Originally posted by zevni78

I'd be interested to learn if there was a bigger one, anyone know WoW's beta numbers?

WOW had 500k in open beta which was a huge amount back then,  WoW sold 330k copies the forst week after release whcih was also a record.  Around 6 months after elease WoW had grown to 500k subs.  But WoW also stopped selling copies for a month or so because of problems with queues.  EQ2 which released a few days after WoW'sopen beta started sold a lot a release and had 3-400k subs the first few months before dropping down to close to 100k for a few years before the game revived.

AoC had sold 7-800k copies the first month.  Warhammer beat that.  But both games were ghost towns after the first month.  Rift likely broke Warhammer's records with 99 full serevrs at release but Trion has not released any information.  But Rift has been the only AAA MMO since WoW to actually retain a healthy amount of their intial playerbase.

In regards to SWTOR I would guess if the numebrs are right they will have well over 2 million preorders.  It used to be that digital sales composed a small percentage.  But digital release percentages have grown and now comprimise more than 50% of a MMOs initial sales.  One could speculate that SWTOR may end up goingt he Warhammer/AOC route rather than the Rift route.  But keep in mind SWTOR has three big advanatages.  Oneits a much better game in terms of production value, polish and completeness than either Warhammer or AoC.  It might not have the quantity of endgame content or a tested endgame like Rift but it also appeals to a different audience. 

Second SWTOR has huge hype and should be able to keep generating a steady stream of new players to replace players that leave.  With the brand name of SW they have a built in market. 

Third, while endgame is essentially untested it may end up being very good.  Many veteran players scoff at SWTOR.  In fact almost everyone I know does.  But they may be wrong.  SWTOR  promise three degrees of difficulty of raids.  Bioware is  smart enough to understand that no MMO since WoW has retained players without a successful and addicting raid game.  Casuals will come and go and there is nothing a game can do about that except replace them with mroe casuals.  But a game cannot so easily replace hardcore players and raid guilds.  When these players leave they take many more players with them as they are the foundation that communities are built upon.  Bioware is smart enough to know the importance of having a compelling raid endgame.  There are presently only 3 supportred raid games.  WoW, Rift and EQ2.  My question is have many  major raid guilds commited to SWTOR?  I don't see many from Rift.  WoW is likely a much bigger target audience for raid guilds as most Rift guilds are pretty happy in Rift and EQ2 really is not their target audience.

Originally posted by zymurgeist

Originally posted by Kainis

I was one of those 2 million and had only confirmed the reason for my pre-order. I am however currently disgruntled. I got an email today saying that Beta has ended and that I was to completely uninstall the game in preperation for the launch in 10 days (for preorders). Uninstalling made me sad. I haven't felt this way about an mmo in well, ever.

 Well then this will really piss you off. If you played after thanksgiving you didn't need to uninstall. It was the final version minus one small patch.

<insert explitive here> I had just patched the launcher yesterday too, knowing there was a new patch and was curious. I probably had the final installed already :( I sincerely hope Origin works in 10 days :\

Originally posted by Icewhite

Originally posted by sanosukex

MMOs were not even CLOSE to as big of market then either

I remember, CoH at a mere 250k being considered a substantial hit just six months earlier.

exactly times have changed MMO industry is HUGE now and it should be no suprise at all this game will sell a TON of copies at launch. Just hoping bioware can pump out enough content updates by month 3 to keep people interested once they finish several story lines

I played the game the weekend prior to last, and enjoyed it immensely.  Apperently I was one of the two million... Time will tell how well it does, true.  It's pointless to speculate at this point.  However, I think these numbers show that there is an immense amount of interest in the game at this point. The game is going to come out roaring whethere you like it or not. It may sparkle and fade, it may not.  Nobody can say.  Personally, I'm cheering for the game!  I've never felt so immersed in the story of an MMORPG - not even close.  I had a blast and I didn't even scratch the surface.  I didn't touch crafting, pvp, or group instances.  Ulitimately it's going to be the long-term enjoyment of the game that determines its success (like several people have pointed out.)  And nobody, not one of us, is in a position to say for sure how that will play out.  Personally,  I hope it keeps my interest because I've been anxiously awaiting this game since its announcement.  If not, I'll count my losses, and  go try some other games.  There's plenty of potentially good mmorpgs coming our way soon.

I told my wife going into the Thanksgiving weekend beta that there would probably be at least a million people testing that weekend because of the nearly one million preorders...Dang!!

Originally posted by Kost

And people laughed when I said two million at launch a week ago, looks like my estimate is right on track. Nearly 1,000,000 physical preorders, and more than likely another million in digital preorders.

