They stated that they needed 500k subs to break even.

We have been below that.

 

And a game can stay online and still be dead. If there was only enough income to break even there would not have been any development done on the game.

Thus it would be dead.

This is exactly what they want everyone to believe.

They had many options to salvage things. They just took the easiest, cheapest, and most short-term of the possible fixes.

They could have gone the Final Fantasy route, pulled the game from the market and redid it.

They could have gone the City of Heroes route and continually tweaked, modified, and expanded the game to boost numbers.

EA is not a couple of guys working out of a garage. They are ginormous corporate behemoth with a nearly endless supply of money to prop up one tiny speck of their business while they work to fix it. Corporations do this all the time.

There was absolutely zero chance of the game folding, shutting down, or otherwise being closed. Far too much money was invested in it and even if only had 50k people, they would have just put it in maintenance mode and made what they could for as long as they could. See Vanguard as an example.

The "serious raiders" left within 3-6 months of release. There aren't any "serious raiders" left to depart.

You should be careful. Keep being reasonable and logical and you will be branded a hater.

This is exactly what they want everyone to believe.

 

They had many options to salvage things. They just took the easiest, cheapest, and most short-term of the possible fixes.

 

They could have gone the Final Fantasy route, pulled the game from the market and redid it.

They could have gone the City of Heroes route and continually tweaked, modified, and expanded the game to boost numbers.

 

EA is not a couple of guys working out of a garage. They are ginormous corporate behemoth with a nearly endless supply of money to prop up one tiny speck of their business while they work to fix it. Corporations do this all the time.

 

There was absolutely zero chance of the game folding, shutting down, or otherwise being closed. Far too much money was invested in it and even if only had 50k people, they would have just put it in maintenance mode and made what they could for as long as they could. See Vanguard as an example.

Yes, yes, they want us to believe that they're profitable, but they're not! Because REASONS!

Conspiracy theories are awesome.

Yes, yes, they want us to believe that they're profitable, but they're not! Because REASONS!

 

Conspiracy theories are awesome.

No, they wanted us to believe it was "F2P or death". That's how you sell something bad, you make the alternative worse.

No, they wanted us to believe it was "F2P or death". That's how you sell something bad, you make the alternative worse.

I'm sure those 'were' the choices. A slow painful death after another year of sub-500k subscriptions or go to F2P.

Thankfully, they did go F2P and now we're doing great.

Please let it not be more dailies. If there is a way for devs to kick players in the nuts, it's by offering dailies as "content"

Unless it is a more unconventional form of "dailies" which is what this adaptive Kuat FP in 2.6 is beginning to looks like, complete with its own reputation vendor. A step in the right direction I think. .

The "serious raiders" left within 3-6 months of release. There aren't any "serious raiders" left to depart.

I'm sure those 'were' the choices. A slow painful death after another year of sub-500k subscriptions or go to F2P.

 

Thankfully, they did go F2P and now we're doing great.

500k subscribers is $7,500,000.00... per month.

Unless Brad Pitt plays Eric Musco, the TOR servers are on Mars, and powered by Unobtanium fusion reactors, they are making enormous profit from 500k subscribers.

ESO is a great RPG but a bad MMO, so I don't think any real MMO's have anything to worry about.

 

Truth be told, all MMO's have a core group of supporters that play it to exclusion of all else and the rest are transients that jump from title to title without any loyalty to a specific title.

 

Every time a new game comes out there are chicken little's that cry that the sky is falling...for what reason I don't know but I suspect they think their cries will push the dev team of their chosen MMO to magically do everything "perfectly" (which is whatever that individual thinks is best for the game and to hell with the rest of the players opinions).

 

This game has come a long way since it launched, and since none of us are precog's we have no idea where it will go in the future but I'll take the Buddhist path and enjoy the now and worry about the future when it becomes the present.

Have you played ESO? I have.

ESO is anything but a bad MMO. In fact, it is a very good MMO. The world pvp is awesome. However, it is not star wars.

I have been playing swtor for well over a year and a half,. II do enjoy the new products that they put out, however i have a concern about the future here. IN the next coupe months, as many of us know, Bethesda will be launching ESO. This is a massive game to try and go against, and yet EA and BIoware have nothing on the horizon to counter it. A new FP this coming month is nice, sort of as there is not a whole lot there for endgamers to really get excited about, but were is the next expansion. Its been a year since the release of ROTHC with no hint of another expansion on the horizon. Oricon and CZ were nice small add ons, although if i hear Ramuss or Vigilant speak again i might have to remove my ears, but were is the next Makeb, the next level cap, the things that keep the endgame players happy. Lets face it most of this games subs are those endgame players and If BW doesn't step it up fast, i worry about the future of the swtor galaxy

I would be more worried about Star Citizen than ESO. ESO is a fantasy MMO, not a sci-fi futuristic mmo.

This is exactly what they want everyone to believe.

 

They had many options to salvage things. They just took the easiest, cheapest, and most short-term of the possible fixes.

 

They could have gone the Final Fantasy route, pulled the game from the market and redid it.

They could have gone the City of Heroes route and continually tweaked, modified, and expanded the game to boost numbers.

 

EA is not a couple of guys working out of a garage. They are ginormous corporate behemoth with a nearly endless supply of money to prop up one tiny speck of their business while they work to fix it. Corporations do this all the time.

 

There was absolutely zero chance of the game folding, shutting down, or otherwise being closed. Far too much money was invested in it and even if only had 50k people, they would have just put it in maintenance mode and made what they could for as long as they could. See Vanguard as an example.

Conspiracy theories?

