, if you simply define it as "providing content", it doesn't really matter how diverse the content is. The diversity of content will likely expand the target market of content consumers, but in the end it's all content being created for consumption. Watching 4 hours of television isn't much different than playing an MMORPG for 4 hours as far as the end result (ideally entertainment).
When comparing systems, it helps to look at all of what is being offered, not cherry pick elements to suit the argument. Just because somebody might be willing to pay X for access to thousands of hours of different movies and tv shows, that doesn't indicate a willingness to pay the same amount for access to a single tv show, even if it is a tv show that has hundreds of hours worth of content. I always sub to games I play, I go with the same philosophy as you, it's about hours worth of value rather than diversity, but I recognize that not everyone thinks that way.
Originally posted by DamonVile
There comes a time when you just have to accept that some people want the world to be the way they see it and are not looking to know anything. They talk to tell others, not because they're interested in hearing anything in return. He wants SWTOR to be failing, so it's going to be failing. He wants ESO to be bad, so it's going to be bad.
Perception is reality, even when it isn't.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.
Revenue is only half the equation. What are its costs? Did it turn a profit? If so, did that profit meet their goal? Generating revenues is a good first step, but you have to do more than that to be successful.
This is EA. If SWTOR didn't turn a profit it would have been shut down.
Comments
What if I told you they are making an additional $90M a year on subscriptions from box sales and that shows that there are many, many people who are very happy with the game and while some of that could be attributed to mind control on the part of EA, the majority of it would have to be attributed to the perceived quality of the game on the part of the game's players?
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
*gasp*
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
Glad SWTOR is doing well because the stories are fantastic,best part of the game and I think many like me agree and do sub. I enjoy the game and I do think people who spend time on forums of games they do not play just to bad mouth it are not very smart and must lead boring lives if this is what they do in their spare time. Give up your crusade you have lost SWTOR is a success.
I'm sure EA, who has troubles coming clean with their own investors, goes to that company and says, "hey guys, here is all of our data for your report". Makes a lot of sense...
If you can't see what's wrong with that picture, believe what you want, you are the target audience.
Boycotting EA. Why? They suck, even moreso since 2008.
Sniped my post for what YOU clearly missed.
EA is telling their OWN investors the lie then? Fanboys, see what they want to see if they think that a company is going to give an outside service real information while telling their own investors AND the FCC something else.
BTW, lying to the FCC would have serious consequences. Reality, it isn't your thing.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster
http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
SWTOR Cartel Market: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.
Should we be more embarrassed for the people still spending money on this game or the fact that this game is in the black. If things made sense in this world the financials would be in the red and the game would have been canceled. Then maybe we could get a good Star Wars mmo.
Why make a new game or real content or even fix game breaking features and bugs when you can still make money hand over fist selling junk cosmetics and mounts. EA is strong with the dark side of the Force. A domain of evil it is
This would be an incredibly d@mning statement if it were actually made by investors. Especially since investors can sue EA for just not putting enough effort into a product. Oddly enough, it's only made on internet forums.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Cry me a river that people have money to spend on hobbies they enjoy.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.'
-Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid."
-Luke McKinney
You still aren't getting it. Any data inconsistent with the tin-foil hat theories of frothing at the mouth forum neckbeards is clearly being faked.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
I should have said shareholders, not investors. EA is technically the investor anyways so the statement is still true in a political point of view. The reason they dont give all the info out is because it may hurt future sales which for any shareholder is perfectly acceptable.
Boycotting EA. Why? They suck, even moreso since 2008.
I suggest you read up on the situation around the departure of the last CEO. He was being lambasted by the investors for combining the numbers of games not meeting expectations to make them look better than they were. Also, an investor cannot sue based on their opinion that the company is not putting in enough effort. Well, they can try to sue but it would be tossed out of court.
None of this changes the fact that their earnings reports say that its SWTOR and two FIFA games with the revenue listed by this site and there is no way in hell EA would give correct information to an outside company while lying to the FCC and investors. Also, if the numbers by this company was correct, the numbers in their revenue report would be insanely higher to show investors that all is well.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster
http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
I know, right?
I find myself in an odd position in threads like this. On the one hand, I don't particularly like SWToR. I don't think it's a very good game. However, looking at the world that exists outside my head, there are a LOT of people playing the game. It obviously offers something that players want, such that they would rather play SWToR than whatever else they can do. I also find their F2P system restrictive. Not so much that if I found the game fun to play it would cause me to stop playing, but I can see how only 2 action slot bars is a pretty blatant attempt at getting everyone who plays the game to spend $5. This isn't wrong, mind you, but it does seem a bit heavy handed. Running parallel to this thought is that, again, a LOT of people are playing the game, and apparently a LOT of people are giving money to SWToR. It must be providing value to those players such that they aren't playing other games or engaging in other activities and spending money elsewhere. Their F2P model works, and works well.
