2 million volunteer for The Old Republic beta

By Fred Dutton Published 5 December, 2011

725,000 played it last weekend.

The recent beta test for EA's forthcoming Star Wars MMO The Old Republic attracted two million volunteers, the publisher has announced.

CFO Eric Brown announced the figure at the annual Global Media and Communications Conference in New York earlier today, adding that 725,000 unique users logged on to the game over the Thanksgiving weekend, with each one logging an average of 12 hours each over a three day period.

Brown claimed that at the beta's peak there was "just over a quarter of a million" users playing at the same time.

Earlier this year, EA CEO John Riccitiello claimed that the game, which launches on 20th December, only needs 500,000 paying subscribers to turn a profit.

Eurogamer plays the Star Wars Old Republic beta. And then talks about it.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (36) Latest comment 6 months ago

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  • CaptainTrips #1 6 months ago

    So which is it, 72,000 or 725,000?

  • dirtysteve #2 6 months ago

    I played it, enjoyed it, and pre-ordered.
    I imagine the beta made a lot of people's minds up, one way or the other.
    For me, it had the KoToR feel I was looking for.

  • johnson81 #3 6 months ago

    "Earlier this year, EA CEO John Riccitiello claimed that the game, which launches on 20th December, only needs 500,000 paying subscribers to turn a profit."

    500,000 subscribers for what? For a day, a month, a year?

  • Genyus #4 6 months ago

    @dirtysteve Same here, after playing it I decided to give this a try.

  • Markitron #5 6 months ago

    Very polished for a month before launch. Def getting it

  • Stuz359 #6 6 months ago

    Actually looking forward to this, but I still find the prices of an MMO galling. I mean, pick one or the other, a retail price or a subscription, not both.

  • Stratix #7 6 months ago

    And actually, it was damn good.

  • dylman #8 6 months ago

    Enjoyed the beta weekends, count me in.

  • fatbob1080 #9 6 months ago

    I played it. I thought it was boring and shit. I will stick to DCUO and wait for STO to become F2P
    Edited by fatbob1080 at 05/12/11 @ 23:58

  • dudefella #10 6 months ago

    @fatbob1080 So you thought SWTOR was boring but you enjoy DCUO? Enjoy living in Bizarro world!

    I had mostly dismissed this game but tried the beta on a lark. Ended up leveling 2 characters to 12-13 and pre-ordering the game. Best MMO in years, from my limited experience so far. This and Rift will probably be the last MMO's to use a subscription model succesfully (ie not go F2P within a year)

  • dirtysteve #11 6 months ago

    Im surprised at the storied I played Sith Inquisitor/Smuggler.
    It really feels that they're in the same universe, but in totally different existences.
    As it should be. I hope all the story missions are like that, it's rare I'd be bothered to level more than one or two chars, but the story might (just might), make me want to replay.

  • jammydodger123 #12 6 months ago

    thought it was utter sh*t tbh

  • Sutorcen #13 6 months ago

    Once you play SWToR you can not go back to other MMOs so easily. Not gameplay wise, but story telling wise. It's like having one KOTOR game for each class with the added bonus of an MMO. Amazing feat. The game may lack the professionalism of other games in terms of design and game mechanics, but it more than makes up for it in other areas. Full voice acting is the best thing to ever happen to the MMO genre and I hope more follow suit.

    Oh and companions rock, spaceships are cool and so are the space missions.

    Best part, you don't have to be a Jedi ot Sith to enjoy the game, the other classes are all equally fun to play.

    See you all online and...

    May the force be with you.
    Edited by Sutorcen at 06/12/11 @ 07:36

  • Inmediasress #14 6 months ago

    @Sutorcen
    You sound like some marketing bloke.

  • Sharzam #15 6 months ago

    Doesnt seam like much of a stress test. Surely they would want millions on at the same time to really stress it.

    Personally i tried it and came away positive. Wont buy at launch but will pick up at some point now i imagine.

  • tangoownage #16 6 months ago

    The beta was great. I was so torn, do I play more because it's ace or hold fire to keep it fresh for launch.