Well, the days of me taking you serious has certainly come to a middle.

You should be careful. Keep being reasonable and logical and you will be branded a hater.

Yes, because that's why people get branded "haters".

It's my opinion based on my experiences in game. I don't need, nor would it be even possible, to produce any facts to back up that opinion. That's how opinion tends to work.

That's merely my opinion based on over 30 years of experience watching faceless forums give abusive cowards a place to thrive. I don't need, nor would it be even possible, to produce any facts to back up that opinion. That's how opinion tends to work.

I'm sure those 'were' the choices. A slow painful death after another year of sub-500k subscriptions or go to F2P.

 

Thankfully, they did go F2P and now we're doing great.

If you read the interview someone posted today, While Bruce and Jeff acknowledged that things hadn't gone according to plan with the game over the past two years

It does not read like they are doing great now.

If you read the interview someone posted today, While Bruce and Jeff acknowledged that things hadn't gone according to plan with the game over the past two years

 

It does not read like they are doing great now.

Is that the article where they make the claim that they are "probably" the second biggest MMO in the west?

Conspiracy theories?

Well, the days of me taking you serious has certainly come to a middle.

What is this? Did a memo go around with "conspiracy theory" as this week's way to insult and belittle people without breaking the forum rules?

There's nothing sinister or conspiratorial about it, so stop leaping to your Fox News-esque talking point de jour.

It was a business decision. Nothing more. Risk vs. reward, and the path they chose was the one requiring the least effort with the highest chance of short term reward.

I would be more worried about Star Citizen than ESO. ESO is a fantasy MMO, not a sci-fi futuristic mmo.

The vast majority of game players don't give a rat's *** about the setting or the IP. They want gameplay. If an MMO based on SpongeBob Squarepants has awesome gameplay, it will be successful.

The vast majority of game players don't give a rat's *** about the setting or the IP. They want gameplay. If an MMO based on SpongeBob Squarepants has awesome gameplay, it will be successful.

You'd be pretty surprised what people are willing to put up with for lightsabers.

You'd be pretty surprised what people are willing to put up with for lightsabers.

Definitely.

But SWG would seem to be proof that there really aren't that many to whom the IP is everything.

The vast majority of game players don't give a rat's *** about the setting or the IP. They want gameplay. If an MMO based on SpongeBob Squarepants has awesome gameplay, it will be successful.

I think they are different things. I agree that any game could be successful with awesome gameplay, but I also believe that Swtor was long gone if it wasn't Star Wars brand.

What is this? Did a memo go around with "conspiracy theory" as this week's way to insult and belittle people without breaking the forum rules?

 

There's nothing sinister or conspiratorial about it, so stop leaping to your Fox News-esque talking point de jour.

 

It was a business decision. Nothing more. Risk vs. reward, and the path they chose was the one requiring the least effort with the highest chance of short term reward.

Are you really responding to people labeling you a conspiracy theorist by... asking if people are conspiring against you???

Sorry mate, but when you put out there statements like "This is exactly what they want everyone to believe," and say that the hard numbers put out by a EA/BW and a third party data company were "made up by someone" or are "laughably implausible marketing propaganda"... chances are multiple people are going to disagree with you all on their own, and some of them may even think those statements make you sound like a member of the tinfoil-hat brigade.

For my part, like I said before, I can respect taking a critical eye to statistics and numbers being circulated, but I also can't really blame people for reaching the conclusion that you might not want to believe those numbers simply because they're not saying what you want them to say.

Are you really responding to people labeling you a conspiracy theorist by... asking if people are conspiring against you???

I have been playing swtor for well over a year and a half,. II do enjoy the new products that they put out, however i have a concern about the future here. IN the next coupe months, as many of us know, Bethesda will be launching ESO. This is a massive game to try and go against, and yet EA and BIoware have nothing on the horizon to counter it. A new FP this coming month is nice, sort of as there is not a whole lot there for endgamers to really get excited about, but were is the next expansion. Its been a year since the release of ROTHC with no hint of another expansion on the horizon. Oricon and CZ were nice small add ons, although if i hear Ramuss or Vigilant speak again i might have to remove my ears, but were is the next Makeb, the next level cap, the things that keep the endgame players happy. Lets face it most of this games subs are those endgame players and If BW doesn't step it up fast, i worry about the future of the swtor galaxy

I don't disagree, more from SWTOR can only help it, but having played in the beta of ESO, I can 100% say it sucks and I would never buy it. So I don't know about Wildstar or The Division or the other MMO's on the horizon, but ESO isn't going to even ruin a mediocre MMO like Neverwinter's day let alone SWTOR's.

Well you sure proved me wrong with your sound reasoning and persuasive argumentative techniques...

And your reply shows your immaturity.

I dont have to have reasoning. It's my opinion.

Are you really responding to people labeling you a conspiracy theorist by... asking if people are conspiring against you???

 

Sorry mate, but when you put out there statements like "This is exactly what they want everyone to believe," and say that the hard numbers put out by a EA/BW and a third party data company were "made up by someone" or are "laughably implausible marketing propaganda"... chances are multiple people are going to disagree with you all on their own, and some of them may even think those statements make you sound like a member of the tinfoil-hat brigade.

 

For my part, like I said before, I can respect taking a critical eye to statistics and numbers being circulated, but I also can't really blame people for reaching the conclusion that you might not want to believe those numbers simply because they're not saying what you want them to say.

Well since you put it that way, I guess I owe you a touché.

As to your first point, I see the irony.

As to the second, I don't mean to imply any nefarious scheming from Bioware, just that anything a corporation says is advertising, and should be taken with a giant grain of salt.