Developing and publishing a video game these days is a risky venture. You can spend millions and millions, and even then you aren't guaranteed success. It's a risk, and one that EA was willing to take when supporting BioWare's first venture into MMORPG market.
We'll never know exactly how much EA has gambled on Star Wars: The Old Republic, but latest estimates land somewhere in the $500 million range – at least according to Cowen & Co analyst Doug Creutz.
"I think it's safe to say that the total all-in investment in Star Wars is probably approaching half a billion dollars," he told MarketWatch.
“EA has minimized its risks as much as it can on this bet, but it’s still a risky bet. To the extent that any one game defines his tenure, it’s going to be how ‘Star Wars’ performs.”
On December 23rd, EA boasted that SWTOR had more than one million registered subscribers, only three days after it's official release.
Now, about a month later, BioWare has just released the first content update, patch 1.1. While adding a new Flashpoint and Operation, and separate level 50 PvP queue, we at GameZone agree they have made a bad Ilum PvP area even worse.
[MCV]
