Post by Morreion on Mar 25, 2010 6:54:12 GMT -5
Scott Jennings: Great Expectations - SW:TOR (MMORPG.com)
Although "earnings are somewhat depressed due to ongoing expenses of the Star Wars MMO, management has high hopes for this and believes 2M+ subs is possible." He added that a little over 1 million subscribers is needed to reach the break-even point, but the ultimate goal is to get several million subscribers...
1 million subscribers, to break even.
1 million subscribers, to break even.
It's hard to avoid the conclusion that our industry is quite literally going insane. Either this is a calculated effort by EA to ensure that MMO production is priced at the point that only they and a few of their competitors can compete, or that the arms race of "more stuff, bigger stuff, done faster" production has resulted in production costs that result in what by every right should be one of the most successful MMO projects of our time being judged a failure because it only - it only - brings in $10 million a month in profit.
And this is why we as an industry have to move beyond this broken blockbuster production model. Because it is literally unsustainable. EA may well have priced EA out of the MMO market with this project. And in today's economy, rolling $150 million on a bet that you can reproduce the best success in the MMO market, despite a history of failure within your company to do exactly that, is not a mistake you can make twice.
And this is why we as an industry have to move beyond this broken blockbuster production model. Because it is literally unsustainable. EA may well have priced EA out of the MMO market with this project. And in today's economy, rolling $150 million on a bet that you can reproduce the best success in the MMO market, despite a history of failure within your company to do exactly that, is not a mistake you can make twice.
