Posted by Lethality | 0 Comments
Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference: John Riccitiello Speaks
Today in San Francisco, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello is participated in a Q&A session at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference.
Although the presentation was financial in nature, many of the TOR faithful tuned in to investor.ea.com to see if there might be even the smallest bit of information revealed, or maybe even a “slip-up,” which Riccitiello has been known to provide fans with in the past.
While there were no real “slip-ups” this time around, there was some chatter about an un-named release in May of this year. Some speculate it might be a social game, or Dragon Age Legends. The discussion surrounded competitor Zynga, so it probably doesn’t hold any significance to TOR.
Although, May the 4th be with you has a nice ring to it :)
Riccitiello reaffirmed that they can “make money” with 500,000 subscribers, whereas 1.5 million plus would be considered substantially profitable.
EA’s CEO also continued to praise World of Warcraft at the same time as he locked the crosshairs on Blizzard. “We can probably get a million without affecting them at all… after that it will probably be trading…”
Electronic Arts will post the full audio of these events at investor.ea.com, so stay tuned there if you’d like to hear what John Riccitiello said first-hand and see if we missed anything.
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Posted by Sentinel | 4 Comments
[UPDATE] EA Earnings Call: Release Window For TOR?
[UPDATE] Live blog beginning soon, scroll to bottom of page.
We just wanted to issue a quick reminder for AAJ readers that the Electronic Arts Q3 2011 Earnings Conference Call will be held tomorrow, February 1, 2011 at 2:00pm PST.
So why is this important to fans of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™?
Well, as part of the agenda for the call, EA typically provides a information regarding their scheduled releases for the upcoming fiscal year. In this case, that fiscal year is 2012 and we’ve known for some time the plans for The Old Republic were squarely in this timeframe.
With all of the hoopla about a potential change in the release window, this call should be able to shed some light on exactly what might be happening with TOR. While we don’t expect an actual release date, we think the picture will become much clearer, one way or another, on the call.
You can listen to the investor call yourself simply be registering here.
Of course if you don’t want to sit through all of the boring non-TOR info, keep your browser locked right here on Ask A Jedi, and we’ll be posting all of the highlights that matter!
Live Blog for TOR Highlights:
[5:01pm] – John Riccitiello – continue to concentrate on fewer, bigger, better games
[5:04pm] – Focus on digital – growth 39% year over year
[5:05pm] – Announce a $600 million share buyback
Note: there is no mention of TOR or FY12 in any of the released documentation.
[5:19pm] – TOR will ship in Calendar 2011, after Fisccal 2011 – in Fiscal 2012
[5:20pm] – Will not share more detail until next quarter. They
Note: So basically, nothing has changed but we’ve got no new information. The release is still on track for FY12, CY 11. The window is a little bigger than most TOR fans may want to hear though :)
[5:22pm] – Just ran through a list of releases, which didn’t include TOR
Note: They seem to be keeping specific TOR info close to the vest for competitive reasons.
Note: So, look for TOR release info when they talk about Q4 earnings, sometime in May.
[5:28pm] – Q&A Starting, we are queued up for one.
[5:34pm] – Question About TOR business model
[5:35pm] – “Another north of a million is a substantially profitable business”
[5:36pm] – “Don’t refer to gamer blogs for guidance” (re: EALouse $300 millon budget crap.)
[5:38pm] – “Game is looking very good – beta scale testing over the coming months”
[5:49pm] – Mike Hickey from Janco just asked a question… non TOR-related.
[5:52pm] – Piper Jaffray – Asked “How big is the opportunity for Star Wars, in terms of # of users?”
[5:53pm] – EA Comments on their “chief competitor” having 12 million subscriptions, but doesn’t have to challenge the market leader. But also have no intention to remain a “distant” #2
[5:56pm] – “The market will be receptive to light sabers vs. swords.”
[6:00pm] – Q&A and Call is wrapping up.
There is no TOR info in these documents, but here is what was released:
Posted by Sentinel | 1 Comment
Updated: The Old Republic To Be Released This Fall?
Is the release of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ now slated for Fall?
We’ve heard no official change in stance from the Spring 2011 date that was originally revealed. However, within the last 24 hours there have been several apparently independent indicators that this might be the case.
