BioWare’s new MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic is a big game.The L.A. Times states that “the story runs1,600 hours, with hundreds of additional hours still being written. Nearly1,000 actors have recorded dialogue for 4,000 characters in three languages.”Maybe that’s why it cost the company $ 200 million to make.
Now, that’s an insane amount of money. But here’s the kicker; SWTORis an MMO. That means to keep people playing, there needs to be more contentreleased throughout the year. That equals millions more a year in maintaining astrong customer base. And that is something BioWare has to do, becauseaccording to the L.A. Times, the game will need, “More than a 1 millioncustomers willing to spend $ 60 to buy the game and an additional $ 15 a monthto play for years on end,” in order to turn a profit.
BioWare has already succeeded in the first task, to the tune of 1.7 million copies sold; nowthey just have to keep people coming back to the various worlds that it tooksix years and “more than 800 people on four continents” to create.