Star Wars: The Old Republic Jumps to Light Speed With Over 1.7 Millions Active Subscribers

Star Wars: The Old Republic Jumps to Light Speed With Over 1.7 Millions Active Subscribers

Giuseppe Nelva February 1, 2012 5:15 PM EST

There have been a lot of rumors floating around on how many gamers decided to subscribe to Star Wars: The Old Republic (that I reviewed not long ago) after the end of the first month provided with the initial purchase of the game.

Some were absolutely convinced that the userbase was rapidly sinking, others (Like Michael Pachter) countered saying that it was growing, but no one really knew for sure. Today it turned out that all the doom and gloom on the official forums and on parts of the media was unjustified and the second group was right.

Electronic Arts had it’s Q3 2012 Fiscal Earnings Conference Call and CEO John Riccitello fired the Death Star’s Superlaser on the naysayers:

Star Wars: The Old Republic is developing a committed community of players with more than 1.7 million active subscribers and growing.

We also learn that the game sold through (meaning sold to customers, not just shipped) more than 2 million copies.

Those are most definitely flattering numbers for a new MMORPG, and doubtlessly mark the most successful passage between the first “free” month and the monthly billing period after World of Warcraft, following the biggest launch of the history of the genre.