Ea might own bio-ware but no they are not the main worry by any means, part of the agreement bioware had when they were bought was they get to act as a seperate entity so ea does not have control of the release date. thank you and good-night.

Wouldn't a 09 release be nice? Now I know it is wishing for too much (before everyone starts shouting at me), but BioWare has been, for the most part, really vague on what they have completed of the game. For all we know, the game could be in beta and now their just prefecting it and other productions of theirs (i.e. Dragon Age, which looks amazing). I did get and interesting e-mail from Star wars Galaxies saying they apologize for just recently closing down a bunch of their servers. It got me thinking, maybe they're doing this to make way for the new Star wars MMO which may pleasantly surprise us with an early release? I highly doubt it, but then again, I don't think I'd be surprised. I WOULD be calling the hell out of everyone and making a huge scene, but inside I wouldn't be surprised.

I'm a patient guy. I recently picked up WoW ater quitting for half a year, and I pre-ordered Aion so I think that should hold me over until SWTOR comes out. Either an unexpected Holiday release, or a mid-2010 release, I hope they just get it working. I heard the CO launch was a huge failure.

See you all at the midnight release when this thing comes out!!

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Originally posted by levin70

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Originally posted by Odela

Most of the community is settled on mid 2010, with an early 2010 beta.  (Maybe a beta starting this year?  Who knows?)

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You might think that, and it would be the case if Bioware was still Bioware.  But its not anymore.  They have new masters, and their masters are in financial trouble.  2009 losses were a billion dollars (march ye) and Fiscal First Qtr 2009 (June Qtr) EA cash outflows from Operations were approx 328 million.  Given that the Company has 1.6 billion (at June 30) in cash and no other assets they can turn into cash, they need revenues now, not a year from now. 
That means by the end of 2010, if they don't or can't turn things around they will have blown through their cash.
Expect EA, as the new masters of Bioware to push for Holiday 2009 release, no matter what form the game is in.  Bugs, warts and all, my guess is that EA will force this title out the door to stop the cash bleed from its development

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If the game was launching this year there would be a closed beta with community members already. We're pretty much done with September leaving only 3 months of the year. There is no way the game will be releasing in 2009 and anyone that believes otherwise should focus their minimal brain-power on life-sustaining functions.

Originally posted by mbd1968

Originally posted by Moirae

Not again. Do you have any idea how many threads there are asking the release date? Did you bother to look at the top of the forum where it says "Status: Development (est.rel N/A)"?

 

Do you understand what that means? 

I don't, could you explain to to me please?

Oh my god. You can't be serious.

Status: IN DEVELOPMENT. THAT MEANS ITS NOT RELEASED YET.

Est.rel means :ESTIMATED RELEASE DATE

N/A: means THEY DON'T KNOW WHEN THE GAME WILL BE RELEASED YET.

This will probably come across as rude but oh well... use your damned brain. That should have been obvious even to a ten year old.

no need to be rude to the guy.

Originally posted by mbd1968

Originally posted by levin70

Originally posted by RoosterNash

Originally posted by levin70

Originally posted by Odela

Most of the community is settled on mid 2010, with an early 2010 beta.  (Maybe a beta starting this year?  Who knows?)

 

You might think that, and it would be the case if Bioware was still Bioware.  But its not anymore.  They have new masters, and their masters are in financial trouble.  2009 losses were a billion dollars (march ye) and Fiscal First Qtr 2009 (June Qtr) EA cash outflows from Operations were approx 328 million.  Given that the Company has 1.6 billion (at June 30) in cash and no other assets they can turn into cash, they need revenues now, not a year from now. 

That means by the end of 2010, if they don't or can't turn things around they will have blown through their cash.

Expect EA, as the new masters of Bioware to push for Holiday 2009 release, no matter what form the game is in.  Bugs, warts and all, my guess is that EA will force this title out the door to stop the cash bleed from its development

 

I chuckled when I read this. For one, it is absurd to imply EA pushing a BW game (in it's early stages of BETA) onto the shelves for the 2009 holidays. It would be a HUGE mistake on EA's behalf, since it could potentially ruin the game's turn over. I was intrigued by your first acclaim, but you closed with something inheritantly premature and preposterous.

