I'd say they got their 200 mil back,but they havent been making what they expected post launch...not even close.

Originally posted by busdriver

Originally posted by Souldrainer

Originally posted by busdriver

If they spent $200 millions making it, then not a snowballs chance in hell.

 

Assuming they never sold a single Collector's Edition box, the game made $115 million on day 1. Additionally, there is a press statement from January/Feb time frame (hard to pull up on my phone here) where Bioware said, flat out, that the game was making them a profit. So yeah... you can think what you want to.

[mod edit]

So is yours.  You use a figure that someone randomly threw out into the air.  Although I will say this... while my numbers might be wrong, it was only thrown out to give a rough estimate.  The game was reported at several sources as selling over 2 million in the first 4 weeks.  They also reported a retention rate of over 50%  through march, and a large number of the initial sales were Collector's Edition $150 boxes. 

I am no accountant, but even assuming the random $200 [million] figure was correct, [official press releases would place the game] very close to that number of profits, even assuming 35% cost being eaten.  The problem here is that forum members always push and pull numbers around to suit their individual points.  I did the same, but it was in the interest of hating the push/pull game, not the players.

Some claim the game cost less than $80 million to make.  Some claim more.  You can't throw a pebble without hitting 40-50 claims by an "EXPERT ANALYST" on how much SWTOR cost.  Some claims are even as high as $500 million.  If these "experts" are so good, why can't they simply pin down an interview with Bioware's accountants and get it from the source?  Every real life expert I know, has friends and contacts in their respective industry.  That is part of being an expert.

In reality, you need to have some insider information in order to make [or] dispute any [reputable] claims as to yes/no profits for SWTOR, and the worst thing someone can possibly do to lose their argument, is to claim any rumors as fact.  But anyway, this game will always be hated on MMORPG for the fact that it is not SWG 2, and will never be loved for the fact that it is, in fact, SWTOR...

Paid for itself? Really?

So far the most accurate estimate as to how much it cost is from EA Louse, which was.. 300 million, and that was YEARS ago. It's only gone up since then. Louse has proven himself to be correct.

But the proof is in the stocks. EA wouldn't have fired most of the devs if the game had a bright future. Their stocks wouldn't be sinking of they'd gotten a profit.

Originally posted by Garvon3

So far the most accurate estimate as to how much it cost is from EA Louse

Can you prove this with actual documentation, or are you just randomly saying it?

Originally posted by Souldrainer

Originally posted by Garvon3

So far the most accurate estimate as to how much it cost is from EA Louse

Can you prove this with actual documentation, or are you just randomly saying it?

Well he actually worked for the game, and everything else he's leaked and said to be true...has turned out to be true. No hard proof, but pretty likely he wouldn't have just made up that one random thing.

Originally posted by Garvon3

Originally posted by Souldrainer

Originally posted by Garvon3

So far the most accurate estimate as to how much it cost is from EA Louse

Can you prove this with actual documentation, or are you just randomly saying it?

Well he actually worked for the game, and everything else he's leaked and said to be true...has turned out to be true. No hard proof, but pretty likely he wouldn't have just made up that one random thing.

Some of his claims can't be denied, but in one part of his interview, he says $300 million was spent on the game, and in another he refers to it as a $50 million project.  Which is it, then?

As an aside... from the time his interview came out to this very day, I never agreed with his balking at the importance of sound in the game.  Sound is extremely important in a game.

Originally posted by Danrlei

Did SWTOR paid for itself already?

VG charts info on SWtor sales up to the date"14th Jul 2012 "

are at 2.38m sold

so do the math it is

2,380,000 x "lets just say it sold for 50 buck on average." = 119,000,000

and it's been stated that Development for SWtor cost           200,000,000

so based on these facts looks like they have had a loose    -81,000,000

But thats not including monthly subscriptions, lets just say they had 1/3 of the sales as consistent subscribers.

793333x15 bucks a month = 11,899,995 x number of months since release 7 = 83,299,965

I would say they at best have broke even.

