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Star Wars: The Old Republic will soon become the latest in a long line of online games attempting to tackle the behemoth that is World of Warcraft, but Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick doesn't seem too worried. In fact, he believes that The Old Republic may not even be profitable for EA.
During the recent Reuters Media Summit, Kotick reportedly questioned whether or not the much-hyped Star Wars MMO would be able to steal subscribers from WoW. He also explained that due to the licensing fees for the Star Wars name, which is owned by LucasArts, he's unclear how profitable the game will be.
"Lucas is going to be the principal beneficiary of the success of Star Wars," Kotick explained at the event. "We've been in business with Lucas for a long time and the economics will always accrue to the benefit of Lucas, so I don't really understand how the economics work for Electronic Arts. If you look at the history of the people investing in an MMO and achieving success, it's a small number."
Earlier this year, EA CEO John Riccitiello revealed in an earnings call that the game would be "substantially profitable" with just 500,000 subscribers. By comparison, WoW currently has more than 10 million subscribers.
EA has reportedly spent upwards of $100 million on the development of The Old Republic. The game was originally announced in 2008 and is set to launch on December 20.
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