Activision Questions Star Wars: The Old Republic’s Chances at Profitability

The days are counting down to the December 20th launch of SWTOR and as many are getting excited about the upcoming MMO, there are others who don’t quite fall into all the hype.

Some are predicting SWTOR might not do as well as predicted and that even if it does, there won’t be much room for profit for EA with such an expensive game that they also have to share licensing rights with to Lucas Arts. Will there be any room left for profit from SWTOR?

Activision’s CEO Bobby Kotick says EA Will Lose Out with The Old Republic but could he be right? There’s no surprise that there are skeptics when it comes to SWTOR. In fact, with any big thing, there are going to be those who oppose it but how much truth might there be to the questioning?
Kotick made his remarks about SWTOR at the Reuters Media Summit on Monday. However, shares of Activision are down 5.5 per cent year-to-date while shares of its main rival, Electronic Arts, are up 27.2 per cent so could this just be a stunt to draw attention away from the company that might not be doing so well this holiday season as EA?
Kotick not only downplayed the notion that EA could steal users from “World of Warcraft” but also questioned whether his rival would make money off SWTOR since it has to pay Lucas Arts for the licensing rights. While he has a valid point, it seems there might be just enough money to go around on this one if it is even a fraction as popular as expected.

Lisa Clark

Lisa has been an avid gamer since she was old enough to hold her first controller and a game writer for more than a decade. A child of the Nintendo generation, she believes they just don’t make games like they used to but sometimes, they make them even better! While consoles will always be her first love, Lisa spends most of her gaming time on the PC these days- on MMOs and first-person shooters in particular.