Star Wars MMO Has Analysts Seeing 1 Million Users In First Year
Posted April 25, 2011 by M.H. Williams
It’s not an understatement to say that EA and BioWare are banking hard on the success of Star Wars: The Old Republic. The publisher is looking for around 500,000 players to have a “substantially profitable” MMO, and 1.5 million players have already signed up for the beta. In a good luck charm for EA, technology analyst firm Janco Partners said it expects SWTOR to hit just over a million subscribed players within the first 12 months of launch.
Janco’s Mike Hickey notes that outside factors like the licensing deal with Lucasarts could lead to EA seeing more returns from a lower subscriber base.
“It’s important to remember that the Company does not capitalize their development expense and it’s possible they could recoup LucasArts royalty until development expense is repaid; which would provide a higher near term profitability from a lower subscriber range. We suspect a willingness from investors to believe [500,000] to 1 million Star Wars MMO subscribers is an attainable target,” wrote Hickey.
Hickey estimates that The Old Republic could generate $161.9 million in total sales, with $108.5 million of that being digital-only sales.
Janco also estimates total fourth fiscal quarter 2011 (ending on March 31, 2011) sales for EA’s largest franchises. The list is below:
Dead Space 2 - $91 million in sales – 2.030 million units sold-in
Need for Speed SHIFT 2 - $91 million in sales – 1.975 million units sold-in
Crysis 2 - $78 million in sales – 1.725 million units sold-in
Dragon Age II - $57 million in sales – 1.280 million units sold-in
Bulletstorm - $50 million in sales – 1.100 million units sold-in
Tiger Woods: The Masters - $32 million in sales – 1.100 million units sold-in
Fight Night Champion - $44 million in sales – 0.975 million units sold-in
Mass Effect 2 (PS3) - $17 million in sales – 0.380 million units sold-in
EA will be providing its financial earnings report for the quarter on May 4, 2011.
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http://www.industrygamers.com/news/star-wars-mmo-has-analysts-seeing-1-million-users-in-first-year/