It’s been a topic tossed around the SWTOR communities for some time and Stephen Reid, Senior Online Community Manager for SWTOR finally clarified it once and for all on the official forums. SWTOR will not require Origin to be played: “Regardless of what other games may choose to do in their integration with Origin’s desktop client, here’s what our situation is: You are not required to use the Origin desktop client to download, patch or play the game client for Star Wars: The Old Republic. This applies whether you purchase The Old Republic via Origin.com or from a retailer in boxed form. You will not be forced to install the Origin desktop client. There are still various consumer benefits to the client itself, but it’s not required for The Old Republic.” So there we have it, folks! The issue is done but surely, some people will still find something…
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SWTOR Wins ‘Best Online Game”
Europe’s Gamescom conference has revealed the winners of its best in show awards and SWTOR has won the coveted “Best Online Game” recognition. EA received several awards actually: Best Online Game honors for Star Wars The Old Republic Best Console Game for FIFA 12 Best Browser Game award for The Sims Social (a new award) As you can see, it was a good day for SWTOR and EA. A complete list of the winners is as follows: * Best of Gamescom: Battlefield 3 (Electronic Arts) * Best Hardware or Hardware Accessories: PlayStation Vita (Sony Computer Entertainment) * Best Console Game: FIFA 12 (Electronic Arts) * Best Mobile Game: Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Sony Computer Entertainment) * Best Online Game: Star Wars: The Old Republic (Electronic Arts) * Best PC Game: Diablo III (Blizzard Entertainment) * Best Browser Game: The Sims Social (Electronic Arts) * Best Family Game: Sesame Street: Once Upon…
Mass Effect 3 Release Date
March 9, 2012 is a date that RPG gamers are foaming at the mouth for. BioWare is doing all that they can to make the wait even more difficult as they released a brand new movie and screenshots of Mass Effect 3. This game has got to be one of the most anticipated games of the coming year and simply looks incredible. BioWare knows exactly what they are doing in whetting our appetite with this little featurettes, don’t they? The game will be available on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 and will come in regular and a special edition. The special edition was revealed as well and will be called the Mass Effect 3 N7 Collector’s Edition. The N7 will have exclusive content in the game. It also will include a limited edition Dark Horse Comic, art book and soundtrack. Finally, they will also include an N7 patch and lithograph…
Does BioWare Booth at GamesCom Pics Hint at Huge Surprise?
The excitement level is at a fever pitch in Germany as BioWare gets set to show off SWTOR booth that would rival even the biggest MMO universe. (Okay, maybe not that large but it is really big this year!) The pics that have come out thus far are absolutely breathtaking and absolutely stink of a huge reveal. It would not surprise me in the least if BioWare came out with something a bit unexpected. Could BioWare be setting us up for a huge surprise twist or preview? Stephen Reid tweeted these pics revealing the immense size and scope of the SWTOR booth at GamesCom this year. It certainly looks to me like they have something bigger in mind than a typical booth. Either way, this booth looks like it will be the star of the GamesCom show. This is especially true of the MMO crowd. We all know that in…
GamesCon 2011 EA Updates
The Electronic Arts press conference this morning at GamesCom 2011 brought some exciting news in the world of gaming. Many were anxiously awaiting this press conference from Cologne, Germany to see what was new and when to expect it. Here is a blow-by-blow of the news conference highlights: First, they announced a brand new FIFA Street title for the sports gamers that is expected early in 2012. Next up they announced Need for Speed, The Run. This sounds like a fun title for racing fans that also like a bit of danger. The demo showed an avalanche falling on the road as the racers tried escaping. Next, BioWare takes the stage to drop a huge bomb. Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes will be released in the fall, and players can sign up for the beta testing now by going to their website. The game is head to head, but this…
The Force is with EA: Analyst Predicts Over 3 Million SWTOR Units sold
Yes… 3 MILLION! $ERTS stock has risen due to SWTOR pre-orders. EA is doubling projected sales from 1.5 million copies to 3 million copies. This is big news for EA, BioWare and anyone who is a fan of SWTOR or has an invested interest in the game. An article today on Forbes, an analyst discusses the rising predictions in sales and the potential success of SWTOR, which may be larger than anyone anticipated. ERTS this morning is up 24 cents, or 1.4%, to $17.86. Cowen analyst Doug Creutz says: “Since ‘Star Wars‘ became available for pre-orders three weeks ago, it has tracked very strongly on the Amazon.com top-selling video games list,” he writes in a research note. “We believe it is trending as well or better than two of the top-selling PC titles last year, Blizzard’s ‘Starcraft 2‘ and ‘World of Warcraft: Cataclysm‘, both of which went on to sell…
EA’s EA2D Studio Now ‘BioWare San Francisco’
