Bioware: Old Republic subscriptions ‘not falling’

Subscription numbers for Star Wars The Old Republic are not in decline, an executive at BioWare has claimed days after an analyst group suggested the opposite is true.

Daniel Erickson, a writer at the EA-owned studio, suggested that concurrent player activity during peak hours has declined – which, he believes, explains the noticeable ‘light’ server populations – but paid subscription numbers are not falling.

Last week, Cowen and Company analyst Doug Creutz claimed that Star Wars MMO subscription numbers “peaked” in February at about 1.7 million members. He projected that the number will fall to about 1.25 million subscribers by the end of the current financial year, March 2013.

Electronic Arts did not validate Cowen and Company’s data, which was estimated via readings of server statistics. The publisher remains cagey in revealing game popularity data, though it may disclose more information to its investors in an upcoming financial call.

The game is widely regarded as one of EA’s most expensive projects in its thirty-year history.

Erickson told PC Gamer that BioWare is doing “anything and everything” to keep concurrent users numbers up.

“Nothing is off the table when it comes to making sure our communities are strong and active on each server,” he said.