According to Gamasutra, analyst Mike Hickey claims that EA’s investors are “betting against” the upcoming Star Wars themed MMO, StarWars: The Old Republic.
The investors apparently understand just how fickle the MMO market is, and realise full well that despite World of Warcraft’s startling success, nothing else has ever come remotely close it replicating it.
“We believe many investors are betting against SWTOR achieving market success, provided the company’s and industry’s track record at releasing successful new MMOs,” suggests Hickey, probably referring to EA’s previous attempt to claim a slice of the MMO pie with Warhammer Online, which although achieving a reasonable degree of critical acclaim and commercial success, did not even make a dent in Blizzard’s growing MMO empire.
Furthermore, EA has previously revealed that The Old Republic is its most expensive to develop game ever.