While an early release may become the inevitable future of this game, I certainly don't see it in the NEAR future. I'm sticking with MID to LATE '10 release with possible open beta coming soon.

 

You are unfortunately making the mistake of making a rational argument from a gamers perspective.  What I am telling you is the perspective from the CFO's office of EA, the owner of all assets and intellectual property of Bioware.  EA is crying right now because they have major cash burn issues and they need to resolve those issues quickly.  You can chuckle all you want, but it doesn't change the story that EA needs to release games in development way before they would like to stop the cash hemmorage that is occurring right now.  That inevitable future is much closer than you think

I hope they learnt a lesson from WAR and do not release early. If not they'll see an initial spike of box sales folowed by a steady decline of monthly subs.

I don't know what this "New Masters" business is,  EA has owned bioware for a couple years at least now,  Mass Effect was published by EA and it did very well and wasn't rushed.  This game isn't even in beta yet, and more then half the information isn't known or hasn't been revealed, some of it even on Biowares end, so to think they'll push the release for 09 is ridiculous. They won't  ...  period.

Just under two years, will be two come October 11th or 12th I think it was and it was the holding company EA purchased that owns Bioware.

Originally posted by Moirae

Originally posted by mbd1968

Originally posted by Moirae

Not again. Do you have any idea how many threads there are asking the release date? Did you bother to look at the top of the forum where it says "Status: Development (est.rel N/A)"?

 

Do you understand what that means? 

I don't, could you explain to to me please?

 

Oh my god. You can't be serious.

 

Status: IN DEVELOPMENT. THAT MEANS ITS NOT RELEASED YET.

 

Est.rel means :ESTIMATED RELEASE DATE

 

N/A: means THEY DON'T KNOW WHEN THE GAME WILL BE RELEASED YET.

 

This will probably come across as rude but oh well... use your damned brain. That should have been obvious even to a ten year old.

I had engaged 'sarcasm mode' before typing....

Originally posted by Mazin

Originally posted by Odela

They said it's a 2010 release after ME2 and Dragon Age, and there's still 4 classes to reveal...AND beta.

 

Yeah, it's not an 09 release.

 

They never said that, I know exactly what interview your talking about and he never said that.

What he did say is that right now Bioware's focus is releasing Dragon Age, then ME2 in the 1st or 2nd quarter of 2010 and then TOR.

He never said TOR would be released in 2010.

I asked Sean at PAX.

Said it's definitely not an 09 release, hinted at 2010 by saying that they're not going to be at PAX or E3 next year.

The last four classes will be revealed by the end of this year, and they want to do testing "soon with a trademark."

Dickinson confirmed it at one of the earlier panels, not a demo panel but sort of a Welcome Panel. 

Edit:  Forgot to say Sean also said they run a server in Austin, France, and Germany.  They have about a hundred people on the server in the US and it's like a really glitchy beta.

Originally posted by Odela

Originally posted by Mazin

Originally posted by Odela

They said it's a 2010 release after ME2 and Dragon Age, and there's still 4 classes to reveal...AND beta.

 

Yeah, it's not an 09 release.

 

They never said that, I know exactly what interview your talking about and he never said that.

What he did say is that right now Bioware's focus is releasing Dragon Age, then ME2 in the 1st or 2nd quarter of 2010 and then TOR.

He never said TOR would be released in 2010.

I asked Sean at PAX.

Said it's definitely not an 09 release, hinted at 2010 by saying that they're not going to be at PAX or E3 next year.

 

The last four classes will be revealed by the end of this year, and they want to do testing "soon with a trademark."

Dickinson confirmed it at one of the earlier panels, not a demo panel but sort of a Welcome Panel. 

 

Edit:  Forgot to say Sean also said they run a server in Austin, France, and Germany.  They have about a hundred people on the server in the US and it's like a really glitchy beta.

LOL at anyone that thinks TOR is coming out this year.

