EA is banking on Star Wars: The Old Republic being the next big thing, and quite literally at that.<\/p>\n
The game has reportedly cost the publisher about half a billion dollars to develop, and that’s on top of the $775,000 EA paid for BioWare in the first place. Not even Jabba the Hutt has that kind of cash to throw around.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s safe to say that the total all-in investment in Star Wars is probably approaching half a billion dollars,\u201d Doug Creutz of financial analyst firm Cowen & Co told MarketWatch. \u201cEA has minimized its risks as much as it can on this bet, but it\u2019s still a risky bet. To the extent that any one game defines [EA CEO John Riccitiello’s] tenure, it\u2019s going to be how Star Wars performs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back in May 2010, EA themselves confirmed that the game was the company’s most expensive project ever.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the largest R&D project EA has ever undertaken in terms of total dollars that we expect to spend bringing the title to market,\u201d said chief financial officer Eric Brown.<\/p>\n
A few months after that, a disgruntled employee writing under the alias “EA Louse” went public with a disparaging rant about working for the publisher.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve spent more money making the Old Republic than James Cameron spent on Avatar. More than $300 million! Can you believe that? They are most proud of the sound. Something like a 20Gig installation, and most of it is voiceover work. That\u2019s the best they have. The rest of the game is a joke. EA knows it and so does George Lucas, they\u2019re panicking, and so most of Mythic has already been cannibalized to work in Austin on it because they can\u2019t keep pushing back launch,” he wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cOld Republic will be one of the greatest failures in the history of MMOs from EA. Probably at the level of the Sims Online. We all know it too.”<\/p>\n
SWOTR launched in December last year, with over one million subscribers signing up in the first three days. So it’s doing a bit better than Sims Online – for the moment.<\/p>\n
Star Wars: The Old Republic EA’s most expensive game ever<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n EA employee slates Warhammer Online, BioWare<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Star Wars: The Old Republic review (PC)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n