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Gameinformer bites themselves in the ass: A good example of bad reporting

KarteliKarteli Member CommonPosts: 2,646

In the recent State of the Game announcement, some sites have gone amuck with wild claims.  Let me be among the first to stomp them (OK someone beat me).  Not because I hate SWTOR .. contrary I love the SWTOR universe.

I have a love - hate relationship with EA, and I want to present what I see, as I see it.  I still play SWTOR BTW.

 

I came across this reporting travesty:

 

Star Wars: The Old Republic Subscriber Base Growing

March 21, 2013

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/03/21/star-wars-the-old-republic-subscriber-base-growing.aspx

 

A frank letter from the game’s executive producer talks about how The Old Republic can still improve, but also touts 2 million new active players since going free-to-play.

...

Are you one of those two million new TOR players? If not, what would the game have to do to lure you into that galaxy far, far away?

 

I wonder how much EA paid for that press release (read the full article then decide).

 

Holy shit, 2 million new active players!

 

2 million new accounts =/= 2 million new players.  I have another "free" account myself as a subscriber.  Many others I know also have free accounts, sometimes multiple free accounts.

Many new accounts were created because of bugs to dis-allow anyone with a former account from creating a new character (ie you have exceeded the max allowed when you only have only a few characters).  The characer max on a former paid account meant either a former subcriber deleted character or made a new F2P account.  Creating a new F2P account won the battle, since EA refused to answer customer questions about this (and denied transfers).

Well new accounts were created anyways, and WHOOP WHOOP, they count in the 2 million, even though the creaters are also subscribers!  So a huge chunk of those new accounts consists of current or former players, sorry.

 

Of those 2 million accounts, how many of those are banned .. those who keep using a bot program.  And just create a new account later. (many youtube SWTOR bot vids out there .. it happens!)

 

Reckless reporting is reckless.  There was never 2 million new players.

 

One last time, let me look at what he said:

 

"The Old Republic can still improve, but also touts 2 million new active players since going free-to-play."

 

Nope dude, wrong on many counts, you don't know what you're talking about and don't deserve reporting status.  If and when I read a future article by Matt Miller, you realize that I won't take you seriously.  This abomination on reporting will haunt you.  It's pretty bad.

:P

 

ps: I used to like gameinformer, but now I question them.

 

Original text, just in case what I'm talking about gets deleted from Gameinformer:

Star Wars: The Old Republic Subscriber Base Growing

by Matt Miller on March 21, 2013

A frank letter from the game’s executive producer talks about how The Old Republic can still improve, but also touts 2 million new active players since going free-to-play.

The prevailing sentiment in many gaming circles is that The Old Republic is struggling to find players, but info from the developer seems to counter that idea. Executive producer Jeff Hickman posted an open letter to the community today, in which he discusses the state of the game. 

“Last spring, there was some uncertainty surrounding Star Wars: The Old Republic as we were starting to lose subscribers and players were growing frustrated,” says Hickman. “In fairness, many of the complaints and worries were justified. In an effort to try to address everything, we just weren’t sufficiently focused on improving the core experience.”

In response, the team added the group finder, increased the rate of content release, and brought in new players by offering a free-to-play option. How many new players? “Since launch of the free-to-play option we have had over two million new accounts created and have thousands of new players jumping in every single day,” Hickman states. 

No one familiar with the gaming industry can doubt the challenge presented by releasing and then maintaining a high-quality MMO. No matter your opinion of The Old Republic, it’s refreshing to see the developer speaking openly with its audience, as well as acknowledging past challenges and goals for how it hopes to overcome those issues. 

Are you one of those two million new TOR players? If not, what would the game have to do to lure you into that galaxy far, far away? 

Email the author , or follow on .

 

Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.

Comments

  • simpliussimplius Member UncommonPosts: 1,134

    talk about a leading question...

    but with EAwares current budget, i doubt he got much for his trouble

    and his coworkers will prolly flame him for this,,they will suffer for it too

  • altair4altair4 Member Posts: 158
    Wonder if he lies or is just stupid. How can he even mention subscribers with the information that he is given. If that site ever had any reputation it sure took a hit now cause calling yourself Gameinformer and spreading misinformation isn't the best thing.
  • FromHellFromHell Member Posts: 1,311

    Reads like:

    "Are you one of the 2 million new subscribers? Are you? ARE YOU ?"

    *fineprint: 2 million is an estimated number--subscribers may be substitute for accounts-accounts may be former players/bots/trial accounts/double accounts/banned accounts"

     

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  • AhnogAhnog Member UncommonPosts: 240

    [quote] So a huge chunk of those new accounts consists of current or former players, sorry. [/quote]

     

    You have no proof for this statement. just because you created an extra account doesn't mean "huge chunks" of new accounts are from those who did the same.