I wonder how many of the hecklers will come back and admit they were wrong after the game launches?

That's 1 million physical pre-orders in the US alone. And the US is not the most populated place on the planet by a long shot :P

Sure, western MMO's aren't the biggest thing in the east. But still.

Originally posted by Kainis

Originally posted by zymurgeist

Originally posted by Kainis

I was one of those 2 million and had only confirmed the reason for my pre-order. I am however currently disgruntled. I got an email today saying that Beta has ended and that I was to completely uninstall the game in preperation for the launch in 10 days (for preorders). Uninstalling made me sad. I haven't felt this way about an mmo in well, ever.

 Well then this will really piss you off. If you played after thanksgiving you didn't need to uninstall. It was the final version minus one small patch.

I had just patched the launcher yesterday too, knowing there was a new patch and was curious. I probably had the final installed already :( I sincerely hope Origin works in 10 days :\

 If you participated in our Game Testing Program before November 25th, we recommend that you uninstall the game testing client (refer to instructions below) and then download and install the launch game client. We’ll update this post with more instructions when they’re available. You will need 27GB of free space to install the launch game client. The actual size of the game client is approximately 19GB (without additional languages installed).

If you have played in our game testing program at any point from November 25th onwards, you will not need to re-install the game client, as you should already have the launch version installed.

 http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=714124

SWTOR just like WOW when it launched is in between a time period where there is a lackluster genre to contend with.  Look back at the  years since WOW, has there been a game with the buzz that TOR has?

Rift had some buzz, but seriously nothing has launched that even put those kind of numbers together. Sure we can look at the console side of things and say COD/BF3 has created buzz, but for a MMO, it's really looking as though TOR is going to be a game that will draw the mass market of casuals.

I fully expect that after launch of TOR ,blizzard will be stepping up it's next great big thing. 

GW2 has the buzz but it's not going to get the pub or the media hype that TOR gets.

Bottomline,

TOR will be the next mainstream MMO, just like what WOW was 7 years ago. 

Originally posted by Kainis

Originally posted by zymurgeist

Originally posted by Kainis

I was one of those 2 million and had only confirmed the reason for my pre-order. I am however currently disgruntled. I got an email today saying that Beta has ended and that I was to completely uninstall the game in preperation for the launch in 10 days (for preorders). Uninstalling made me sad. I haven't felt this way about an mmo in well, ever.

 Well then this will really piss you off. If you played after thanksgiving you didn't need to uninstall. It was the final version minus one small patch.

I had just patched the launcher yesterday too, knowing there was a new patch and was curious. I probably had the final installed already :( I sincerely hope Origin works in 10 days :\

Yeah. Bad email, poorly worded. It contradicted what I had already read in the forums so first thing I did was go there and found a new sticky in the customer service area with the correct info.

By the way... this past weekend was a much smaller scale test (about 8 NA servers) of the release client and they added many new tweaks (AA is on now, you can set the map transparency during movement, etc.) although some old familiar bugs persist (flickering shadows for ATI users.)

I am thinking between 2 to 3 million subs worldwide at launch we will see though.

Did no one actually read the article?

Thanksgiving Weekend= 725k testers NOT 2 million

2 million= Number of people opted in to the beta testing program

2.4 million = Total number of people signed up on the forums

To put this another way:

Only 36.25% of people signed up for beta played the game that weekend.

While 725k is admirable it isn't like it is amazing since other MMO's have done more just not in beta. Based on these numbers though, I think the game will top out at 1.5 million players and drop down to ~ 500k after 3-4 months. 1 million the first month, maybe another 500k the next month. By no means is this game going to be the next big thing, it is another stepping stone on the road to a better MMO, just like RIFT is. 

2 MILLION? Thats just outstanding.

The ipOriginally posted by dreamsofwar

Originally posted by Druft

WoW's beta numbers were small since back then MMO's weren't a huge deal.

Also the IP probably wasn't internationally recognised, unlike Star Wars which is beyond huge.

To many of the new generation of gamers this will be the first Star Wars MMO thats ever been released in their eyes, seeing as MMO's weren't big and Star Wars Galaxies was released years ago.

The IP Warcraft was a massive RTS back in the day and was big in asia as is starcraft. Just mmos were not that big.

Originally posted by Distaste

Did no one actually read the article?

Thanksgiving Weekend= 725k testers NOT 2 million

2 million= Number of people opted in to the beta testing program

2.4 million = Total number of people signed up on the forums

 

To put this another way:

Only 36.25% of people signed up for beta played the game that weekend.