So the position I find myself in is that I really don't like the game, but I'm in the position of a game defender because the people who say the game is bad, is crashing or is somehow going to corrupt the genre just don't make sense. If someone says they don't like the game, and they have a list of reasons, that makes sense. To say the game is objectively bad when it so obviously serves the wants of so many consumers does not make sense. I've been posting a picture of a dog wearing a tie on a computer with the caption, "I have no idea what I am doing" and I think this is why. I feel compelled to defend a game I don't like because the arguments being used are so bad.
Also, I have a golden retriever and she often doesn't look like she knows what she's doing, or why she's doing it so I find the picture amusing.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Their revenue would be used in part to pay for the amount they spent making the game so perhaps it would not be reflected because they could still despite these figures be in the red , No idea actually.
What i find hilarious is that haters frothing at mouth since SWTOR hasn't shut down as predicted by them. Infact SWTOR is going forward and is making money hand over fist. Even if JESUS himself appears and tell him that he still won't believe it.
Denial keeps the hate alive.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.'
-Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid."
-Luke McKinney
I can't believe that people on these forums are still convinced that the game has not yet made back its initial estimated development cost, let alone the game being a faileur, lol.
Volumes, they have been spoken.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster
http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
This is pretty much my view, the game is boring to me, but it seems to be making money now despite crashing badly at launch.
Personally I don't have a beef with the F2P system, if you aren't willing to put in $5 to a game after you have played to level 15 (approx where you need more than 2 bars) then you get no sympathy from me, you are a cheapskate and deserve a substandard experience. If you do like it then $20 odd on a few unlocks will give you a decent amount of options. If you are still playing and want more raids and PvP matches than you are given for free then you can buy a pass or subscribe. Personally I would rather see that than a game where a few whales keep it totally free for others and get a big advantage for doing so.
And yet you are in denial.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.'
-Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid."
-Luke McKinney
Actually, if you simply define it as "providing content", it doesn't really matter how diverse the content is. The diversity of content will likely expand the target market of content consumers, but in the end it's all content being created for consumption. Watching 4 hours of television isn't much different than playing an MMORPG for 4 hours as far as the end result (ideally entertainment).
The consumer should always be concerned about a purchase that doesn't result in their ownership of something. Even with digital media, assuming no DRM, the consumer owns a digital copy that they can do with as they please. They can put it on physical media, make multiple copies of it, back it up, store it in cloud storage, etc. However, you receive no ownership with pixels purchased in an MMORPG, even though it mimics a "real" transaction. The company that owns the MMORPG can, at any time, simply say that you no longer own that item, completely remove your access to their services or completely stop providing service resulting in your loss of purchased digital items.
That being said, part of the reason I prefer a sub model is because it's transparent in what it provides. You have access to this service as long as you choose to pay the monthly sub fee. If you stop paying, you no longer have access.
There comes a time when you just have to accept that some people want the world to be the way they see it and are not looking to know anything. They talk to tell others, not because they're interested in hearing anything in return. He wants SWTOR to be failing, so it's going to be failing. He wants ESO to be bad, so it's going to be bad.
Revenue is only half the equation. What are its costs? Did it turn a profit? If so, did that profit meet their goal? Generating revenues is a good first step, but you have to do more than that to be successful.
___________________________
Have flask; will travel.
I know how you feel. Not on this particular game, since I happen to quite enjoy the class stories in TOR. (Rest of the game, no comment.) But a bad argument is a bad argument, whether you agree with some of the sentiments behind it or not, and it would be a beautiful thing if people stopped trying to pretend that whether they like a game and whether it's successful are two completely unrelated issues. I don't like WoW, not even a little bit, but I don't try to pretend it is objectively bad just because it doesn't cater to my tastes.
When comparing systems, it helps to look at all of what is being offered, not cherry pick elements to suit the argument. Just because somebody might be willing to pay X for access to thousands of hours of different movies and tv shows, that doesn't indicate a willingness to pay the same amount for access to a single tv show, even if it is a tv show that has hundreds of hours worth of content. I always sub to games I play, I go with the same philosophy as you, it's about hours worth of value rather than diversity, but I recognize that not everyone thinks that way.Perception is reality, even when it isn't.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
This is EA. If SWTOR didn't turn a profit it would have been shut down.