Originally posted by fcazares

The problem with the premise of such an early release is that BioWare has 2 other extremely sought after titles being released. Dragon Age is being released on Nov 2nd this year and ME2 likely in January 2010. Those two titles will be big sellers and lovely little cash cows. They will buy BioWare plenty of time to do TOR right.  

The problem isn't floating bioware, the problem is floating electronic arts, a much much larger company than bioware that is in financial distress.

Newsflash - seekingalpha is reporting that rumors are going around (significant call buying action today) in EA that MSFT (Microsoft) is looking to buy EA.  That would obviously solve the cash flow problems, but unsure of what would be the effect on games in development.

Originally posted by levin70

 

Newsflash - seekingalpha is reporting that rumors are going around (significant call buying action today) in EA that MSFT (Microsoft) is looking to buy EA.  That would obviously solve the cash flow problems, but unsure of what would be the effect on games in development.

Link?

Originally posted by levin70

 

You are unfortunately making the mistake of making a rational argument from a gamers perspective.  What I am telling you is the perspective from the CFO's office of EA, the owner of all assets and intellectual property of Bioware.  EA is crying right now because they have major cash burn issues and they need to resolve those issues quickly.  You can chuckle all you want, but it doesn't change the story that EA needs to release games in development way before they would like to stop the cash hemmorage that is occurring right now.  That inevitable future is much closer than you think

LOL .. TOR is NOT the only game EA can push out to make some cash. Corporate america does not run on one paragraph reasoning like yours. They have teams analyzing everything. 

They would be much better off releasing other more ready games early than TOR. Plus, they can always borrow money. Treasury depts in corporations look at ALL alternatives and releasing this single game early is NOT the only alternative that they have.

Originally posted by efefia

Originally posted by levin70

 

Newsflash - seekingalpha is reporting that rumors are going around (significant call buying action today) in EA that MSFT (Microsoft) is looking to buy EA.  That would obviously solve the cash flow problems, but unsure of what would be the effect on games in development.

 

Link?

Keep it here please and don't derail the thread.

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Originally posted by levin70
  EA is crying right now because they have major cash burn issues and they need to resolve those issues quickly. 

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Originally posted by axhed

 

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Originally posted by levin70
  EA is crying right now because they have major cash burn issues and they need to resolve those issues quickly. 

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hi, my name is madden, it's nice to meet you.

 

Thats interesting.  How many times do they release a madden title?  Oh yeah, that would be once a year.  Even with madden, they are losing boatloads of money.  Once again, its the cash drains they need to deal with.  Those would be in development titles.  Given that their release of the next madden title is in 2010, they need to and will do everything in their power to slow the cash burn rate.

Originally posted by nariusseldon

Originally posted by levin70

 

You are unfortunately making the mistake of making a rational argument from a gamers perspective.  What I am telling you is the perspective from the CFO's office of EA, the owner of all assets and intellectual property of Bioware.  EA is crying right now because they have major cash burn issues and they need to resolve those issues quickly.  You can chuckle all you want, but it doesn't change the story that EA needs to release games in development way before they would like to stop the cash hemmorage that is occurring right now.  That inevitable future is much closer than you think

 

LOL .. TOR is NOT the only game EA can push out to make some cash. Corporate america does not run on one paragraph reasoning like yours. They have teams analyzing everything. 

They would be much better off releasing other more ready games early than TOR. Plus, they can always borrow money. Treasury depts in corporations look at ALL alternatives and releasing this single game early is NOT the only alternative that they have.

Teams don't mean jack when your burn rate means you run out of cash in 5 and half quarters.  As someone who has done cash crisis work for a living, teams of analysts are meaningless.  The Company right now is trying to think of every possible means by which they can either (a) reduce cash outflow rates and (b) increase cash generating activities.  Given lead times with game titles (of the mmo type) the only way to do either is to put titles in development into limbo to conserve resources or kick those that they can out the door even if they aren't done yet.

EA will be fine, BioWare will be fine, your credibility went out the window when you said the game will release this year.

You'll be lucky if it's released in 2010. I'm thinking more like spring of 2011, with closed beta starting in fall of 2010.

Im going with a late fall release in 2010.  On the fact Mythic devs will be helping Bioware in testing as both companies are under one roof (EA).