Old Republic has ‘up to 1.5m’ players

It’s been live less than a week but Star Wars: The Old Republic could have as many as 1.5m users signed up already.

EA’s subscription-based PC MMO went on sale in UK retailers today, although customers who pre-ordered it early have been able to log in and play it since December 13th.

The average player density in The Old Republic is also higher than rival World of Warcraft’s, says Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz.

Based on the number of servers now in operation, and their relatively high densities, we feel fairly comfortable estimating that the game already has in excess of 1m players, and potentially could have as many as 1.5m,” he said.

"Our very rough estimate is based on how Star Wars now has 29 per cent as many servers in operation as World of Warcraft in North America and Europe, and Star Wars’ average player density – relative to server capacity – appears higher than it is on World of Warcraft. We estimate World of Warcraft has around four to 4.5m subs in North America and Europe.”

Creutz goes on to say that as EA allows users to access The Old Republic free for the first month, its estimates only account for players, not paying subscribers.

The Old Republic had 140 servers up and running this weekend in the US and Europe, while World of Warcraft currently has 491 live.

Thanks, CVG