With many of the highly regarded MMOs looking to free-to-play models to increase profits (such as World of Warcraft and DC Universe Online) it comes as a surprise that EA and BioWare continue to tout a pay-to-play model. After raking the sales, the publisher-develooper tandem don’t seem that crazy after all.
It is an understatement to say that the holiday season has been kind to Star Wars: The Old Republic. With the spirit of runaway spending and cheerful giving swallowing the masses, EA perfectly honed in on SWTOR‘s release date. According to some information from BioWare, not only has SWTOR done well for itself, it’s looking to steal the MMO show heading into 2012. Instead of focusing on actual sales numbers here, the press release focuses on some interesting data factoring time spent with the title:
- Over 60 million in-game hours – roughly equivalent to watching all six Star Wars movies over 4 million times
- Over 850,000 Sith Warriors and over 810,000 Jedi Knights created
- Over 260 million quests completed
- Over 44 million PvP battles
- Over 9 million space combat missions completed
- Over 3 billion NPCs killed
Now for some these figures may not seem like much or make little sense, but the numbers definitely support the pay-to-play model for SWTOR. The three month program equates to $41.97 and the six month program $77.94.
SWTOR appears to be the vanguard for all MMOs going forward with its attention to detail, fully-voiced dialogue and flexibility with engaging other players online. Guess what? EA and BioWare have thrown a boatload of money into its development and advertisement. It only seems fair that the minds behind-the-mayhem dictate how they will gross profits from the product.
With no signs of waning interest in the near future for SWTOR and players willing to produce the funds to traverse the Star Wars universe, the pay-to-play model seems to be paying off. What the future holds, should the dynamic duo make bank from the project, remains to be seen.