The Old Republic Shows Subscription MMOs Have Strength

Analysts seem to have come to the consensus that the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, which was developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts, has managed to have a successful launch and shows the strength of the subscription based multiplayer online market.

Colin Sebastian, who is an analyst who watches the video game industry for the firm Baird Equity Research, stated in a research note to investors that, “We view the early success of Star Wars as an indication of a healthy MMO market. While there is likely some shifting of usage from Activision's World of Warcraft, we see a viable market for multiple million-user MMOs in the U.S. and Europe.”

Ben Schacter,an analyst working with Macquarie Capital, added, “Staying power will be key measure. The speed with which TOR crossed the million-subscriber threshold is certainly a positive, as the early feedback remains encouraging (88 rating from Metacritic, with 60 percent positive user reviews vs. 35 percent negative). However, the key, as with any MMO, will remain longevity - only time will tell.”

Sebastian believes that the fact that Star Wars: The Old Republic has managed to get 1 million new players in three days after the December 20 launch means that this is the fastest growing subscription MMO in history.

The game is expected to sell more than 3 million retail packages until the end of the fiscal year in March 2012 but it’s not likely that all of them will continue to play once their one month included subscription ends.

Star Wars: The Old Republic will continue to get significant support in the coming months, with BioWare dedicating the resources of at least one full studio to keeping the MMO supplied with new quests and mechanics, including at least one major update that will change the battle system.

Electronic Arts expected to have about 2 million players engaged throughout 2012.