How happy EA must have been in those early days of The Old Republic. Industry news portals were crammed full of headlines about "Record Breaking MMO Sales" and "Fastest Growing MMORPG" for Star Wars: The Old Republic, bragging about an admirable adoption rate of 1 million users in the first three days. The honeymoon phase didn't last though - after a surge up to around 1.7 million, the numbers dropped to 1.3 million in a month or two. EA claimed that this drop was within their expectations, but it still couldn't have been pleasant news. A year later the whole paid subscription idea had been abandoned, like many other big-name MMOs. Going with the freemium model took away the initial barrier of entry, and numbers climbed. But it must have been a blow to EA, LucasArts and developer BioWare to have to go free-2-play, considering scale of The Old Republic's development and the massive costs involved. At the time there were sources putting it down for around $300 million, a figure refuted by EA's John Riccitiello. Most industry analysts, however, shaved around $100 million off of that estimate. $200 million for a 800-strong team working on the game over six years was a gamble for EA, who revealed that under the original subscription model they would need 500 000 monthly users to be profitable. The freemium structure made it easier for gamers to get a piece of the action, but built a substantial paywall to overcome if you wanted the full experience.
Game-obsessed since the moment I could twiddle both thumbs independently. Equally enthralled by all the genres of music that your parents warned you about.
