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? The Old Republic: Interview - Gabe Amantangelo NEW!!!!
Starwars001
Member Posts: 85
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oLjXIQneuE&feature=youtu.be
? The Old Republic: Interview - Gabe Amantangelo Brand NEW interview.
Gabe from bioware says SWTOR is doing extremely well subscriber wise. 
They are working on more flashpoints, etc etc enjoy the new interview from bioware gabe amantangelo lead designer flashpoints, operations, pvp of SWTOR.
[Mod Edit]
this new interview was conducted today 1/25/12
Comments
Sub wise, they only needed 500k to be profitable. Bioware sold well over 2 million copies before launch. Yeah, Bioware will more than meet the 500k number for quite awhile. Six months is when their additions or lack thereof show.
So.. I guess if the game wasn't doing so well subscriber-wise and that F2P may be in their near future, he'll come right out and say just that? I mean that's how it works.. right?..right?
Wuhu new flashpoints that is what this game truely needs !!!
"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."
One of the biggest logical fallacies in the world.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
The blue whale.
The bigest animal in the world.
..Cake..
[mod edit]
i think people who think this is the best game ever and is perfect in everyway need a reality check.. game isn't horrible and if it was I wouldn't even play but it's very lacking in so many aspects
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/339443/Video-FollowUp-Guide-For-Enhancing-Graphics-and-Performance-in-SWTORSorry-still-Nvidia-Only.html
That was one of the least informative interviews I've ever seen. I don't really know who that would be directed at, people that aren't playing or people that have never heard of the game?
Obviously there are probably limits on what you can objectively ask while still hoping to ever get another interview with said company, but I do wish he'd risked pushing the buttons a little bit more in the name of actual news. I guess as this is the first time I've ever been disappointed with his coverage I'll let it go in the name of all the times he has delivered.
As for the operations, I've found them to be incredibly unenjoyable so far, and find myself instead actually being most interested in the end game PvP progression for a change. As such I would really like to have heard an honest opinion on the disaster that is Ilum, as well as possible insights into the future of open world PvP since it's pretty clear it's in a very rough state at the moment. The operations so far all feel like watered down imitations of something I've already played through unfortunately, and as the gear is so segregated (I'd only need top end raid gear to carry on raiding to get more top end raid gear to carry on raiding) I don't really see any benefit to persuing that. If there was a bit more overflow between PvP & PvE gear, it could be a different story.
So I can't really say I'm excited to hear that. If I was interested in end game raiding, I personally would have to admit that Rift, WoW, EQ & even EQ2 have all done a much better job regarding the tone and role of raiding and I would likely look to one of those to fulfill that desire. At least those games offer me some room to get excited about gear, with swtor it all feels laid out like a soulless spreadsheet. I find it sad that the fun treasures of yester-year (shrink wands, tolans bracers, j-boots, pegasus cloak) have all but vanished from MMOs.
[mod edit]
Source for the 2M sold? EA announced 1M registrations (through sales) but I haven't seen any other official number. Lots of speculation - 2M, 3M, 4M, 5M etc. etc.
500k was to be substantially profitable as well on a month-by-month basis - so they could probably manage with less.
Los Angeles time invterview from a couple of days ago, they said they've sold 2million, and that they spent 200 million to make it. I don't have the link, but I'm sure google does
This guy is the pvp dev. The first words of out his mouth in the interview should have been, "I'm sorry."
I hear ya, only I'm taking a break for a bit to see what happens. A few guys at my work who play and are not a part of any community outside the game itself like most of us here, were completely disappointed by the game. One of them I know won't bother coming back to play, unless BW does something soonish and he doubts they will.
SWTOR should feel like it just got its ass beat, teeth knocked out, and black-eyed and is only left with a few friends now who happen to be the unpopular kids. I wish it could have been like the "one ring" to rule them all, but obviously it is far from that.
In that case I dont get how 500k sales can be the profitable figure.
$60 x 2 milltion = $120 million. If they spent 200 million to make it then they are still behind
Obviously they will still be making money through subs and new players, but I was under the impression that the initial sales would cover the development cost.....
Cluck Cluck, Gibber Gibber, My Old Mans A Mushroom
I remember when this number came out. It was from a shareholder meeting. I believe (I didn't check the source) it was speaking about what it would take for long term profitability, not initial cost recap. 500k subs will make the game profitable in the long run.
It actually shows that EA/BioWare know what they're doing, and they're looking at things in the right manner: MMO's are built for the LONG TERM.
This game really wasnt meant for you. Anything more than 4 people on the screen the engine cant handle. Should have been a PVE only game till they optimized the engine for at least 30 people on screen.
[mod edit]
"It has potential"
-Second most used phrase on existence
"It sucks"
-Most used phrase on existence
Lol. That is what I thought when I saw the name.
I am curious why there was not more mentioned about PvP, about the Illium mistake, about the PVP issues, etc. Basically the interview just comes off as more 'hype', imo. I would have been more receptive it he had talked about PvP issues, their plans on fixing things, and how they plan on making it better.
+1
The latest Los Angeles times article about SWTOR says now such thing. SWTOR hasn't sold anywhere near 2 million copies.
And regardless of how few copies the game has actually sold, actual box sale profits aren't anywhere near 60 dollars on a 60 dollar game. More like 30 dollars. Even when factoring in the more expensive edition of the game, SWTOR is remotely close to the lowest estimates of what was spent developing the game.
Yep they knew what they were doing alright. Be lazy about the features and the bugs and throw it out there unfinished, then charge people a monthly fee to do the REAL beta testing. The fanbois will keep it alive, it's SW it's too big to fail.
+10.
This reminds me of soviet union, when the food store shelves were empty, and our gouvernment was saying, everything is fine, we are doing great, showing great statistics, but the goddamn stores are empty. Here it's the same, game avarage, people are crying about it, all statistics show people playing it less, and they are saying, we are doing so great, and releasing new flashpoints......
We just have to wait till spring when EA releases its report and the actual subscribtion numbers are revealed...
+100
Thanks to NMStudio for posting that it came from the LA times but - as MartinZ said - the article doesn't say say 2M sold it and only reports a possible $200M.
And - as NMStudio says - EA won't make $60 on a $60 game - those pesky folk at Amazon and the like want paying for selling it. Wages for manufacturing. packaging, shipping the boxes. Now maybe some posters work for nothing but .......
Funcom actually reported that they made jut over 20% profit on the AoC boxes. So 20% on the boxes and a much bigger % on the digital downloads and - depending on the split between digital and boxes - $30 a box is a decent guess imo. Seen analysts post this as well. So if - IF - EA have sold 2M digital + box sales to retailers (so not sales as in registered users) - then 2M x $30 would be $60M. And whatever SWTOR cost it will be more than this.
And to clear up the 500k number; this is how many monthly subscribers EA have said they need to be substantially profitable. So something like: $7.5M a month subs of which LucasArts get $2.5M say (seen 35% mentioned as a royalty); $3M a month to run the game and a 60% profit (on the $3M) of $2M. Rough numbers: some subs will be less than $15, $2.5M to Lucas is less than 35% but roughly. So $3M a month - maybe a team of 300 say.
Get more than 500k and they can think about recouping the cost of making the game investment.
Less than 500k? Maybe 300k to break even and below that .....
EA quarterly results next week.