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The Old Republic Losing Subs; Gaining Add-ons

[May 07, 2012, 8:15 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

Electronic Arts' Q4 FY12 and FY12 Financial Results are now online, offering balance sheets on the gaming giant along with tidbits of information about their operations. They report all-time high non-GAAP net revenue of $4.2 billion for the fiscal year, and a jump in digital non-GAAP revenue of 47% to $1.2 billion. Included is a note saying Star Wars: The Old Republic has 1.3 million active subscribers, which Ars notes is down from a reported 1.7 million in March, confirming speculation the game has been losing subscribers. They also report n a post-earnings conference call where EA Labels President Frank Gibeau said the drop was consistent with their "original assumptions" about the Star Wars MMORPG's post-launch prospects, though he also stated EA "intends to increase subscribers" with continual upgrades, including new guild features, player vs. player improvements, and "elder gameplay" for high-level players. EA also announces two new content packs, "Legacy" and "Allies," will be coming to the game this quarter.

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21.

Re: The Old Republic Losing Subs; Gaining Add-ons

May 7, 2012, 22:39

NKD

Dev wrote on May 7, 2012, 22:11:
IMHO, EA is going to be disappointed at anything less than WoW numbers. If they spend $200 million on it, then it will take years to make that back if they can only keep 1 million subs a month. And that doesn't count continued development costs, and equipment/bandwidth costs.

Well, they've probably cleared at least $100 million just from the box sales, which to have 1.7 million subscribers in March had to have been well above 2 million boxes shipped. Add to that the subscription costs since launch for >1.3 million accounts, and I imagine they are already pretty close to having their initial investment covered, even if we assume a $200 million dev cost figure. And, of course unless they are outright lying (I wouldn't put it past them), they said during their conference call that the game is profitable.




If you don't like where gaming is heading, stop giving your money to the people who are taking it in that direction.

Subject

Comment [quote="NKD"May 7, 2012, 22:39][quote="Dev"May 7, 2012, 22:11] IMHO, EA is going to be disappointed at anything less than WoW numbers. If they spend $200 million on it, then it will take years to make that back if they can only keep 1 million subs a month. And that doesn't count continued development costs, and equipment/bandwidth costs.[/quote] Well, they've probably cleared at least $100 million just from the box sales, which to have 1.7 million subscribers in March had to have been well above 2 million boxes shipped. Add to that the subscription costs since launch for >1.3 million accounts, and I imagine they are already pretty close to having their initial investment covered, even if we assume a $200 million dev cost figure. And, of course unless they are outright lying (I wouldn't put it past them), they said during their conference call that the game is profitable. [/quote]

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