Acti/Blizz vs EA pvp!

[Puremallace]

So we all saw this first comment.



Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...7AR1ZY20111129

Count Activision CEO Bobby Kotick among the doubters when it comes to the financial viability of Star Wars: The Old Republic. The controversial executive mentioned the upcoming MMO in a speech at yesterday's Reuters Media Summit talk, during which he said he's unclear what publisher Electronic Arts stands to gain from the game.

"Lucas is going to be the principal beneficiary of the success of Star Wars," Kotick posited. "We've been in business with Lucas for a long time and the economics will always accrue to the benefit of Lucas, so I don't really understand how the economics work for Electronic Arts."

Kotick went on to say that the odds are stacked against new investors in the massively multiplayer market. "If you look at the history of the people investing in an MMO and achieving success, it's a small number," he said.

Now we get this from EA analyst.


Source: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...revenue-report

Worried that Bobby Kotick has the right of things and that Star Wars: The Old Republic won't make bank for Electronic Arts? Market analyst Michael Pachter disagrees, saying that he not only predicts that EA will cover the costs of SWTOR's development, but come out just fine even with LucasArts taking its share.

Pachter says that LucasArts will claim 35% of SWTOR's revenue: "The revenue split is around 35 percent to LucasArts after EA earns back their investment. That means EA keeps most of the revenue from disc sales (they have marketing expenses and need to staff up the server farms), so they should earn a nice profit there. Keep in mind that EA expensed the development cost when incurred, so much of the disc sales revenue will be profit."

Pachter's predictions for the title are sizable yet reasonable; he thinks that SWTOR will get 1.5 million subscribers. This translates to $270 million per year in revenue, $80 million of which will be pure profit for EA after LucasArts and operating costs take their share. Even if SWTOR only draws in -- or sustains -- merely 500,000 subscribers, Pachter says the game will be sitting pretty.

Other market analysts, such as EEDAR VP Jesse Divnich, support the notion of SWTOR's profitability. "Based upon user commentary and consumer surveys, the profit potential for The Old Republic is high. We see little risk of failure for The Old Republic," Divnich stated.

In my view this should inspire confidence in ToR fans because it means EA while trying to milk it will also do whatever it takes to make sure the game is successful.

So yes there will be a cash shop someday, but it also means Bioware will have one HELL of a budget to work with.

[Arteous]

i think the market analist michael pachter is being conservative with his numbers. i think the subs will be much higher.

[JustintimeSS]

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1032349-Bobby-Bobby-Bobby
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...s-Will-Hurt-EA

It has already been posted several times and locked every time.

[OtisJay]

Just goes to show you a MMO doesn't need 7+million to stay in the black...

[Redgoon23]

i think the market analist michael pachter is being conservative with his numbers. i think the subs will be much higher.

I don't like pachter. whenever I hear about him, it's just him making guesses on how the video game market will be in the future. anyone could do the same thing, and everyone does. why all the gaming sites go to him confuses me.

[Puremallace]

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1032349-Bobby-Bobby-Bobby
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...s-Will-Hurt-EA

It has already been posted several times and locked every time.

Actually this new article was posted like 5 minutes ago and I did not see a thread where this would fit. My bad.

[Lumicide]

i think the market analist michael pachter is being conservative with his numbers. i think the subs will be much higher.

I do too, he's basically always wrong anyway. Said Wii would be a failure 'n such.

Analysts seem to be blinded statistics assuming 'this' title is equal to 'this' because of what it is on paper, rather than seeing how different it is in execution.

One of the biggest problems MMO's have is attach rates, 'cause it's just 50-85+ levels of meaningless questing with the only carrot on the stick being end-game and most people don't make it to lvl 20, SW:ToR I really expect to have a quite high attach rate, much more like an SP RPG, because of it's structure.

[JustintimeSS]

Actually this new article was posted like 5 minutes ago and I did not see a thread where this would fit. My bad.

That would be my bad then. I didn't look at the date of this new article, only the content.

[Buckwald]

So far, in this thread, we don't have the standard SWTOR vs WoW flaming and trolling (that's done from both sides). I'll be watching the thread closely and hopefully it can have some good discussion.

