by Stacy Jones on Dec 27, 2011
EA is undoubtedly wearing a big smile following the successful launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR). Analyst are calling the game the fastest growing MMORPG in history, managing to pull in over 1 million players in just its first three days of live service and those numbers are predicted to continue growing.
Baird Equity Research analyst Colin Sebastian believes that SWTORs growth indicates a viable market for multiple million-user MMOs in the U.S. and Europe." Analysts are also predicting that SWTOR will sell over 3 million copies before the end of EAs fiscal year ending in March 2012. Despite that, there are some limits to their expectations.
We think Street expectations for 1.5-2 million paid monthly users through 2012 may be too optimistic.
The MMORPG business is a tricky one. Weve seen many games take off running with a positive sign of growth only to seemingly come unraveled and bleed players after launch. Time will tell what the future will hold for SWTOR.
Source: Gamasutra