 

While 725k is admirable it isn't like it is amazing since other MMO's have done more just not in beta. Based on these numbers though, I think the game will top out at 1.5 million players and drop down to ~ 500k after 3-4 months. 1 million the first month, maybe another 500k the next month. By no means is this game going to be the next big thing, it is another stepping stone on the road to a better MMO, just like RIFT is. 

ha I was wondering the same thing!! 

Unfortunately I don't think this will be a wow killer.  Honestly Star Wars is a fun world and interesting game but I think that fantasy is going to have more mass appeal.

The game is good but I also felt it was better at the low end then higher end.  Course I only played a little ways in so perhaps it improves more later although it would certainly be the exception if true.

But lastly I really can't see how the strong values in the early game can transform into something to keep people interested at the end game.  Meaning you have a strong quest line, a very nice evolving story, but when you hit the end of your quests what do you have?  PVP and Grinding.  Kinda a big change from what drew you through the game.  I'm kinda thinking a lot of people will just kinda say that was fun but the game is over....  Sure some will go into gear grinding and maybe raiding but bioware isn't really like the rift guys do you really expect they can keep rolling out content quick enough to keep the end game interesting!?

I'm skeptical.  In any event the game is going to be a big hit and it will have a lot of players.  I'm just fearful that it will drop off suddenly at the end and the poor lfg tools will put in a barrier to entry for new blood.  Neither are going to be good things after the first 2-3 months...

---

Did no one actually read the article?

Thanksgiving Weekend= 725k testers NOT 2 million

2 million= Number of people opted in to the beta testing program

2.4 million = Total number of people signed up on the forums

---

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWiPHU95WyY

Originally posted by Distaste

Did no one actually read the article?

Thanksgiving Weekend= 725k testers NOT 2 million

2 million= Number of people opted in to the beta testing program

2.4 million = Total number of people signed up on the forums

 

To put this another way:

Only 36.25% of people signed up for beta played the game that weekend.

 

While 725k is admirable it isn't like it is amazing since other MMO's have done more just not in beta. Based on these numbers though, I think the game will top out at 1.5 million players and drop down to ~ 500k after 3-4 months. 1 million the first month, maybe another 500k the next month. By no means is this game going to be the next big thing, it is another stepping stone on the road to a better MMO, just like RIFT is. 

IF VGchartz is close to numbers, you are saying that digital US sales and the entire EU market will only sell 100k for launch?

Whether people like it or not, TOR IS the next big thing. We'll just have to see how well it handles itself. 

Originally posted by Distaste

Did no one actually read the article?

Thanksgiving Weekend= 725k testers NOT 2 million

2 million= Number of people opted in to the beta testing program

2.4 million = Total number of people signed up on the forums

 

To put this another way:

Only 36.25% of people signed up for beta played the game that weekend.

 

While 725k is admirable it isn't like it is amazing since other MMO's have done more just not in beta. Based on these numbers though, I think the game will top out at 1.5 million players and drop down to ~ 500k after 3-4 months. 1 million the first month, maybe another 500k the next month. By no means is this game going to be the next big thing, it is another stepping stone on the road to a better MMO, just like RIFT is. 

http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/05/star-wars-the-old-republic-beta-test-attracts-2-million-players/

keyword is "unique"  or new

?did u read the article. It stated clearly that 2 millin people tested tor. That 725 k of those were new testers. For the record my gf tested 11-13 and i didnt get in till thanksgiven

Id be a new tester or one of the 725k my gf wouldnt be one of the new testers. As such she is part of the 2 million whole

god where has reading comprehension gone today.

They had alot of new testers last weekend and alot of returning testers. Thanksgiven wasnt just new testers people

so 2 millin players tested tor thanksgiven weekend and 725 thousand were new testers who hadnt touched tor beta before.

Originally posted by Jimmy562

Originally posted by Distaste

Did no one actually read the article?

Thanksgiving Weekend= 725k testers NOT 2 million

2 million= Number of people opted in to the beta testing program

2.4 million = Total number of people signed up on the forums

 

To put this another way:

Only 36.25% of people signed up for beta played the game that weekend.

 

While 725k is admirable it isn't like it is amazing since other MMO's have done more just not in beta. Based on these numbers though, I think the game will top out at 1.5 million players and drop down to ~ 500k after 3-4 months. 1 million the first month, maybe another 500k the next month. By no means is this game going to be the next big thing, it is another stepping stone on the road to a better MMO, just like RIFT is. 

IF VGchartz is close to numbers, you are saying that digital US sales and the entire EU market will only sell 100k for launch?

Whether people like it or not, TOR IS the next big thing. We'll just have to see how well it handles itself. 

SWTOR is only worth f2p or at most b2p......it's going to not make it past 2012 as subscription based.