EA: WAR is no rival to WOW

By Oli Welsh Published 18 June, 2008

But Riccitiello still thinks it'll pull in big profits.

Electronic Arts boss John Riccitiello has told investors that he doesn't expect Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, EA Mythic's fantasy MMO, to challenge World of Warcraft's dominance of the market. However, he remains positive about its chances of making a healthy profit.

Riccitiello told the William Blair & Company's investor meeting that WAR would be "a strong entry in the MMORPG space", adding, "No, I don't think it's going to rival WOW, but no one would ever predict that. But it is a strong game that will... Get our returns for us. We're proud of it."

Sounds about right. Warhammer Online is out this autumn, and likely to go head-to-head with WOW's second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. For more WAR, check out the extensive coverage on the gamepage - including our recent hands-on preview.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (25) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • anomagnus #1 4 years ago

    This is spot on, WoW is too big for any one game to hit it hard.

    I expect the double teaming of conan and war will hit WoW hard, and dent its air of invincibility. I then expect Blizz to announce world of star craft....

    Can't wait for WAR

  • lambtron #2 4 years ago

    "EA Mythic's fantasy MMO"

  • DFawkes #3 4 years ago

    At least he's honest, and most likely accurate. It'll still do alright for itself, plenty of Warhammer fans around, though I'm all about the 40k.

  • Moz #4 4 years ago

    I think it has potential to errode WOW over the next few years

  • Hamflank #5 4 years ago

    "I think it has potential to errode WOW over the next few years"

    Have you played the beta?

  • Gurgeh #6 4 years ago

    Rumour has WAR slipping again into next year (and fortuitously avoiding a simultaneous release with WoW expansion Wrath of the Lich King)

  • anomagnus #7 4 years ago

    @ Hamflank

    have you?

    More to the point, you're comparing a non finished beta with a mmorpg already on the market 3 years?

    eyebrows raised

    @ Gurgeh

    haven't heard that anywhere, where did you hear it?

  • Hamflank #8 4 years ago

    "@ Hamflank
    have you?"

    Yes.

    "More to the point, you're comparing a non finished beta with a mmorpg already on the market 3 years?"

    I have played WoW in beta and it was a better game in it's beta state than WAR is in it's current beta state, which is rather sad considering the amount of time the WAR team has had to play catch up and learn from WoW's / other MMORPG's mistakes.

  • Kropotkin #9 4 years ago

    I'm in the WAR closed beta but the NDA can only allow me to say that. I can say that this statement made by EA is a realistic one. You cannot take on WoW right now as you will fail. WoW is a freak of nature as its 10 million plus active subscription base will tell you. I don't know of any other Western MMO that has even a tiny fraction of that user base.

  • zsinj #10 4 years ago

    Apparently Conan was very much polished up between beta and release (I wasn't in Beta but release was very stable for an MMO), so you never know.

  • anomagnus #11 4 years ago

    @ hamflank

    then why are you talking about it. Haven't you signed an NDA?

  • zozart #12 4 years ago

    If they get all the things in they've promised, I'll certainly buy it on release day.

    Can't be any worse than the Age of Conan trainwreck.

  • Hamflank #13 4 years ago

    "then why are you talking about it. Haven't you signed an NDA?"

    Because a response to your silly comment was worth breaking the NDA!
    Edited by 1 at 18/06/08 @ 13:53

  • anomagnus #14 4 years ago

    @hamflank

    well you're going to jail now buddy!

    on a more serious note, whats silly about saying its unfair to compare an unfinished product with WoW, which had 5 years development and has been 4 years on the market.

    You retorted with the beta comment, which is fine, i suppose, though again i have reservations about making final comments on mmorpgs betas

    when you go to jail, i can send you soap and rope, and if anyone asks you to pick up their fork, DON'T its a trick!

