EA "probably" spent $0.5bn on Old Republic

We’ll never know exactly how much EA spent on bankrolling BioWare’s first MMO Star Wars: the Old Republic, but one analyst reckons the total figure could be close to half a billion dollars.

I think it’s safe to say that the total all-in investment in Star Wars is probably approaching half a billion dollars,” Cowen & Co analyst Doug Creutz told MarketWatch.

EA has minimised its risks as much as it can on this bet, but it’s still a risky bet. To the extent that any one game defines his tenure, it’s going to be how ‘Star Wars’ performs.”

EA stated just before Christmas that the game, launched only days earlier, had already attracted over 1m registered users, all of whom are subscribing to the game.