EA: Star Wars "Has Got a Lot of People Anxious"
As Old Republic loses subscribers...
Although EA has pointed out that, "Star Wars The Old Republic active subscribers are 1.3 million (with two new content packs – Legacy and Allies, available in Q1 (2012/2013)" it failed to indicate that the online game had previously had 1.7m subscribers. This, according John S. Riccitiello, has got some people anxious.
The CEO of EA was forced into detail at the investor and analysts' conference held after the financials were announced. He explained to the crowd - which included Michael Pachter, the notorious Analyst at Wedbush Securities:
"Star Wars, this is an area that I think has got a lot of people anxious. I've heard from investors today saying that we must have 800,000 subscribers. I heard 600,000 yesterday. So what I think a lot of people have misunderstood is we said we had 1.7 million subscribers on the last call, which was about a month ago. What that was about was the fact that only about – just about half that number had triggered through their 30-day point and become active subscribers, our definition of recurring subscribers.
"We had about half that total still in the 30-day trial period, but they're subscribers because that first month is including with a package good. What I said a month ago was, just over half. I can now confirm for you today that the vast majority of the 1.7 is now triggered through that point and they're recurring subscribers.
"What happens from here? So we didn't go backwards like a lot of folks thought we had. Michael pointed out that would have been mathematically impossible to me in a side-bar conversation. He was, in fact, right in his analysis, but it doesn't seem that most people had figured that out. Thank you, Michael, for the vote of confidence. "
Source: EA
The CEO of EA was forced into detail at the investor and analysts' conference held after the financials were announced. He explained to the crowd - which included Michael Pachter, the notorious Analyst at Wedbush Securities:
"Star Wars, this is an area that I think has got a lot of people anxious. I've heard from investors today saying that we must have 800,000 subscribers. I heard 600,000 yesterday. So what I think a lot of people have misunderstood is we said we had 1.7 million subscribers on the last call, which was about a month ago. What that was about was the fact that only about – just about half that number had triggered through their 30-day point and become active subscribers, our definition of recurring subscribers.
"We had about half that total still in the 30-day trial period, but they're subscribers because that first month is including with a package good. What I said a month ago was, just over half. I can now confirm for you today that the vast majority of the 1.7 is now triggered through that point and they're recurring subscribers.
"What happens from here? So we didn't go backwards like a lot of folks thought we had. Michael pointed out that would have been mathematically impossible to me in a side-bar conversation. He was, in fact, right in his analysis, but it doesn't seem that most people had figured that out. Thank you, Michael, for the vote of confidence. "
Source: EA
Read More Like This