Star Wars: The Old Republic Has 1.7 Million Subscribers

Today BioWare proclaimed Star Wars: The Old Republic to be the fastest growing subscription MMO ever. The game has sold over 2 million copies since its launch in late December and currently has 1.7 million active subscribers.

“We’re truly honored and humbled by the incredibly strong support from our players who are enjoying Star Wars: The Old Republic,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Co-Founder of BioWare and General Manager of EA’s BioWare Label. “Our entire team worked very hard over the holidays to deliver a smooth experience at launch, and the resulting response to the game from our fans and critics has been exceptionally gratifying.”

The discrepancy between sales and subscribers doesn't mean that 300,000 players have left the game. Quitters are certainly part of that total but don't account for all of it. A new copy of SW:TOR comes with 30 days of free game time so people who have played the game less than a month wouldn't show up in the subscription total.

BioWare also provided some flashy gameplay statistics, so as to prove how active their playerbase is:

• Over 239 million in-game hours, or over 332,000 months and over 27,000 years of in-game time
• Over 20 billion NPCs killed
• Over 148 billion credits spent

Since launch, BioWare has released patches on a weekly basis to stamp out bugs and optimize the experience. The trend will continue next week with Patch 1.1.2. The patch will address ability delay, balance issues and other problems. The full change notes are here.

The development team is also working to introduce new content to the game. Patch 1.1, "Rise of the Rakghouls," added a new Flashpoint and expanded the Karagga's Palace Operation. The next content update is scheduled for March and will implement a Legacy system.

If you're still not sure whether to take the plunge or not, read our Old Republic review.