  • Gurgeh #15 4 years ago

    @anomagnus
    Related to work Mythic are doing on DAoC which, coincidentally, is due for release around the same time as WAR. It seems unlikely that the same company will release updates to one MMO and launch another in the same genre at the same time.

  • anomagnus #16 4 years ago

    hmmm, ok, well, i'de be surprised if they had so many people on an expansion/patch that they were taking assets away from a high profile launch of a game in beta. The longer the game is in beta, the more money its losing.

    anyway, i've crossed over into rabid fanboy land.

    so far, my only problem with mythic is that they announced WAR far too early. WoW had 5 years development, and theres nothing wrong with taking your time, as long as you never stake yourself down to a hard ETA.

  • Hamflank #17 4 years ago

    @anomagnus

    Consumers are not here to give game companies fair chances, they want the most fun they can get out of an MMORPG, because it costs them 180 euro a year.

    If you want to do well on the MMORPG market you either have to be the best in class or differentiate. WAR does neither at the moment and I don't see them doing it before release.
    Edited by 1 at 18/06/08 @ 15:20

  • anomagnus #18 4 years ago

    @hamflank

    well, you're int he beta, so what i say, i base it purely on my experience with wow and from my reading of the previews of war, but it does seem to differentiate in the one key area of interest to me. PVP.

    WoW doesn't do PVP. Arena's bore me, and theres only so many times you can run AV.

    I think war will erode WoW, i've read too many good previews not to have faith in it. Combined with Conan, WoW will no longer be king of the hill.

  • Crovax20 #19 4 years ago

    WAR is in development for like 3 years? How long has WoW been in development before they opened up beta? Around 5 or 6.

  • George-Roper #20 4 years ago

    'Combined with Conan, WoW will no longer be king of the hill'

    LOL! Although the suggestion that WAR+Conan could top 10 mill subs, the fact theres a content heavy WoW expansion due, renders your comment laughable.

    You act like WoW is stagnant when it clearly isn't.

    No other MMOG offers the amount of variety that WoW does so well, in every aspect and is constantly improving on, patch by patch and expansion by expansion.

  • Oli Verified Reviews Editor, Eurogamer.net #21 4 years ago

    To be honest, if I had to pick I'd say Lich King is the more likely to slip into next year than WAR. That's based on nothing much more than a hunch, though, and the fact that Mythic will be under a certain amount of pressure, while Blizzard can comfortably do whatever the hell it likes.

    The Conan launch has been illuminating, too: Funcom had a game that was technically in good enough shape but missing huge chunks of its content, pushed it out the door anyway, and so far, they've been reaping huge rewards from an early release while WOW is relatively quiet.

  • Gaol #22 4 years ago

    'Combined with Conan, WoW will no longer be king of the hill'

    Expect both Conan and WAR to have less than 200k subs after 3 months.

    And I'm being conservative.

  • Vordred #23 4 years ago

    im in the beta myself. which of course mean i cant talk about anything that hasn't all ready been released to the public.

    but i think this comment is kinda of right, but i do think WAR will take a big chunk of WoWs players, basicly the people that like PvP will go to WAR, the PvE only players will probably just stay on WoW.

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #24 4 years ago

    beats wow... doesn't beat wow... 100 trillion subs... 500k subs...

    WHO THE FRACK CARES!!!???

    Dispite back in the days of old 500K in users = 'wow type success', plus the fact WoW is a single player title wrapped up with MMO trimmings for the mass market ultimatly.. Even if WAR pulls in enougth to cover the bills in the first few months Mythic AND EA will deem it a success, WAR isn't ment to be a quick cash cow in inject billions in one year, it's about exposure for EA imo hence why they've dumpped so much into Mythic and quite happy to leave them to heir own stuff.

    As long as it's an enjoyable game and EA are happy with it, it's win/win for all

  • ukcodemonkey #25 3 years ago

    If WAR is as good to play as WOW and has a cheaper subscription, I'd swap. From what I'm reading though it'll be ~£10pm so dearer than WOW :-(