EA announces 1.7 million active daily Old Republic players, 9.3 million Origin users

If you’re the type of person who follows the stock market, you may have noticed yesterday that a few technology companies made out very well. EA happened to be one of them (Qualcomm happened to be another). As it turns out, the publisher has had good reason to be in such a good position lately. For one, they were able to announce the Star Wars: The Old Republic has sold more than two million copies, and EA claims that the game has 1.7 million active daily users. What is also interesting, is that 40% of those sales came through EA’s digital distribution store, Origin. No doubt those figures helped EA reach their second impressive number: there are 9.3 million Origin users.

Although it is still too early to make any claims about how successful The Old Republic will remain going into the future, for now the game seems to be running strong. Two million sales is no small number, and it easily makes The Old Republic one of the most successful MMO launches to date, and certainly for a subscription-based game. It will be interesting to see if the game weathers the virtual onslaught of several other major MMO titles are going to be released this year, and if the playerbase continues to grow – something that few MMOs manage after the initial launch period.

The 9.3 million Origin accounts is also fairly impressive, although it seems that 1 million of those are daily users. That total number is likely helped by the popular title Battlefield 3 required Origin on the PC. Still, that isn’t so different a situation as Valve’s launch of Steam with Half-Life 2 requiring it. These days, digital distribution is a readily accepted thing among PC gamers, to the point that many scoff at the idea of purchasing games in any other way. The very fact that 40% of all Star Wars: The Old Republic copies were sold through Origin is pretty telling.

9.3 million, while certainly an impressive number, is still pittance compared to the 40 million users that Steam boasts, but it is a good start. As EA continues to bring aboard more third party games onto the service, we may see their user base expand even more.

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