It would be nice if when people write articles like this they gave some numbers to support the arguments. EA announced 1.3 million subscribers at their recent Q4 earnings conference and while that is much less than expected it still represents a huge cash flow for them. With subscriptions for $10-$20 million per month I can't see any model that would justify throwing that income away in the hopes people will spend more in some yet to be developed cash shops.
SWTOR is still one of the largest MMOs on the market and has a huge number of paying subscribers. EA is definitely disappointed it didn't become another WoW right after launch, but for now it is pulling in too much money to do much besides look at ways to cut maintenance expenses and let revenues catch up with some of the already spent development costs.
It would be nice if when people write articles like this they gave some numbers to support the arguments. EA announced 1.3 million subscribers at their recent Q4 earnings conference and while that is much less than expected it still represents a huge cash flow for them. With subscriptions for $10-$20 million per month I can't see any model that would justify throwing that income away in the hopes people will spend more in some yet to be developed cash shops.
SWTOR is still one of the largest MMOs on the market and has a huge number of paying subscribers. EA is definitely disappointed it didn't become another WoW right after launch, but for now it is pulling in too much money to do much besides look at ways to cut maintenance expenses and let revenues catch up with some of the already spent development costs.
Of that 1.3 million, how many are cancelled accounts that still have time left on them ( which are counted as "active subscribers" )? How many of those are cancelled accounts that had free time thrown on them to once again count them as "active subscribers"? Stop believing the spin.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.- -And on the 8th day, man created God.-
Comments
F2P is not enough for SWTOR.
It would be nice if when people write articles like this they gave some numbers to support the arguments. EA announced 1.3 million subscribers at their recent Q4 earnings conference and while that is much less than expected it still represents a huge cash flow for them. With subscriptions for $10-$20 million per month I can't see any model that would justify throwing that income away in the hopes people will spend more in some yet to be developed cash shops.
SWTOR is still one of the largest MMOs on the market and has a huge number of paying subscribers. EA is definitely disappointed it didn't become another WoW right after launch, but for now it is pulling in too much money to do much besides look at ways to cut maintenance expenses and let revenues catch up with some of the already spent development costs.
Of that 1.3 million, how many are cancelled accounts that still have time left on them ( which are counted as "active subscribers" )? How many of those are cancelled accounts that had free time thrown on them to once again count them as "active subscribers"? Stop believing the spin.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-