Patch, who cares?

Well done ignoring my last post. You're only exposing yourself as a fanboy with a lack of an opinion of his own, regurgitating whatever anyone else on these boards type, so you can cope with the cognitive dissonance of having bought a product you had such high hopes and expectations for, which only got delivered in part.

Is this your proof of decreasing market share? If you really are a market researcher you should know that stock value reflect exception of future profit (at its best) and not market share.

I don't have reason to doubt anything you said, but that graph is slightly different than the picture you paint.

You said steady from Aug to release. That graph shows incline from Aug to November 3rd. At that point it starts it's decline. Not at 12/20/11. There is actually a rebound on 12/19/11 from the 11/3/11 downward trend, that we would probably attribute to the release. Peaking at 1/5/12 (which is two weeks post release of upward trending, not one day like you said). Then a drop on 1/13/12. Followed by a precipitous drop on the 1/17/12. Rebounding again on the day of the press conference. Followed by steady .3 a day decline since.

And you don't think market share predicts future profit margins? If market share drops, stocks will drop eventually. It's a downward spiral.

And you don't think market share predicts future profit margins? If market share drops, stocks will drop eventually. It's a downward spiral.

And you don't think market share predicts future profit margins? If market share drops, stocks will drop eventually. It's a downward spiral.

But initial sales have been stellar. Retention is where the challenge will be.

Is this your proof of decreasing market share? If you really are a market researcher you should know that stock value reflect exception of future profit (at its best) and not market share.

We know the game has been growing steadily since launch. We do not know if it will generate the expected profit.

http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/EA

While being relatively stable from august until release, thanks to the build-up of their flagship product SWTOR, the post-release spike lasted only days, until EA stock started dropping rapidly.

Brean Murray Carret & Co analysts have already confirmed sales to be lower than expected, and have since then adjusted their assumptions downward. Todd Mitchell, the one involved, is hardly a rookie in analyzing video games and stock fluctuations.

Oh, ofcourse SWTOR is only one part of the portfolio, but it's their most important asset and one would have expected a different picture to emerge if the game would have been the undeniable success you guys think it is.

Too many fans are plugging their ears. There's nothing wrong with being critical, you can still like the game despite that. I still love it, but I see some glaring mishaps. Most of them due to poor communication.

I'm a strategic planner at an advertising agency, and have been a market researcher the years after I've graduated. I've come to realize how important communication is in the gaming industry, how crucial it is in shaping perception. Bioware can do better. They might be new to the specific MMO niche, but they are a solid company. I keep faith.

Oh, and while I agree initial sales matter less than customer retention, you can't keep what you don't have.
Are the analysts having unrealistic expectations? Possibly. But don't forget the gargantuan amount of costs EA/Bioware has made in order to develop, produce and market this game. They need to reach high-target goals in order to get a proper ROE.

Ill see you that and raise you this

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/01...dget-revealed/

It seems like everyone is obsessed with the exact amount of money EA spent creating its most expensive title ever, but the Los Angeles Times may have a final number to end the discussion: Apparently, Star Wars: The Old Republic cost $200 million. Other interesting details from the Times' investigation into what it calls a "galactic gamble" include the fact that it was made by 800 people on four continents with an additional 1,000 voice actors (doing three languages) handling 4,000 characters.

The project was such a massive undertaking that BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk likened it to "teaching elephants to do ballet." One of the interesting details of this behind-the-scenes expose is that BioWare said that certain movies and TV miniseries influenced class storylines, such as Big Trouble in Little China for the Smuggler and Band of Brothers for the Trooper.

There's also some good news following yesterday's word of EA's stock hit. MarketWatch reports that several brokers have defended the title, resulting in a 2% bounce back in EA's stock. As part of that, a Pacific Crest analyst raised his predictions of quarter sales for SWTOR from 1.5 to 2.2 million, with 800,000 subscribers. Another analyst claims that over two million units of SWTOR have been sold since launch with an expectation that 75% to 90% of players will stay on as paid subscribers following the first free month.


Also Marketwatch isn't empirical evidence that less people are playing now but... nice try.

So much for the lack of features that other games currently have causing this game to be a failure and lose money.

Well done sir