Subscription numbers soon with Asia Pacific

Bioware announced yesterday the coming release of SWTOR in Asia Pacific. You can read their new release here: The Old Republic Asia Pacific Launch. What people don't mention often when discussing the subscription numbers is that so far there are servers only in the US and Europe. There are people from outside of the current server regions who already play the game, but obviously the majority of potential subscribers in different regions will join when they have regional servers to play on.

Now, how much of the total subscription number actually come from different regions? according to Wikipedia  "As of January 22, 2008, World of Warcraft has more than 10 million subscribers worldwide, with more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America, and about 5.5 million in Asia."  However this is far from being the full picture and there is no way to really compare SWTOR and WOW numbers and assume it'll be similar in any way. Wow has a different subscription plan for Asia, also the exact region and locations of the servers are different.

So what can we say about the potential subscription numbers of SWTOR?

The exact number is obviously not available yet, the Asia Pacific launch didn't even happen yet and there's a difference between people who buy the game and play during it's 30 days initial time and active paying subscribers. This launch is planned for March 1st, so we'll only know for sure once Bioware release the numbers post April 1st.

It's safe to assume, that there will be an active player community outside of Europe and the US, so there will definitely be an increase of the numbers. It also means that the last number Bioware released, 1.7 active subscribers, is not comparable to WOW because it doesn't include a big part of the world which will soon have the game available locally.

Will the number at April going to be 2 Million? 3? 4? Nobody knows at this point. What can already be said without a doubt, is that SWTOR is holding a very big chunk of the MMO market and isn't just another minor meaningless passing attempt to create a big successful MMO.

My personal opinion is that SWTOR will become the most successful MMO with the highest subscription numbers, it might take 6 months, a year, maybe even longer, but it will happen. It still needs more features and still have a long way to go to catch up with WOW pure MMORPG aspect, after so many years of perfecting the formula and adding features and content. However Bioware are obviously working on adding more features, content, fixing issues, improving the game, there is simply no way a 7 years old game can stay competitive in the long run.

Don't get me wrong, I love WOW, I was completely addicted to it for a very long time. I think Blizzard is one of the best gaming companies out there and I can't wait to see what other games they'll have for us in the future. However, I think that WOW, as incredible as it is, is slowly heading to the inevitable end of it's position as the king of MMO. There is only so long you can have that title before a younger, quicker, stronger competitor comes along and deliver the inevitable knockout.