    Roll on launch as I'm having cravings

  • Labatyd #17 6 months ago

    I almost cancelled my pre-order thanks to the starter areas, but once I got out into the main game it became much more engrossing. My only remaining request is that they make the run buff available earlier in the game, but quite looking forward to release now.

  • jetsetdemo #18 6 months ago

    Played for the last 2 weekends, a nice surprise to be invited back but no need as pre ordered. So much better then expected!

  • lennon #19 6 months ago

    Am tempted by it. Enjoyed the beta as much as my cronky old laptop would let me.

    /to upgrade or not to upgrade that is the question.

  • mastablasta #20 6 months ago

    It won't keep those numbers after the first 'free' month is up. The game is very average and looks like it was made a few years ago.

  • Toaster05 #21 6 months ago

    @mastablasta So are we to assume you actually played or are you just chiming in the with the same tired 'F2P' argument?

    Oh and technically all games were 'made a few years ago' it's called development.
    Edited by Toaster05 at 06/12/11 @ 09:04

  • repeater #22 6 months ago

    @mastablasta: I can see how one could fairly criticize the gameplay for being derivative, but what's really the relevance of moaning about the graphics? "Age of Conan" looked great - so? Do you think this is a main selling point for an MMO?

  • Ceatlan #23 6 months ago

    I must admit I played the beta and was really, really dissappointed. I've never really liked MMO's, I've played quite a few, some for quite a while, but the actual games bore me to death. I was hoping that Bioware would live up to their promise of this being a game that people could also see as a genuine part 3, 4 and 5 of KOTOR. However even though the story elements are much better than any other MMO I've played, and could potentially count as being follow ups to the KOTOR, and it is genuinely hugely impressive that they have created so much story content, for so many different classes, the actual gameplay and atmosphere themselves were nothing like playing a proper single player Star Wars RPG. The gameplay is pure WOW style MMO, and how can you have any atmosphere when the graphics don't really evoke any classic star wars feel, and the first area you walk into that's supposed to be a combat zone has hundreds of other people randomly running, jumping and shooting all over the place doing exactly the same as you, people chatting in the middle of a fire fight, and even worse other people standing on plynths dancing, whilst a war is raging ??? Add to that the incessant chat thats going on and all semblance of atmosphere dissappears as soon as you walk into an area where other people are playing. I guess the fact is that you cannot create that well orchestrated atmosphere that you get in great single player RPGs, in an MMO where most of the time you are surrounded by too many other players doing there own thing.

    Technically I think it was very well polished and well run. The story elements, character voicing and cut scenes were well done, and the graphics were not bad (I just didn't think the art work evoked Star Wars for me). However for anyone hoping that Bioware would produce something approaching a place for fans of single player RPGS and MMO's to play at the say time, I think they will be bitterly dissappointed.
    Edited by Ceatlan at 06/12/11 @ 09:36

  • repeater #24 6 months ago

    @Ceatlan: Very fair criticism, and I agree to a large extent, but then I never expected them to be able to pull off a genuine "KOTOR 3 in MMO format" (if indeed they ever seriously believed themselves that it could be done, which I am a bit doubtful about). But it sounds like you might enjoy yourself more on a RP server?

  • anomagnus #25 6 months ago

    @Ceatlan

    I guess the one thing i would say is, if you didn't enjoy MMO's, SWTOR was never going to be the game that would reverse that.

    A lot of your criticisms are things you'll see in every MMO.

  • Crea #26 6 months ago

    Given the huge pre-order numbers and the strength of the beta, I see this doing really rather well now. Looks like EA get their money back after all.

    I think most reasonable people's comments are on the ball, here. It's not quite as engaging as a single player KOTOR game, but it's made a bloody good effort if you're able to suspend your disbelief a bit. There's enough single player goodness here to keep me happy for a good while, plus you get the added bonus of MMO bits like Hutball, flashpoints, operations and warzones, ongoing content and indirect interaction with other players via auction houses and the like. It's quite a compelling package.

