EA CEO John Riccitiello has explained the publisher's reluctance to publicly announce a launch window for BioWare MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic.
According to the exec, doing so would be irresponsible to the publisher's shareholders as it would give competitors an opportunity to disrupt the launch. He also said it's vitally important to continue fine-tuning the game based on customer feedback from the ongoing beta test.
"One, the competitive marketplace. Putting a window out there creates a window of opportunity for our principal competitor to put out an expansion pack or an ad campaign etcetera around out launch window. Bad move at this point in time.
"Second, you do a beta for a reason. You intend to learn something. If you have the answer before you ask the question you're not listening. We intend, [BioWare founders] Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk and [EA Games Label president] Frank Gibeau, to listen to their consumers.
"We have a best judgment as to when that's going to happen," Riccitiello added of the game's launch. "We've created our annual operating plan around it, but if we fail to listen, and sub-optimise a ten year revenue opportunity, a profit opportunity for jamming ourselves into a corner we're not the management team you should invest in."
EA said last month that The Old Republic may slip from its previously planned 2011 launch to a 2012 release.
Comments
1 comments so far...
pRM8 on 9 Jun '11 said:
Makes sense from a business standpoint but not for the gamers who want to know when the game is finally coming out.
I would rather wait longer so Bioware could make sure the game was the best they could make it than launch it half-arsed with poor content.