[Puremallace]

So far, in this thread, we don't have the standard SWTOR vs WoW flaming and trolling (that's done from both sides). I'll be watching the thread closely and hopefully it can have some good discussion.

It could easily, but I think it boils down to more..yes everyone knows EA is a money grubbing corporate whatever, but if they look at ToR the same way that Acti looks at WoW then that basically means a endless slush fund.

It could alleviate the concern alot of people share that new story content will come slow after launch. If they have a crazy budget content could come really fast.

[Televators]

I think speculating is silly. I believe a lot of people will try SWTOR. I will continue to play WoW and give SWTOR a shot because my roommate will drive me nuts to play it if I don't. I beta tested the game and found it to be enjoyable. But the reason it was enjoyable was because I could sit down and play it immediately because it was just like WoW. I am surprised and at least a little put off at how the game really plays exactly like WoW. But like millions of others, I'll probably play it anyway.

[Lumicide]

I think speculating is silly. I believe a lot of people will try SWTOR. I will continue to play WoW and give SWTOR a shot because my roommate will drive me nuts to play it if I don't. I beta tested the game and found it to be enjoyable. But the reason it was enjoyable was because I could sit down and play it immediately because it was just like WoW. I am surprised and at least a little put off at how the game really plays exactly like WoW. But like millions of others, I'll probably play it anyway.

: / MMO's seem to be the only genre that's classified entirely by their gameplay... HL basically plays Exactly like Quake, they're shooters afterall... it's the execution that is so vastly different.

[Deleted]

Kotick was just being general, there is no reason to assume his arguments on the situation are on the same level as those of the analyst.

[Klingers]

Bobby Kottick, smarmy little git that he is, has had no direct impact on the success or viability of World of Warcraft. His mob just came in and assimilated Blizzard's then-parent company Vivendi when WoW was at its peak.

If anything, under his tenure and directives from on-high the Warcraft brand has been harmed more than it has been helped. They've fed the cash cow poor quality grain feed (i.e. transfer of revenue, resourcing from the B team, moving Blizzard's best people and resources onto other projects) and they've had the poor thing hooked up to a maxxed-out milking machine for so long it's starting to look sick and emaciated.

Just like the entire Global Financial System, it's all about bleeding 150% out of something for ultimate short-term gain and then discarding the husk, then acting surprised when people start bailing.

Here's hoping that the quasi-reformed EA, the licensing pedigree and all its associated responsibilities and Bioware's own internal corporate culture can shield them from being Guitar-Heroed ala WoW under Bobby Kottick's glorious vision.

[Glorious Leader]

Heres the thing, I think Kotick is paying a very shrewd pr game here. SOE, Cryptic, Trion Worlds, and yes Acti/Blizz are PRAYING that SWTOR succeeds. For an number of reasons. In the case of the first 3 its so that companies will get to green light large mmo projects more often. If another competitor comes around and shows that the market isn't solely dominated by one big daddy then its more likely that future projects will get investment. Acti/Blizz should (and I would argue is) praying for SWTOR to succeed. SWTOR has the potential to expand market rather well I think, and this is something that Acti/Blizz should be all over. MMO gaming NEEDS fresh blood. If World of Warcraft wants to continue growing (and I can assure you from an investor standpoint they do) they NEED fresh meat. They don't need jaded bitter assholes like me coming back to wow to complain and eat up content fast. They need to broaden the market even further. Kotick has to realize this, if not then hes extremely short sighted and will not be long for his position. I don't think Kotick is short sighted mind you, I think hes playing a very shrewd PR game. To what end I'm not sure, but I can't believe he would be so narrow minded about the whole thing.

[Prag]

I wouldn't count on EA allowing something to fail. 500,000 is going to be no problem for the combination of EA, BioWare and LucasArts all holding their hands out for money, especially when the Star Wars IP is attached to it. If it starts to slip, they'll find a way to get more people to play it. That's why I love MMO's, they can -always- be fixed (or broken) in a matter of a single patch.

Bobby Kotick, for better or worse, is a solid capitalist. I hate him as a gamer though. We can all sit and say whatever we want, but at the end of the day you're not going to cancel because of him, so he's probably crying all the way to the bank.