EA has "probably" invested close to half a billion dollars in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
"EA has minimised its risks as much as it can on this bet, but it's still a risky bet. To the extent that any one game defines his tenure, it's going to be how Star Wars performs."
Riccitiello oversaw EA's acquisition of Old Republic developer BioWare and Pandemic in a deal worth up to $860 million, and also led negotiations with Star Wars creator George Lucas about developing a rival to World of Warcraft. He has said that The Old Republic will turn a profit if it manages to retain half a million subscribers.
EA claimed over the Christmas break that The Old Republic is the fastest-growing subscription MMO in history.
Comments
9 comments so far...
Dralel on 18 Jan '12 said:
Umm you should never have to spend $500,000,000 on 1 single video game, business fail.
kmcroc on 18 Jan '12 said:
I hope it does well , it has to on the base that thier are a ton of MMO players out there & its a Star Wars one at that . both group of fans should make this a hit .
budge on 18 Jan '12 said:
They could try to make that money back by charging to play unnecessary online multiplayer in single player games.
BenThomasFoster on 18 Jan '12 said:
Meanwhile Bioware laughing it's ass off and Indie(indipendant for all idiots who think indie games are genre) games developers shuts down
KMakawa on 18 Jan '12 said:
It was a risk, and most of that money was put into the engine, writers and marketing.. Most of it was also sunk into the voice acting.
Bioware already have content worked out and finished for 2 years or so.. its very thought out and sorted in terms of future.
monty_79 on 18 Jan '12 said:
this to be fair. I doubt very much it will ever have much less than 1m players anyway. Starwars is too big and I'm pretty sure many people are bored of wow, as you would with any game after playing it for an extended period of time.. Except for Battlefield Bad company 2 of course!
middle finger on 18 Jan '12 said:
So they're not from India?
badgerpog on 18 Jan '12 said:
I always thought Indie developers were also archaeologists with whips and fedora hats.
Mantis Gamer on 7 May '12 said:
This is what happens when people get too full of themselves. They start to think that anything and everything they do will be a big hit. Star Wars is old and washed up. Sure, it still makes plenty of money selling garbage toys to children who don't know better, but it has lost much of its appeal and excitement. Lucas' attempts to gain new fans via the new animated Star Wars: Clone Wars movie and series have been mediocre at best. Lucas is making mistake after mistake which is slowly destroying the Star Wars franchise and legacy. If you want to create an MMO game to compete with the king of MMO, WOW, you don't base it on a dwindling franchise. Yes, Star Wars is still big, but I beleive interest overall is shrinking.
SW: The Old Republic will do well at first as die hard fans, ex-SW Galaxies players, and regular gamers looking for something new to give a try. But I predict its success will be relatively short lived and will eventually go the way of The Matrix Online.
My advice to EA, hire some new writers and create something original. Create a new futuristic universe with characters people can attach themselves to. Make a dramatic CG/HD to build hype and excitement. Use some sense.
My advice to George Lucas, let Star Wars die so you can resurrect it again in about 10 years.