Originally posted by lizardbones

*snip*

** edit **
But really, that question can't be answered by anyone but Bioware. Why even bother asking it here?

 You don't really bellieve that do you? You think nobody knows how much money went and goes into the project and how much money it has brought in? They're not making the numbers public for a reason, but to think nobody knows is just plain ridiculous.

Originally posted by Alminie

Originally posted by Danrlei

Did SWTOR paid for itself already?

VG charts info on SWtor sales up to the date"14th Jul 2012 "

are at 2.38m sold

so do the math it is

2,380,000 x "lets just say it sold for 50 buck on average." = 119,000,000

and it's been stated that Development for SWtor cost           200,000,000

so based on these facts looks like they have had a loose    -81,000,000

 

But thats not including monthly subscriptions, lets just say they had 1/3 of the sales as consistent subscribers.

793333x15 bucks a month = 11,899,995 x number of months since release 7 = 83,299,965

I would say they at best have broke even.

 Seems more like guesswork than facts, but whatever. It's all they're giving us, vague numbers, smoke and mirrors. They could give us the hard facts, but I'm sure they won't until they think that doing so won't cost them their job.

Why the ridiculous math and speculations? The finacial reports are official and public, just search for it in credible source.

They costs already returned doubled in first month after release... end of story.

Don't act like old ladies gossiping.

Originally posted by everland

Why the ridiculous math and speculations? The finacial reports are official and public, just search for it in credible source.

 

They costs already returned doubled in first month after release... end of story.

 

Don't act like old ladies gossiping.

I pointed this out earlier, and bus driver called it bullshit.  I'm just saying.

Originally posted by Mephster

 Probably not because they are laying off people. I'm sure there is more to come.

because blizzard laid off some people some months ago means they are going to self destruct? i dont agree with the notion .

Originally posted by Souldrainer

Originally posted by busdriver

If they spent $200 millions making it, then not a snowballs chance in hell.

 

Assuming they never sold a single Collector's Edition box, the game made $115 million on day 1. Additionally, there is a press statement from January/Feb time frame (hard to pull up on my phone here) where Bioware said, flat out, that the game was making them a profit. So yeah... you can think what you want to.

So the people who sell games in the stores, the taxes and many other small costs like transport, distribution... doesn't exist.  

The boxes spawn directly from EA in the shelves and the money goes magically from your wallet to EA. 

i'm pretty sure the first day they did 115m $ ¬¬

Originally posted by Airtaee

Originally posted by Souldrainer

Originally posted by busdriver

If they spent $200 millions making it, then not a snowballs chance in hell.

 

Assuming they never sold a single Collector's Edition box, the game made $115 million on day 1. Additionally, there is a press statement from January/Feb time frame (hard to pull up on my phone here) where Bioware said, flat out, that the game was making them a profit. So yeah... you can think what you want to.

So the people who sell games in the stores, the taxes and many other small costs like transport, distribution... doesn't exist.  

The boxes spawn directly from EA in the shelves and the money goes magically from your wallet to EA. 

i'm pretty sure the first day they did 115m $ ¬¬

I posted a response to what you're saying... like 6 posts up.

Originally posted by Alminie

Originally posted by Danrlei

Did SWTOR paid for itself already?

VG charts info on SWtor sales up to the date"14th Jul 2012 "

are at 2.38m sold

so do the math it is

2,380,000 x "lets just say it sold for 50 buck on average." = 119,000,000

and it's been stated that Development for SWtor cost           200,000,000

so based on these facts looks like they have had a loose    -81,000,000

 

But thats not including monthly subscriptions, lets just say they had 1/3 of the sales as consistent subscribers.

793333x15 bucks a month = 11,899,995 x number of months since release 7 = 83,299,965

I would say they at best have broke even.

It would be 2.38 million X $50 profit per copy (average of all versions) = $119,000,000

793333 X $10 per month (roughly 1/3 goes to LA for IP) X 7 months = $55,533,310

Total Estimated  Profit = $174,533,310

development cost ($150 million on average) + advertising/continued development/support since launch ($50 million) = $200,000 million total spent on TOR

Game is still a good $25 million away from breaking even. And that was being conservative on several estimates.