EA’s EA2D Studio is now ‘BioWare San Francisco’! Electronic Arts made the announcement to Gamasutra confirming that it is now a division of BioWare and confirmed the new name. EA2D Studio was originally founded as a small browser-based site designed for casual titles. Its goal was to create high-quality social games that allowed devoted gamers to connect over different platforms, which include but are not limited to, playing online and on mobile devices. EA2D studio is known for creating “Mirror’s Edge 2D” and the prominent “Dragon Age Legends”, in which Soren Johnson (Former Civilization series lead designer) helped EA2D studio design. They’re also responsible for developing the tactical game “RPG Dragon Age Journeys” and the platformer game “The Fancy Pants Adventures”, which was ported to both the “Xbox Live Arcade” and then to the “PlayStation Network”. This big move comes after some changes took place at the studio and executive…
EA Reorganizes Divisions: BioWare Now ‘Own Label’
A story reported by Gamasutra says that Electronic Arts is making some changes in their company, including shuffling divisions and calling BioWare their own label. They will now take control of Dragon Age Legends studio EA2D. EA’s Frank Gibeau will run the new “EA Labels” that include BioWare, EA Sports, EA Play and EA Games. This is the first big change to the formation of EA Labels. Basically it means that BioWare is no longer part of EA Games but is instead its own label. Here is some information from the story on Gamasutra: EA Sports president Peter Moore, the former Microsoft executive who helped launch both the Xbox and Xbox 360, has been promoted to chief operating officer of Electronic Arts. According to company filings, he will oversee “EA’s global publishing organization, global online initiatives including the Origin platform, media sales and central development services.”” Finally, the company revealed…
Star Wars: The Old Republic Breaks EA Pre-order Record
As we reported with yesterday’s EA Q1 Earnings Conference Call, Electronic Arts is doing pretty good with SWTOR. But just how good is that? Well, apparently they have broken their record for pre-order sales for a game. According to EA’s Q1 FY12 Financial Results they have the fastest pre-ordered title in the history of EA in just the first five days. EA’s previous pre-order record was set by Battlefield 3, while SWTOR far exceed BF3‘s pre-order sales, beating their expectations. “We’re well over 200,000 pre-orders in the first five or six days. From an EA perspective, that is significantly greater than any other EA title we’ve ever had in the first week,” said the company’s finance chief, Eric Brown. President Frank Gibeau said, “In September, we will be in a position to call the ball and give you a hard ship date””. That means the rest of us will have…
Electronic Arts Q1 2012 Earnings Conference Call Live Blog
Today was the EA Q1 2012 Earnings Conference Call and we were interested in one thing- what they had to say about SWTOR. With this game being the pinnacle of the company at this time, you can guarantee they had a few things to say about it on the call. Here is an overview of the highlights of the call: John Riccitiello says that there were strong preorders for The Old Republic. He goes on to say, “Origin will scale quickly with Battlefield 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic later this year.” Frank Gibeau says, “SWTOR targeted to launch in Holiday 2011, is able to ship with a variety of launch dates.” He adds to expect higher revenue from subscriptions for The Old Republic. John Riccitiello says, “We will launch SWTOR and battle to take a slice of the MMO market.” The conference calls move into the question and…
Beta Test Weekends to Start this September
In an official press release from EA, BioWare announces beta test weekends will begin in September. It also discusses the pre-orders starting today and unveils detail of their special editions of Star Wars: The Old Republic. “”””””””””””””As anticipation grows, BioWare also proudly announced today that Star Wars: The Old Republic will open “Beta Test Weekends” starting this September. These weekend play sessions will be open to selected players worldwide and create an opportunity for fans to get a sneak peek of the epic stories, worlds, quests, battles and characters in the game. Please visit www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com to register for game testing and to stay tuned throughout the summer for more details as they become available.”” That’s exciting news for those who have been waiting for a chance at a beta that has since been closed to the public. The press release also describes the three versions of SWTOR that will be…
Stephen Reid clarifies on EA Origins
If you had questions about EA Origins and how it relates to getting your own copy of SWTOR, Stephen Reid has made a lot of clarifications on the official TOR forums. We’ll save you the trouble of hunting and sum it all up for you here. Q: Do I have to install Origin to play the game, get updates and more if I purchase a boxed copy? Reid answers: “No, you won’t. While Origin will be the exclusive digital retailer for Star Wars: The Old Republic (in other words, if you want to buy it online and download it, you’ll do so through Origin) that does not mean that Origin is required for you to access or play The Old Republic. Origin is a digital storefront, and the desktop application is there to give you quick access to Origin exclusives and deals. However, you won’t need to launch…
High Scale Beta at the end of June?
