SW:TOR - Earned $165 Million Last Year

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GamesIndustry has a new interesting article with information that Bioware/EA has made $165 million last year for the F2P Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO.

Bioware's MMO remains strong, World of Warcraft still leading MMOs with subs by a wide margin. Star Wars: The Old Republic remains one of the top five subscription MMOs in the world, according to new research from SuperData.

EA's ambitious MMO, which launched with a subs-only model but eventually integrated freemium options, made $165 million in revenue worldwide last year. That figure is from subscriptions, expansion packs and microtransactions, and it makes Bioware's MMO the fourth biggest in the world in terms of earnings.

As expected, Blizzard's World of Warcraft remains the global leader by a wide margin, with just over $1 billion in revenue. The first game in NCSoft's Lineage series was a distant second with $253 million in revenue - a truly remarkable amount given that it was launched in 1998. Indeed, NCSoft games occupied four of the top ten.
More information.
 
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There's a big difference between "made $165 million in revenue" and "made $165 million in profit". Revenue is money taken in; profit is revenue minus expenses. Without knowing how much EA spent running and maintaining the game over the last year there's no way to know how profitable it was for them, or even if it was profitable at all.
 
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There's a big difference between "made $165 million in revenue" and "made $165 million in profit". Revenue is money taken in; profit is revenue minus expenses. Without knowing how much EA spent running and maintaining the game over the last year there's no way to know how profitable it was for them, or even if it was profitable at all.

If you don't think $165 million in revenue means it's profitable, then I don't think you're being very realistic about what it costs to maintain and develop the game with a post-release team.

It's the kind of budget they're using for the biggest Hollywood films these days - and it's post-release. Think about it.

Sure, the initial budget was huge - but they've clearly turned the ship around now.

Like it or not, SWtOR is a big success these days.

I don't mind it, as I like the game just fine - but I don't think it's anywhere near what it should have been, given the setting, budget and team. The game was developed with gross incompetence, frankly.

Given that it's a middling game in most ways, I have to believe that the setting is the key factor in its success. Also, the fact that there are no other Star Wars MMOs and only a tiny portion of sci-fi MMOs - means it's enjoying quite the advantage.
 
I hope they use this money to finaly develop a single player Star Wars game. I don't think this is very likely, but one can always dream...
 
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I hope they use this money to finaly develop a single player Star Wars game. I don't think this is very likely, but one can always dream…

I'd kill for KotOR 3 done by someone other than Bioware and Obsidian.
 
Of course, but I'd rather have it done by them than not at all.
 
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I think there is a chance of another single player rpg based on the Star Wars franchise since it is now owned by Disney. There have been several rpgs based on a Disney franchise in the past like the Pirates of the Caribbean rpg made in 2006.
 
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The problem with movie-themed video games is that they're mostly crap. So I hope they won't do a game for Episode VII.
 
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What's wrong with obsidian ?
 
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Nothing is wrong with Obsidian but this is about EA, right?
Couldn't care less for MMOs. Especially EA's. Hopefully they will spend all those $165M in developing phonegames and leave PC alone.
 
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Nothing is wrong with Obsidian but this is about EA, right?
Couldn't care less for MMOs. Especially EA's. Hopefully they will spend all those $165M in developing phonegames and leave PC alone.

You are nothing if not consistent =)
 
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Hopefully they will spend all those $165M in developing phonegames and leave PC alone.
What about spending a small fraction of… let's say $15M on a Star Wars single-player PC-only CRPG? ;)
 
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What's wrong with obsidian ?

Wrong? Probably nothing.

I don't like their approach to Star Wars at all, though. Too pretentious and brooding, and they suck at doing art and polish.

Actually, the old Bioware was perfect for KotOR - because the setting is a great match for the implausible and romantic power fantasy writing they do. But the new Bioware can't handle compelling game design anymore, so I'd have to go with another developer.

Maybe Todd Howard and his team would be a nice match.

Obsidian would take it too seriously, like last time, and they're completely missing the point of Star Wars. Also, most of their games have a slight smell of contract work.
 
What's actually the point of Star Wars?
 
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Nothing. On the other hand there are so many SciFi (and fantasy) settings unexplored. Mostly from books. I really want something fresh.
 
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Wrong? Probably nothing.

I don't like their approach to Star Wars at all, though. Too pretentious and brooding, and they suck at doing art and polish.

Actually, the old Bioware was perfect for KotOR - because the setting is a great match for the implausible and romantic power fantasy writing they do. But the new Bioware can't handle compelling game design anymore, so I'd have to go with another developer.

Maybe Todd Howard and his team would be a nice match.

Obsidian would take it too seriously, like last time, and they're completely missing the point of Star Wars. Also, most of their games have a slight smell of contract work.

Couldn't agree more with this :)
 
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What's actually the point of Star Wars?

Are you saying I get to decide what it is to you? What an honor, but I don't really want to have that power.

For me, however, the point of Star Wars is pure romantic fantasy. Evil is evil and good is good - heroes are heroes, villains are villains.

I grew up loving Star Wars - so the setting is somewhat dear to my heart, though I'm not a fanatic.

It's not a setting you should take too seriously and try to explain motivations with plausible behavior - which is what Lucas tried to do in the prequels and failed utterly. Not just because he's an awful writer, but because he apparently forgot the power of the mystery and mythology. You should also stay FAR away from explaining where the Force comes from and how it works.

Keep it simple and appropriately heroic, just like KotOR.

I'm not saying it's impossible to do a good serious take - just that it's a bad match and completely unnecessary. There are other settings for such things.

I feel the same way about comic books, and I think movies like Dark Knight is a bad take on the characters. I know I'm in the minority, just like I am about KotOR 2.

That said, I did like Batman Begins, because it wasn't quite as preachy and didn't try to be overly moralistic with completely implausible characters (like Joker and Two-Face) and was simply a much better movie - but it would have worked better, for me, without a comic book character.

Avellone hates Star Wars writing openly, and he wanted to apply his pretentious verbosity to it - and I didn't think it worked very well. I didn't stare in wonder when Kreia spoke, I was just bored and was tapping my fingers, waiting for a point that might never come.

Oh, it wasn't bad or anything - it just wasn't Star Wars. I like Star Wars, and it's really the only setting of its kind. If you want serious sci-fi and pointless verbose dialogue to show off how you can't make a clear point concisely, you can either invent your own setting - or go with any of the countless "serious" sci-fi settings out there.

But that's me.
 
What about spending a small fraction of… let's say $15M on a Star Wars single-player PC-only CRPG? ;)

That and no DLC spam afterwards?
I'll instabuy.
 
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If you don't think $165 million in revenue means it's profitable, then I don't think you're being very realistic about what it costs to maintain and develop the game with a post-release team.
Regardless, the text of this newspost is simply wrong. The article says $165M in revenue. The newspost says $165M in profit. Very, very different.
 
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