First was this post on the official forums. Generally, posts like this on internet forums can be disregarded as fodder of the unstable. But something about this post stuck out as having at least a slight ring of authenticity.
This morning, The Galactic Struggle posted a link to MCV, a game industry site:
Long-awaited MMO Star Wars: Old Republic will be released worldwide this September, development sources have told MCV.
They’re not naming their “sources,” and there are also certain other “credibility” issues in the article, such as the statement about TOR having been in development for “over two years.”
It’s important to reiterate: At this point, NO official comment on this has come from BioWare, EA, LucasArts or other parties directly concerned with delivering the game. Keep that in mind as you read through the various media outlets who will cover this news.
Stay tuned for details.
[UPDTAE] We received the following statement from BioWare regarding this matter: “We do not comment on rumors or speculation.”
Read MorePosted by Lethality | 3 Comments
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick: "We're not concerened" About The Old Republic
While speaking yesterday at the Reuters Global Media Summit, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick responded to a question about everyone’s favorite upcoming MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic:
“Kotick said he was not concerned that next year’s launch of Electronic Arts’ closely-watched online game, “Star Wars: The Old Republic,” would eat into the user base of “World of Warcraft.”
“I can’t say that we’re hugely concerned about that… the audience for ‘World of Warcraft’ is a pretty committed group of players,” he said.”
Even BioWare themselves state that they don’t need to, and aren’t planning on, necessarily poaching players from World of Warcraft. But… this is the equivalent to trash talk! And it can be used to our advantage!
So BioWare, you know what to do – Print out that quote, paste in in the locker room… er… development studio for everyone to see. Let it serve as inspiration every day while you’re crafting The Old Republic!
Because even though you may not be gunning for WoW players, it wouldn’t hurt to snag a few million of them, and put Kotick in his place at the same time.
Hop on over to Yahoo! and read the entire piece.
Read MorePosted by Lethality | 3 Comments
Editorial: This Is Not The Delay You Were Looking For
Yesterday during a presentation at a technology conference, Electronic Arts CFO Eric Brown revealed that Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ will be released in “calendar year” 2011, fiscal year 2012. Brown remarked that this is the first official statement on the release of TOR.
Of course, this set the TOR community and blogosphere ablaze, for some reason viewing this information as some sort of push-back or delay. To which I say, “Huh?”
Let’s take a walk.
Way back in January of this year, EA CEO John Riccitiello had let slip some juicy information during an investor conference call: Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ would be released in Spring of 2011. He didn’t use those exact words, citing it simply as “our major MMO,” but everyone knew which game he meant.
On the same call, Ricitiello went further by saying that “given the volatility of this particular sector and the fact that we haven’t yet provided a specific launch date, at least for now, we will be excluding the revenue from our FY11 plans.”
Soon after that call, then community manager Sean Dahlberg posted a thread on the official forums to clarify that indeed, BioWare currently had a Spring 2011 window in mind for the launch of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™:
While we have not announced a specific date, we can confirm that we are targeting a spring 2011 release for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.
Since that time, the community has spent much time speculating on what exactly “Spring” meant. Some were even arguing that he meant “fiscal Spring.” No one could figure out when that was.
Fast forward to today. “We’re not getting TOR any earlier than April, 2011!”
Really? Was that ever an expectation? Because, on my calendar, Spring starts on March 21, 2011. At worst, this cuts off a mere ten days from their original Spring window. Ten days. Ten. 10.
And fiscal year 2012 is, conveniently enough, chronologically right after fiscal year 2011 – which is precisely when Riccitiello said it would NOT be accounted for in their revenue plan.
So, ostensibly nothing has changed. They have until sometime in June and still be able to ship the game in “Spring.” EA fiscal year 2012 also starts on April 1, 2011.
The only possible asterisk to all of this was earlier this year at the EA Winter Showcase.
The good Doctor Ray Muzyka from BioWare in an interview referred to the release window as being 2011, with no mention of Spring. This gave rise to speculation that it could be released later in the year than the original Spring window, previously announced.
So while we can all speculate on what the lunar progression will be when TOR is released, the bottom line is BioWare isn’t likely going to announce the actual release date until just a month or two before hand.
For now though, we know for sure, that Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ will be released in 2011.
Unless it’s delayed.
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