With the mass exodus of World of Warcraft throughout 2011, it has been a worrisome lead up to the release of the new Star Wars MMO: are people getting tired of the genre? In addition, Activision Blizzard president Bobby Kotick stated earlier in November that EA won't get much benefit from Star Wars: The Old Republic due to LucasArts' licensing agreement.
Despite all of that, however, some analysts completely disagree; they believe that EA's new MMO will actually be hugely profitable.
Wedbush's Michael Pachter spoke with Eurogamer stating that he expects EA to pay out 35 percent of Star Wars: The Old Republic earnings to LucasArts, after they have recouped their own costs.
"My best guess is that they will attract 1.5 million subscribers paying around $15 a month, so they should generate around $270 million in revenue," Pachter said. "If LucasArts gets 35 percent and if EA incurs around 35 percent operating expense, they make 30 percent, or around $80 million per year, in profit. That's not bad."
Electronic Entertainment Design and Research's Jesse Divnich also believe EA has a very profitable game, expecting it to reach 3 million subscribers by June, 2012.
"It's a give and take scenario, but given EA's historical ability to negotiate favorable license terms, I don't believe Lucas's share is a detriment to the game's profitability," he continued. "Taking into account multiple years in service and expansion packs, $500 million in total revenue is not a far stretch. If an MMO can't be profitable at $500m in revenue, then we are all doomed."
Star Wars: The Old Republic is set to launch on the PC December 20th.
[via GameSpot]