A conference call on June 14th between William Blair and company analysts and CEO of Electronic Arts John Riccitiello discussed beta testing for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Certain information had players questioning the betas and what this means for a launch date. Daniel Erickson already previously confirmed there will be no open beta before launch so what exactly does “high scale beta” mean? John Riccitiello stated “we’re in mid-scale beta, we’ve got a high scale beta at the end of June.” Riccitiello added “and only the foolish assume they know the outcome of a beta in terms of whether it’s a six week hit or not.”” Stephen Reid responds to John Riccitiello’s comments on the official forum: “Take a deep breath, everyone… Game Testing is currently ongoing for Star Wars: The Old Republic. This isn’t news – it’s been ongoing for quite a while. At different…
Scary stuff right here
I’m a firm believer that BioWare can pull the weight of this game. Electronic Arts is “just” the publisher, The quality of SWTOR comes down to BioWare assuming EA let’s them have enough time to finish it up, however the quality of the on-going service with the servers is EA, content patches BioWare again. It really comes down to hopefully enough people buy it that they won’t have an excuse of not having enough money or something for decent server/bandwith. The point of the image is to illustrate that EA has a track record of being incapable of building, maintaining and supporting their MMORPG projects and every time close them down or throw them into stasis within a year or two.
E3 2011 – EA Analyst Event
Today during E3, EA had an analyst event at Los Angeles. This event covered a large range of questions related to EA’s profile but as is no surprise, SWTOR had a large portion of the revenue stream for the company going forward. A lot of people have a lot of interest in the popularity and success of SWTOR, aside from just those of us who want to play. While there wasn’t really any new information released here that we don’t already know, it’s always great to know the plan is the same, and that they are on track for releasing SWTOR before the end of this year, as projected. In the analyst call, EA’s CFO, Eric Brown talked about how the financial performance of the company is expected to be higher at the end of 2012 when TOR has had a chance to peak in performance. He also confirmed that…
E3: Frank Gibeau Interview
Frank Gibeau, The President of EA, sat down to talk Old Republic, Battlefield 3 and much more during GT.TV’s All Access Live Coverage of E3 2011. It’s Obvious that Mr. Gibeau doesn’t follow SWTOR that closely as he says the game has 6 classes etc. but I guess that’s ok when your CEO for a firm as big as EA. He does spill a few beans though as he mention the game already have thousands of beta testers already and they will be beta testing all summer long. He also confirms yet again that the game WILL come out this year. The part about SWTOR is in the beginning of the interview so knock your self out below:
The Old Republic Downloads to be Exclusive to EA’s “Origin” Service
Will Origin Top Steam? I have been a Steam gal since 2005. I love the majority of the games released on Steam and I love access to old-school favorites and new releases all from one platform. When rumors first started that EA was building their own similar platform services, I thought it was a great idea, although I was still skeptical about whether or not they would truly compete with Steam when Steam has such a big head start. Launching with Star Wars: The Old Republic is as good a way as any to ensure they have the best possible chance of catching Steam in terms of users. The news was released today that TOR downloads will be exclusive to EA’s Origin Service which should be explained in more detail officially at E3. As of 11:24ET, Origin is officially online if you want to check it out for yourself. And…
Spike TV to Air EA Coverage
In a press release, Spike TV announces that they will air an exclusive broadcast of EA’s 2011 E3 showcase event in an exclusive “Game Changers: EA 2011 Preview”. This one-hour special will premiere on Monday, June 6 at 3:30PM ET/ 12:30PM PT on SPIKE TV. Spike TV is the number one network for video game programming and today announced the exciting news that they would be teaming up with Electronic Arts for this exclusive, live commercial-free broadcast of the 2011 showcase event at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). E3 is the gaming industry’s leading trade show and it’s not open to the public. But now you can see everything that happens at E3 from your TV set at the comfort of your own home. Broadcasting from the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles, Gamechangers: EA 2011 Preview, so be sure to book it on your calendar and be ready to catch…
The Next 12 Months is Super Important to EA
The next 12 months will prove to be very important to Electronic Arts (EA). While they had many things to be happy about in their recent company earnings call, they will also be held accountable over the next year to many predictions and investments. Gamasutra reports that the next 12 months could make or break EA. There are a lot of things working in the favor of EA but it’s too soon to start celebrating victories. While their revenues and earnings per share were higher than expected, and they reported a shift to a more aggressive stance at several fronts, there is still room for things to go wrong over the next fiscal year. CEO John Riccitiello said, “We’re shifting to offense and running plays no other company can,” which is a big promise they have to hope they can hold up to. They are going in…
Could a Mass Effect MMO top The Old Republic?
