This week found BioWare and EA reporting on continued growth for Star Wars: The Old Republic with now over 1.7 million active subscribers and over 2 million units sold. Other reported statistics include:
- Over 239 million in-game hours, or over 332,000 months and over 27,000 years of in-game time - Over 20 billion NPCs killed - Over 148 billion credits spent
Beyond the subscription numbers, EA shares rose in the third quarter thanks to The Old Republic, but many analysts are urging caution in TOR optimism, noting that the game will be measured by long-term success. Various media outlets have been reporting on EA's numbers this week...
- CBSNews.com - 'Star Wars' uses force on EA shares
- DigitalTrends.com - Star Wars: The Old Republic nears two million subscribers
- AllThingsD.com - EA???s Star Wars Game Scores 1.7 Million Subscribers in First Month
- SiliconAngel.com - EA???s Star Wars: The Old Republic Stats Made Public: 239 Million In-Game Hours Played
- CNBC.com - 'Star Wars' Keeps Electronic Arts in the Game: Analyst
- EuroGamer.net notes that Origin is playing a big part in The Old Republic's sort-term success with over 40% of TOR sales coming from EA's online marketplace.
Jumping back over to the official Star Wars: The Old Republic site, we have news of the first TOR Guild Summit which will be held in Austin, TX between March 4 - 6, 2012. The purpose of the summit is to create an open dialogue of feedback between guild leaders and the TOR design team. Click here for the full details.
In addition, SWTOR.com has started to roll out a series of tutorial videos. Here's a breakdown of what you can expect from the new Quick Start Guide series, along with links to the first video.
"We are excited to announce that we have just published the first of what will be a series of tutorial videos designed to help new players learn the basics of Star Wars???: The Old Republic???. With each Quick Start Guide, new players will be guided through different aspects of the game.
The first video in this series, titled ???Begin Your Journey,??? takes you through the process of jumping into the game for the first time. In this video, Social Media Coordinator Eric Musco helps new players through the process of picking a server type, creating their first character and guiding players through their character class???s opening conversation.
You can watch this video right now by visiting the Quick Start Videos section of the New Player Guide. Over the next several weeks we???ll be releasing additional guides which will include topics such as navigation, user interface, and grouping with other players. We hope these videos will ease new players into the game while teaching more experienced players a thing or two that they might not have known."
In our last of this week's SWTOR.com updates, we have a new developer blog from Executive Producer Rich Vogel that examines bug fixing.
Moving into our random link section of this TOR catch-up post, GameRant.com examines Patch 1.1.1 details while GameSpy.com looks a little further down the road.
PCGamer.com searches for the fabled white lightsaber crystal.
And make sure you're stopping by DarthHater.com from time to time. Their TOR updates come fast and furious and their doing a great job of keeping folks up to date on a daily basis.