    Ahnog

    Hokey religions are no replacement for a good blaster at your side.

  • tawesstawess Member EpicPosts: 4,227

    well it is not that hard seeing as you have to send a letter to them to have them deactivate your account, so active players are everyone who have created a new account since f2p.

     

    What i would be curious to know is the number of regularly playing accounts.

     

    But yes that was lazy writing.

    This have been a good conversation

  • gervaise1gervaise1 Member EpicPosts: 6,919

    2 million new F2P accounts is not the same as 2 million new $15/month subscriptions.

     

    And at the end of the day EA managed to sell more full priced boxed sets in the first 4 months of the game in EU & US than they managed to give away free accounts in the first 4 monhs of the game being free-to-play "worldwide".

  • PhryPhry Member LegendaryPosts: 11,004
    Originally posted by Ahnog

    [quote] So a huge chunk of those new accounts consists of current or former players, sorry. [/quote]

     

    You have no proof for this statement. just because you created an extra account doesn't mean "huge chunks" of new accounts are from those who did the same.

    its pretty similar to the WoW estimates people come out with, Blizzard say they have 9.2 million or whatever, and someone immediately chips in with the 'but 6 million of them are in china and they don't really count' kind of thing, without any evidential proof to back up their statement, granted EA has done a lot to annoy gamers, but its still just biased opinion vs factual statements, so if people are going to accuse companies of lying, they really need to back up their statements with something other than 'because i said so' image

  • KarteliKarteli Member CommonPosts: 2,646
    Originally posted by Phry
    Originally posted by Ahnog

    [quote] So a huge chunk of those new accounts consists of current or former players, sorry. [/quote]

     

    You have no proof for this statement. just because you created an extra account doesn't mean "huge chunks" of new accounts are from those who did the same.

    its pretty similar to the WoW estimates people come out with, Blizzard say they have 9.2 million or whatever, and someone immediately chips in with the 'but 6 million of them are in china and they don't really count' kind of thing, without any evidential proof to back up their statement, granted EA has done a lot to annoy gamers, but its still just biased opinion vs factual statements, so if people are going to accuse companies of lying, they really need to back up their statements with something other than 'because i said so' image

     

    In the absence of withheld facts from EA, a rationale for that conclusion was given, which by the way, is more than your own unsupported "not-aww!" comment .. :P

    Incidently I've seen some good rationale for why the majority of WoW customers reside in China, stemming directly from investor calls (East / West used to be reported separately), along with Blizzards statements of China growth, while overall combined subs continued to fall.  But then someone always still says, "Not-aww!!!". lol so I guess that is similar to you own bias vs fact 'because I said so'.

     

    Not sure what you mean about the lying part.  EA was likely on the money with their carefully chosen words.  GameInformer did stretch the truth either due to negligence or to facilitate misinformation.  You need additional discussion points that 2 million new accounts (EA's Hickman statement) is not the same as 2 million new active players (GameInformers statement) ?

    Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
    Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.

  • tiefighter25tiefighter25 Member Posts: 937

    That's a pretty wretched article. It fills in all the blanks of what Hickman was implying without stating, and reports them as facts.

    Newspapers may be dying, sad to see journalism going with them.

  • observerobserver Member RarePosts: 3,685
    Originally posted by tiefighter25

    That's a pretty wretched article. It fills in all the blanks of what Hickman was implying without stating, and reports them as facts.

    Newspapers may be dying, sad to see journalism going with them.

    The digital age is much worse.  The variety of blogs, forums, and social networks provide more data faster; but inaccuracy of facts (from wikipedia) come along with them.  lol.

    To be fair though, was this person knowledgeable of MMOs and how they handle subscribers/customers?  Perhaps he just needed a quick article to meet a deadline or something. haha.

  • Slappy1Slappy1 Member Posts: 458

    Well I see it as 2 mill new account's period.How many of those are an extra account for a paying subscriber?My bet is the % is low,I mean why play a limited account if you're already a paying sub?Make's no sense to me.

    Does it really make a differance how many turn into sub's?I'm quite sure many of those new account's will use the Cartel shop/or already have,and ultimately that's what EA is after.

    In the end the specific's are not my interest,just the raw number's and the realization that many will use the Cartel shop.The shop is the bread and butter at this point as far as I'm concerned,the more the merrier.

    Some day I'm going to put a sword through your eye and out the back of your skull!

    Arya Stark

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