A couple other thoughts on fiscal '11 that I think might be helpful. We are very cognizant of a need to drive growth margins and operating margins, and some of our distribution businesses have provided us luxury profitability that we like. So for now at least we are planning our distribution businesses to be sharply down in fiscal '11.
On the digital side, while we've got a great number of initiatives, one key driver will be the launch of our major MMO. As it stands today, the game is making great progress towards a spring 2011 launch. But given the volatility of this particular sector, and the fact that we haven't yet provided a specific launch date, at least for now, we're excluding the revenue from our FY'11 plan for guidance.
With no other known "major MMO" in development, this can be interpreted to mean that they are working towards a Spring 2011 launch date for Star Wars: The Old Republic. However, a fiscal conference call is an unlikely venue for an announcement of this gravity, and this comment is bracketed by talk of fiscal year 2011, which is predominately calendar 2010.
We contacted LucasArts and BioWare for an official comment, and we will keep you updated with any developments.
Update (Jan 12 - 11:09 AM EST): Sean posted an update just minutes ago regarding the news -
While we have not announced a specific date, we can confirm that we are targeting a spring 2011 release for Star Wars: The Old Republic. We've got a lot of exciting updates and reveals planned throughout 2010, including the first-ever hands-on testing for the game. It's not too late to sign up to be a game tester, so go to www.swtor.com/tester and sign up today. We can't wait to share more about the game with you as we progress through the year, so make sure you stay tuned to the official website for details.
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Posted 1/14/2010 2:20:59 PMOr how about the Beta testing? We've been able to sign up for 3 months now, and we have over a year to go on release. Does that mean we may end up getting the Beta started this summer or fall and have a chance to spend a good 6 months of beta testing to ensure TOR is PERFECT when it comes out? I would love that, since too many MMOs these days use Beta more as a marketing phase than a testing phase, resulting in a bug-ridden launch. TOR could change that.
The possibilities amaze me.
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Posted 1/14/2010 5:43:34 PMAs for the beta testing, I think you are making the classic mistake ( and main reason Bioware calls the first phase Game Testing ). Closed Beta is pretty much always 6+ months, pure testing, and quite awhile before the games release. Most people just haven't really been around for games Closed Betas ( which I might point out are pretty rare/difficult to get into. So don't get your hopes up on that one. )
I would still expect the rough launch. I heard LoTRO had a really smooth launch ( and Aion doesn't really count since its launch was really in 2008 in korea. ), but other than that...they've all had their issues. People fail to realize just how truly large and complex MMOs are compared to other games.
The only part of beta that is used somewhat as a "marketing phase", is the Open Beta. During this time, they really are not after bugs, they are testing the limits of the server. They need lots and lots of people to log on, and nothing else. This is also helps to give them a better idea of how many people to expect on launch day.
Now, I do agree with the main point you were after: I think, and hope that they are planning to do a longer closed beta than normal. They have a lot more content to test, and only certain people will be able to test certain content. ( IE: If half the people kill the captain, only half of the people will get to test the "light side" portion of that quest. Effectively reducing their testing population before anything has even begun. Due to the complexity of the combined choices affecting later quests, they need both more people and more time to properly test this system. So, I'm still hoping for the testing to start soon, and for me to be in it:)
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Posted 1/14/2010 1:55:27 PM- View User Profile
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Posted 1/14/2010 3:03:54 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 1/13/2010 11:02:30 PM- View User Profile
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Posted 1/14/2010 3:13:22 PM- View User Profile
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Posted 1/13/2010 9:15:17 PMMy 'industry outsider' understanding of the 'target date' was that this was the absolute earliest the game could come out, as opposed to the latest. Because of this, I took it to mean we'd see the game in late 2011 - or even 2012 - because games are nearly always delayed - particularly MMOs. Naturally, that would be hard to swallow, and so I hope your definition is correct, and mine is wrong.
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Posted 1/13/2010 7:51:52 PMThere are so many things we still don't know about the game that can be released prior to launch: PVP, Raiding, Leveling, Itemization, Guilds, Transportation, Housing... the list goes on and on. Heck, we are still missing an astounding amount of information that we would expect to know before testing begins. We're confident there is enough news to go around.
Additionally, there is the speculation we've been producing from the holonet. It is our belief that there is way more information hidden in the marketing materials that have already been released, we just need to find it.
Things have been a little slow around here lately with the holidays and whatnot, but I would certainly keep darthhater.com in your browser in the coming months ;-)
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Posted 1/13/2010 5:32:37 PMIf anything, the future of Darth Hater will potentially be more active then we the past few months.
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Posted 1/13/2010 4:43:54 PMHowever, Sean did say that they will have alot of surprises for us, and as the year will go by, fans will get even more and more hyped untill the moment of truth :P.
I guess we should also be looking forward to the several events in which they will participate. The last periods before the release is ussually the best, promoting the game more and more.
Untill then i'm looking forward to ME2, DAO: Awakening and several others.
2010 should prove interesting :P
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Posted 1/13/2010 7:09:34 AMAnd this will likely be the case, already a lot of people are saying oh well at least come 2011 the game will be bug free, polished, have lots of content and include space. Yet there is nothing to say that any of these things will be true. And after waiting another year will expectations be too high for the game to achieve?
I also wonder why it took a catch in an FY report to bring to light the release date when there were rumours it would be tied into the novel launch, many sites said October. This suggests a willingness to mislead the community to keep them building hype. And MMO's often require a level of loyalty in both consumer and developer that this doesn't appear to potray. Similar to the NGE days of SWG's where the ToOW expansion promised things that would soon become decorations and release the expansion days before announcing the NGE. And we all know how that turned out.
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Posted 1/14/2010 3:15:25 PM- View User Profile
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Posted 1/12/2010 11:20:21 PM- View User Profile
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Posted 1/12/2010 10:55:11 PMSo fitting, for so many!
Wound in the Force::GoHann (lvl 35 Maurader)
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Posted 1/12/2010 8:46:56 PM