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EA investors are said to be “betting against” the publisher’s BioWare developed MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, according to Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey.
A hit MMO to rival World of Warcraft is seen as the goose that lays the golden egg, generating massive subscription revenues, but the cost of searching for such a beast can be devastating.
Hickey believes EA’s investors feel pessimistic of the game’s chances of success, pointing to a number of reasons as to why it will struggle to reach internal expectations.
“We believe many investors are betting against SWTOR achieving market success, provided the company’s and industry’s track record at releasing successful new MMOs,” explained Hickey.
EA’s previous MMO, Warhammer Online, launched to modest success, but soon saw its user-base dwindle. Another cautionary tale comes from Realtime Worlds’ APB – an EA Partners game – which failed to attract an audience, resulting in the closure of the Scottish studio.
Hickey also believes factors such as “a suspected subscription pricing model versus a market that is quickly transitioning to free to play, generally modest previews of the game and elevated development expense and suspected aggressive royalty to LucasArts” all feed into investor pessimism.
Via Gamasutra
With many a big budget MMO making the transition to free-to-play in order to carve out a stronger user-base, it’s no wonder EA’s investors are concerned about SWTOR’s chances of success. BioWare’s upcoming game does have a hugely strong license behind it, but the same could have been said of Lord of the Rings: Online.
