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SWTOR subs dip from 1.7 Million to 1.3
Gabby-air
Member UncommonPosts: 3,440
Rather big drop I must say for a fairly small period but again the last count I believe was a little skewed. All said and done, 1.3 Million is still a rather huge customer base and which can quite easily be expanded upon if Bioware plays their cards right but competition is heating up this year and major releases are just around the corner. Would be interesting how this plays out.
EDIT: Just to clarify, the free one month was handed out in April and the financial statements were done before that.
Here's the link for official source:
Comments
I quit playing less than a month after release. Unfortunately I'm still subbed because my 6 year old loves to play it. I keep threatning him that I'll delete it and cancel the sub if he's bad... and oddly enough he keeps doing better after that. : I just cant get rid of TOR.
These numbers are probably inflated since BW has stated in the past that non-renewed subs and free months are included in thier numbers (and BW just gave out a massive amount of free one month subs).
In terms of actual concurrent users I wouldn't be surprised if the actual player base was half that 1.3 number once you factor in running subs that are not actually logging in.
Still if they can stabilize around 400k subs or so (In the Rift range) then they can keep the game running for more of a niche sci-fi/star wars market as they fix some of the longer running problems in a game. Since my personal opinion was that Bioware bit off way more than they could chew, it might be a good thing for them to shrink thier player base (and for god sakes thier server numbers) down to a more manageable number for now.
On the bright side, now that EA will already take the PR hit for the sub loss announcement they might be able to justify the much needed server merges without tanking their stock prices.
as of march 31st according to that... I'm sure currently its much lower especially with TERA now out and TSW coming soon and of course I feel GW2 will be the nail... although many argue GW2's B2P model won't effect swtor I feel if a MMO is far superior to another and is B2P why would you continue playing one they have to pay for monthly..
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
Just post that on the Officail Forums and Bioware will be quick to close the account.
Tried: EQ2 - AC - EU - HZ - TR - MxO - TTO - WURM - SL - VG:SoH - PotBS - PS - AoC - WAR - DDO - SWTOR
Played: UO - EQ1 - AO - DAoC - NC - CoH/CoV - SWG - WoW - EVE - AA - LotRO - DFO - STO - FE - MO - RIFT
Playing: Skyrim
Following: The Repopulation
I want a Virtual World, not just a Game.
ITS TOO HARD! - Matt Firor (ZeniMax)
LOL, I wish that would work on my nephews, but they are only 7-9 and both of them know WoW is free to play until 20, so I can cancel SWToR, they'll just jump on WoW and make murloc noises all night to annoy me.
lol hey, it works! I'm sure a lot of parents wish they could essentially make their kids behave for $14.99 a month.
Subs will just continue declining, like everyone without the rose-colored glasses suspected. Just think of how much more interesting the content of the game would have been if the money went into development, instead of dubbing. This is precisely why a company like Bioware, who specializes in riveting single player games, should stay out of the MMO scene. What's good for the goose is not always good for the gander.
So how long before the next inevitability happens? SWTOR goes F2P, the money and time spent as P2P allows the development of more refined features, the game finally becomes interesting, people start playing cuz it's free, and suddenly it's a bigger success than it ever would have been with a sub.
Heard it here, folks.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
Those analyst are idiots, they do not know the right questions to ask. That's the core problem with EA. They lost touch with their consumerbase and they do not care
I got a few good months from it. I'm not done playing it so I still pay for it but I don't sign in too often anymore. The games missing a dungeon finder, if it had that I'd sing on more often. For me this game will be like WoW, I'll play it till I get bored take a break and pick it up again sometime again.
The setting.
But I doubt there's that many people who are that excited about the setting. Anyway, that's at least one reason
Better question is where are all those trolls who said SWToR would have less than 700k by end of March.
They used the wrong words
The game has less than 700k active players. I'm counted as a subscriber because my account is active until august yet I havent played isince 1.2 was a let down.
true not really many choices when it comes to scifi MMO's out there... Guess that does really help this game out.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
I said 800k to 1.2m by end of Q4, figures are better than I expected, I imagine they are just about under 1m by now though after the 3 month subs ran out which prompted the great free time giveaway bonanza.Stay on topic please. Thanks!
About time EA lets that game wither away and starts promoting the launch of TSW on June 19th.