Originally posted by SlothnChunk

Originally posted by Alminie

Originally posted by Danrlei

Did SWTOR paid for itself already?

VG charts info on SWtor sales up to the date"14th Jul 2012 "

are at 2.38m sold

so do the math it is

2,380,000 x "lets just say it sold for 50 buck on average." = 119,000,000

and it's been stated that Development for SWtor cost           200,000,000

so based on these facts looks like they have had a loose    -81,000,000

 

But thats not including monthly subscriptions, lets just say they had 1/3 of the sales as consistent subscribers.

793333x15 bucks a month = 11,899,995 x number of months since release 7 = 83,299,965

I would say they at best have broke even.

It would be 2.38 million X $50 profit per copy (average of all versions) = $119,000,000

793333 X $10 per month (roughly 1/3 goes to LA for IP) X 7 months = $55,533,310

Total Estimated  Profit = $174,533,310

development cost ($150 million on average) + advertising/continued development/support since launch ($50 million) = $200,000 million total spent on TOR

Game is still a good $25 million away from breaking even. And that was being conservative on several estimates.

where does $10 per a month come from?

pretty sure swtor costs $15 a month. ;-)

Why people talks about 150$ when EALouse stated the game was over 300m$ spent.

EALouse: And Bioware? Don’t make me laugh. They’ve spent more money making the Old Republic than James Cameron spent on Avatar. Shit you not. More than $ 300 million! Can you believe that?

Till this moment, everything EAlouse said is proven to be right, even the Ultima forever project, talking about it 2 years before the release (yes maybe he talks about a facebook game, but is a browser game like wrath of heroes)

The Times stated that the game cost 200m $ plus advertisement (some tens more) we are talking again about 250+ 

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2012/01/20/star-wars-the-old-republic-the-story-behind-a-galactic-gamble/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=63378#/0

So why people insist in the 150m? 

My only doubt is where those 200m go, because Rift or TSW with much lower budget are infinitely better developed than SWTOR. And try to deny it is just to be a fanatic.

SWTOR seems like a bad copy of WAR, a unfinished theme park but with voices to mask the lack of content. Is the SW IP what is keeping the game so far, but even that is not enough.

SWTOR is not a bad single player game but absolutely nothing justify the 15$ monthly fee. 

Originally posted by Ringbus

Originally posted by Souldrainer

Originally posted by busdriver

If they spent $200 millions making it, then not a snowballs chance in hell.

 

Assuming they never sold a single Collector's Edition box, the game made $115 million on day 1. Additionally, there is a press statement from January/Feb time frame (hard to pull up on my phone here) where Bioware said, flat out, that the game was making them a profit. So yeah... you can think what you want to.

Boggle.

How can anyone be dumb enough to believe developer return from retail game sales work like:

shelf/retail price * copies sold???

 

Originally posted by Souldrainer

Originally posted by Ringbus

Originally posted by Souldrainer

Originally posted by busdriver

If they spent $200 millions making it, then not a snowballs chance in hell.

 

Assuming they never sold a single Collector's Edition box, the game made $115 million on day 1. Additionally, there is a press statement from January/Feb time frame (hard to pull up on my phone here) where Bioware said, flat out, that the game was making them a profit. So yeah... you can think what you want to.

Boggle.

How can anyone be dumb enough to believe developer return from retail game sales work like:

shelf/retail price * copies sold???

 

 

Read the post right above yours.

 If the game follows trends, then it likely made something like:

(copies sold) X (% retail) X (revenue per game) + (copies sold) X (% digital sales) X (revenue per game)

(2.4 million copies) * (%40 retail sails) * ($20) + (2.4 million copies) * (%60 digital sails) * ($60)

~ 100 mil

But this was a one time deal for EA. they might increase some sales but nowhere near what came at launch.  The money they raped gamers for on a SPRPG is another story.

In an ideal world, this game would have been B2P.  But EA is thirsty.

Even with the monthly fees they swindled from gamers, it won't cover the cost of the game, which I believe was 200-300 mil, including advertising .. not to mention the uhh hundred million or so EA spent to acquire BioWare, of whose name is now pretty much mud.