Star Wars: The Old Republic is an MMO based on a popular franchise and is being developed by a high-profile studio (BioWare). As such, EA's expectations are quite high.

EA told Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia (via IndustryGamers) that 2 million subscribers is a possibility. In order for the game to break even, they'll need over 1 million subscribers. It may sound small next to World of Warcraft's 11 million but still, that's big by any other measure.

Given the fact that this is Star Wars, one of the biggest entertainment brands around, selling a couple million copies probably won't be hard. The test is in retaining those subscribers in the long run. In its first couple months, EA's Warhammer Online had around 750,000 subscribers but the population has steadily dwindled ever since.

Come to think of it, EA still hasn't announced the revenue model for the game. Evidence suggests that it will have microtransactions but it's not clear if that's a supplement or a replacement for a premium subscription.