Star Wars: The Old Republic reaches 1.7M subscribers

Star Wars: The Old Republic has become the fastest growing MMO ever, having reached 1.7 million active subscribers since its official launch last December.

The game has sold 2 million copies, with over 239 million hours of game time played and 20 million NPCs killed.

“We’re truly honoured and humbled by the incredibly strong support from our players who are enjoying Star Wars: The Old Republic,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder of BioWare and general manager of EA’s BioWare Label. “Our entire team worked very hard over the holidays to deliver a smooth experience at launch, and the resulting response to the game from our fans and critics has been exceptionally gratifying.”

Dr. Greg Zeschuk, co-founder of BioWare and general manager of the BioWare MMO Business Unit, added: “But we’re not resting! We’re actively listening to our community for ongoing feedback to help us ensure the game and service continue to improve, and we’re working to deliver spectacular new high quality content on a regular cadence going forward.”

These statistics come in the wake of recent scepticism over the monetary success of the game. Earlier this year analyst firm Brean Murray Carret & Co has cut its price target on EA stock down from $28 to $22 over “creeping concerns” surrounding the profitability of the game.

However, analyst Michael Pachter has already stated in response that by the end of the December quarter of this year we’re likely to see at least 2 million units shipped internationally, based on statistics of physical and digital sales throughout North America and Europe.

The game’s first major content patch was launched this January, with BioWare stating they plan to turn out patch content on a very regular basis.

While the difference between copies sold and active subscribers suggests 300,000 users have either stopped playing or never began to start with, the fact remains that it is still the fastest growing MMO.