Two interesting pieces of news have come across our desk with regard to EA and to Star Wars: The Old Republic. The first is a report from the LA Times that the total development cost for SWTOR was $200 million according to information the paper has pieced together. This is a new cost estimate, a 'best guess' by the LA Times, as EA and Bioware have been cagey about the exact cost to make SWTOR.

The second piece of news comes after some sites reporting a Wall Street analyst's downgrading of EA's stock in his latest investor's report. Brean Murray Carret & Co. lowered the "price target" on the stock from $28/share to $22/share.

However, and showing the market's volitility these days, EA's stock is up in today's trading. Part of the reason for regaining all but 1% of yesterday's loss is largely thanks to three other investment brokers reporting the antithesis of Brean Murray Carret from yesterday.

Evan Wilson of Pacific Crest wrote Friday that he has raised his sales estimate for “Star Wars” to 2.2 million units from 1.5 million units for the quarter, and said he remains “comfortable” with his 800,000 subscriber target when the company’s fiscal year ends in late March.

Read all of the stories at the links above.