What that says to me? 1.3 million people have extremely bad taste in video games. However, I'm guessing it is more like 500k people who have extremely bad taste in video games. I am also a bit curious what happened to the real Bioware.
Are you a Pavlovian Fish Biscuit Addict? Get Help Now!
I will play no more MMORPGs until somethign good comes out!
It was a terrible wannabe mmorpg, what do you expect?, people to jump up and down in joy when this failed game busted after the first month of release all the way up until now?.
The game is dying due to poor customer support, game content that should of been there from the beginning, its getting worst and worst. Get over it because it's dying as we speak and has been since launch, or shall I say closed and open beta. A lot of decisions they made for SWTOR was the most terrible decisions they could of made for an MMORPG.
It's a single player game trapped in a multi player with narrow paths, boring A to B quests, no exploration because everything is surrounded by mountains and invisible walls, the worlds are small as hell and very dull and mostly dead and lifeless. I could go on and on until the cows come home.
The game will go F2P within the next year. I gaurentee it. All in all, EA Bioware doesn't understand what MMORPG's ARE and should HAVE when creating multiplayer games, which is why they are labeled as the worst company in the WORLD, even more than Bank of America.
Terrible company is terrible.
MMORPG & FPS Gamer Veteran of seventeen years.
1.3 million paying customers, making it easily the second largest western MMO, is... Dying?
Because, you know, it's not like newly released MMOs typically lose subscribers after a few months.
1.3 million paying customers does not equal 1.3 million playing customers. I tried it out for a short while this past month and it was kind of infuriating that my server choices where either A) Dead with sub 50 fleet or
Massive queues on servers like fatman. Remember that long term subs that have yet to expire are counted, and factor in the extremely clever business ploy of handing out a free month of subscription time before a quarterly report to delay subscription cancelation (why cancel a subscription when it's free?).
While SWTOR definitely does still have a large player base, this is due to the massive amount of initial sales due to the company reputation, strong IP, and massive marketing/hype blitz. 2.2 million initial box sales and a few months later they have only 1.3 million retained ignoring the factors I already brought up? That is not a comforting trend no matter how you spin it. Now spread the players you do have over literally hundreds of servers and suddenly you have a fairly toxic environment for an MMO where many basic functions of the game cannot work due to player starvation, like flashpoints and battlegrounds.
I'm not trying to say that SWTOR is doomed and you should all feel bad for playing it, but putting your head in the sand is not going to fix the very real problems currently facing the game. If/When it loses another 400k subscribers in another few months, will you still say "oh 900k paying customers, making it the second largest western MMO, is....Dying?" How about at the end of the year if it loses another 300k? Sure analysts estimate that only half a million subs would be needed to make it continue generating profit, but at that point you won't be able to get fast patches and content updates since the game will now be low priority.
Some people say whining won't solve anything, but that's not true. Squeaky wheel gets the grease is the oldest adage out there and I for one am happy that people are voting with their wallet. Sure if you really enjoy SWTOR and want it to be a healthy game with a growing population then this trend might suck for you, but hopefully Bioware either gets their act together or this will be a good lesson for future AAA releases not to ship out an unfinished product lacking core features.
For my kid and I have to imagine a lot of people... this game is only still afloat because it's "Star Wars". I guarantee if you took the IP away and gave swords instead of glow sticks, and pistols instead of blasters... a HUGE majority of those people would bail on that game. Regardless of the developer.
It's a question of return on investment. If you cut through the cheering/jeering from the stands, there is a real serious question here about the entire future of our hobby.
If the game is sufficiently profitable, it will become the template for the entire next generation of clones (from the tiny collection of companies able to afford to pay the cost). If the game fails to turn a profit, it will be unlikely we see another fully voice-acted story-driven MMO attempted any time soon.
Given the astronomical sums whispered about how much was spent to construct the game, it is entirely possible for it to have one of the highest subscription rates ever and still be the death of its infant subgenre. That said, there are so many contradictory numbers and so much spin flying around that I'm finding it difficult to get a feel on exactly what's going on. I guess only time will tell how investors and publishers are reading these reports.
The quarter ended 3/31 and the free 30 days came out in april.
1.3 million? here i was told that Swtor would drop to 500k subs by now or become f2p...