Could a Mass Effect MMO beat out TOR when it comes to profits? In a recent investor’s note, Mike Hickey predicted that a hypothetical Mass Effect MMO could make more money for Electronic Arts than Star Wars: The Old Republic will. But is this really shocking news? First, the ME franchise has done really well for EA and there is a historical weakness surrounding Star Wars games, which is part of what Hickey made his predictions based on. This is due in part to the fact that royalties have to be paid on all Lucas Arts titles and themes. Hickey said, “Looking forward, we believe BioWare could develop an MMO based on their highly successful Mass Effect franchise, which should have a considerably better (relative Star Wars MMO) margin profile, given the dilutive nature of the LucasArts royalty.” But of course, there is more that goes into making a great…
Star Wars: The Old Republic development cost Could Exceed $80 Million
According to Wedbush Securities analyst – Michael Pachter, the development costs of Star Wars: The Old Republic, could exceed $80 million, especially if you factor in all the marketing and distribution costs. “The contribution from the Star Wars MMO is significant. Under the terms of its deal with LucasArts, EA is required to pay a royalty, but was required to front all of the development, marketing and distribution costs, as well as the costs of building out servers for the game. We estimate that LucasArts’ share is 33% of revenues, AFTER EA recoups its investment in game development. Given that the game was in development for over four years, with an estimated 200 full-time developers working on it, we estimate that EA’s investment exceeds $80 million,” EA has mentioned that it doesn’t need a whole lot of subscribes to make all that profit back and by having about 500,000 subscribers…
Electronic Arts Q4 Earnings Live Blog
Electronic Arts Q4 Earnings Live Blog. At 2:00PM PDT (5:00PM EDT) today, Electronics Arts gave their quarterly call for investors to report results. I joined the call as a member of the media and got the inside scoop on what’s happening with EA. There was a lot of great info in this call so I’m bringing you the highlights right here. First, they reaffirmed that Star Wars: The Old Republic will ship in CY 2011. Additionally: Star Wars: The Old Republic will be launched as a Digital Service. Subscription revenue expected to rise with the launch of SWTOR. SWTOR was mentioned as a Subscription based MMO Over 1 million testers (signed up) Server infrastructure for Star Wars: The Old Republic is a significant FY12 cost investment. There was also an interesting Q&A involving SWTOR: Question: On the beta test for SWTOR, how long can a test like that last before…
What is BioWare’s Mysterious New Project “Zulu”?
BioWare is working on a new secret project that might now be slightly less secret, at least according to some reports that say an entry on Microsoft’s PartnerNet service has leaked details about the game. “BioWare presents an adventure beyond your wildest imaginings – fantasy role playing action adventure in space!” The mysterious title reportedly appears on debug Xbox Live with an image and the above description. BioWare fans are all abuzz about what this new “project Zulu” might be. It appears to be episodic and does not appear to have multiplayer or co-op modes. The first episode is referred to as “Episode One: Too Many Cooks: Spoil the Broth” and there is a teaser to the second episode as well- “Episode 2: Another fun adventure to download and play.” Various sources are reporting that a new BioWare title, ‘Project Zulu’ has appeared on the development version of Xbox Live…
EA conference webcast Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Electronic Arts Inc. will release its financial results for the fourth quarter fiscal year 2011 after the close of market on Wednesday, May 4, 2011. In conjunction with this release, Electronic Arts will host a conference call to review its financial results for the fourth quarter, discuss its outlook for the future and may disclose other material developments affecting its business and/or financial performance. Listeners may access the conference call live via a dial-in number or audio webcast. Hopefully investors will ask many questions regarding Star Wars: The old republic, and if we are really lucky, we might get one step closer a release day – One can dream! The conference call will be hold Wednesday, May 4, 20112:00 pm Pacific Time (5:00 pm Eastern Time) Webcast: http://ir.ea.com Press release: Electronic Arts’ financial results release will be available after the close of market on May 4, 2011, on Electronic Arts’…