If filling out an online form with the hopes of being a beta tester for the forthcoming Bioware MMO was any indication of a persons intentions to be a first day purchaser, publisher EA should be ready for one heck of a launch. The seemingly monolithic 1.5 million registered players that EA claims have signed up for the potential to become beta testers doesn’t necessarily represent money in the bank, but it does seem to point to a pretty solid foundation for whenever the game makes its appearance.
Speaking at the LCM Technology & Media conference, EA CFO Eric Brown revealed the number of registered potential Beta testers, in addition to some remarks about the business direction and design philosophies behind The Old Republic:
“We’re not that concerned about generating initial demand, For us it’s about creating the right experience for expanding from tier 1 and the tier 2 users to getting people who have never played an MMO before, but are interested in Star Wars, to engage and give it a try… If we do that, our addressable market is well beyond 12 million people … into more of a general gamer population, pretty much anyone that has a minimum spec personal computer”
Prior to the announced number of user created accounts, EA CEO John Riccitiello went on the record stating the The Old Republic only needed 500,000 subscribers to turn a profit. ”We previously described to folks that 500,000 subscribers saw the game as substantially profitable, but it’s not the kind of thing that we would write home about, [But] anything north of 1 million subscribers is a very profitable business.”
With Activision-Blizzard currently sitting atop the ludicrously large pile of money that World of Warcraft generates each quarter, it’s only natural that EA remains hopefully optimistic about the financial potential of The Old Republic, especially with the relatively low risk of failure.
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