I fear for the future of this game.

Here's hoping it's a cool apocalypse and not a crappy 2012-style one!

Mental note: Stock up on Snausages to bribe our doggy overlords.

It always feel's that these types of "look at me" threads are just trolling threads. *shrugs*

Bioware Please close this thread. It was started by a 16yo kid who has no clue how an economy works and wanted to watch people QQ most likely.

I mean its like I said before if you owned a business and you only had 20 customers but you still made 100mil/yr would you give a dang? I think not. Its all about the money the game makes that says weather it will fail or not. NOT the # of subs. Atm SWTOR is making good money obviously. And patch 2.1 will only help that fact.

GET OUT OF THE SUB BASED MINDSET!

Where do you get that idea from? Industry analysts indicate, depending on the source, that F2P revenue is as much as three times sub revenue.

I can suggest some sources and reading if you would like. F2P has not doomed this game. It has saved it. What doomed it was launching in the state it was in as a sub only model.

Let me spell out what this could mean in very VERY general, speculative, even arguable terms.

You have 10 subs, 10 F2P/Preferred players.

Sub 1 - 15.00 month
Sub 2 - 15.00 month
Sub 3 - 15.00 month
Sub 4 - 15.00 month plus 10.00 month in CM expenditures
Sub 5 - 15.00 month
Sub 6 - 15.00 month
Sub 7 - 15.00 month plus 20.00 month in CM expenditures
Sub 8 - 15.00 month
Sub 9 - 15.00 month plus 10.00 month in CM expenditures
Sub 10 - 15.00 month

Subtotal - 200.00 mo

This is based on the following conjectures in the industry: That 3 out of 10 subs (30 percent) participate in cash shop purchases, and spend an additional 30 percent above total subscription revenue on those purchases each month.

F2P 1 - 145.00 month
F2P 2 - 190.00 month
F2P 3 - 175.00 month
F2P 4 - 0.00 month
F2P 5 - 0.00 month
F2P 6 - 0.00 month
F2P 7 - 0.00 month
F2P 8 - 0.00 month
F2P 9 - 0.00 month
F2P 10 - 0.00 month

Subtotal - 500.00 mo

3 out of 10 F2P players (30 percent) participate in cash shop purchases, and spend three times the total revenue of subs and cash shop purchases from subscribers combined. The vast majority of free players pay nothing, but those that do pay spend substantial amounts.

There you are, based on the business model. Does that happen here? Can't be said one way or another, but it's probably likely as it has worked that way in almost every game that has a similar model as this one in the market.

Where do they ever say that? They said 1.7 million subs. Speculating know-nothing game bloggers claimed (or expected) more; there's a world of difference between "expectations" and "reality" and only one matters. Please, provide the links that state were EA ever said they had more than 1.7 million.

And somehow, miraculously enough, it also doesn't mean the game is dying, either. SWTOR monthy revenue had more than doubled since F2P. You can interpret that as you want, but it'll all be simply the speculation of a random person on the internet. Unless you have hard figures (with links please), then yes, it is running around saying the sky is falling.

Are these are the same industry analysts who keep telling prospective developers to "copy WoW"?

And yes, I'd agree that F2P has saved it in the short term. The long term is up in the air still.

EA keeps UO open. Still.

If it turns a profit, it stays open.

Hate em all you want but they aren't NCsoft.

I never said the game IS dying, I said it WAS dying.

You make no sense at all. You are saying my numbers are wrong, yet they were higher than yours. Therefore, you are arguing that the game is doing worse than I surmised it was and calling me a chicken little,

^ is right. The game WAS dying. That's why they canned the heck out of the WoW-worshipping Mythic developers and imported this F2P model which gives things players have asked for and were repeatedly told they would never receive. [though sadly at an added price]

I've seen all these same, tired arguments before.
When Lord of the Rings Online went F2P. The same arguments showing up here, showed up there.
They are still online, and doing better since they went F2P. We are already starting to see the same thing happen here.

At the end of the day, all you people saying "I worry about the future/direction" of this game, your worries are based upon assumptions and conjecture, at best.

The game is doing better, accept it for what it is.