    I'm also hopeful that over time they continue to let solo players access as much of the additional group content as possible, through the use of AI companions. Much as I like playing with other people, sometimes it's just not convenient (and other times it's not actually much fun).

  • UKVampire_2010 #27 6 months ago

    Loved the beta definitely a launch title for me :) already pre-ordered

  • Quixz #28 6 months ago

    Enjoyed it but will have to convince my friends pick it up.

  • Ceatlan #29 6 months ago

    @repeater and @anomagnus. I know, and I wasn't 'really' expecting SWTOR to be anything other than what it is, but I couldn't help a small part of me from wanting to believe that when Bioware said 'they weren't making KOTOR 3, because SWTOR is KOTOR 3, 4, 5 and 6', they were really going to do it. Its why I got a beta key and tried it, just to see if my feint hopes of it being the first MMO that also captured the essence of a single player RPG.

  • technotica #30 6 months ago

    SWTOR is a good game but not what the hype made it out to be. Its not revolutionary or very unuusal.

  • varkdm #31 6 months ago

    @Ceatlan Maybe get it a couple of months after launch. The areas you level through wont be full to bursting with people then.

  • Radish #32 6 months ago

    Ceatlan: "TOR really disappointed me because it turns out it's an MMO!".

    No, really? :o

  • berelain #33 6 months ago

    I feel like I played a different game to everyone else. I'm a long-time player of MMOs, so the derivative mechanics were nothing to be surprised by, but the whole game felt so bland and uninteresting to me. The story was relatively well implemented, but Guild Wars had cutscenes with your own characters years ago, and I felt no connection to my TOR characters whatsoever - my Jedi was hopelessly naff, and even my attmept to create a fiesty smuggler ended up with her being a bit of an ass thanks to clumsy dialogue choices where the short version you get to select on-screen did not always equate to what the character ended up saying; same old Mass Effect problem.

    I've always had issues with the art style, but that's a very subjective thing, so if people like the slightly cartoony look fair play to them, but in a scene where games are pushing at the boundaries of the MMO - Rift's highly dynamic content and invasions and Guild Wars 2's complete overhaul of the way questing works for two examples - TOR felt like a bit of a relic. I'd been deliberately keeping away from news of the game so I could approach it with an open mind, because I desperately *want* a new MMO to play. But TOR will certainly not be it.

    Back to LOTRO, then, as the story-based MMO for me. A shame, because I like parts of what BioWare has done with TOR... it just hasn't, for me, done enough, at least from what I saw during the beta weekend.

  • VroxTorqueo #34 6 months ago

    Just as an aside, people who didn't think the graphics were up to spec should know that the beta engine you were playing did not have hi-res textures or anti-aliasing enabled.

    Personally I found the focus on storytelling refreshing in an MMO and have pre-ordered.

    Its certainly not breaking any new ground in terms of combat mechanics but, like RIFT did it has taken the best parts of preceding MMO's and encapsulated them into a polished product.

    I predict it will do very well in the marketplace.

  • Ceatlan #35 6 months ago

    @Radish : Oh really clever ! I think I explained pretty well why I was dissappointed. I wasn't dissappointed because it was an MMO, that is what I was expecting. I was dissappointed because since the very first announcement of this game Bioware were touting it as a new Star Wars MMO AND KOTOR 3,4,5 and 6 for all the fans of KOTOR 1 and 2. I wasn't expecting that to be true, as I didn't really believe that Bioware would be able to pull it off, but I am dissappointed that they haven't.

    I don't think I'll be the only fan who feels that way, so I don't think there is anything wrong with voicing that opinion.

  • maktah #36 6 months ago

    Played it for an hour or two. Got bored with the endless barrage of cinematics, boring quests and rubbish character creator. Only human races?! Where are the rodians, wookiees, mon calamari or ithorians?

    Technically it was very polished. No lag or crashes. It was just the most boring MMO experience I've ever had. Also, not a single second did I feel star wars-y. It was just a generic sci-fi mmo with some famous terms thrown in.

    But I guess it will appeal to those MMO players who don't want anything different. Have fun killing 10 rats and watching talking heads in an infinite loop, and paying for the privilege.