EA: Star Wars: The Old Republic “going right at” World of Warcraft

At the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, Electronic Arts' CEO John Riccitiello made no bones about the lofty goal he's set for his company's upcoming Star Wars MMO, The Old Republic.

"We're going right at it. We want share, we want leadership position here," said Riccitiello, as reported by Gamasutra. "I'm not expecting to sort of knock them over, but... we're gonna get a big chunk of [their market]. In a way, [World of Warcraft] is a silent movie and ours is the first talkie. By and large, theirs is not a voiced MMO. Ours is a fully voiced MMO in multiple languages."

Such bold and overt intentions have not served Electronic Arts well in the recent past. The publisher also set its sights on dethroning the Call of Duty series from its number-one-FPS spot and fell well short; Medal of Honor sold over 5 million copies, while Call of Duty: Black Ops (released a month later) sold in excess of 18 million.

The MMO space is even more notorious for the monopoly held by World of Warcraft, with competing MMOs failing to make a dent in its 12-million-odd subscribers, which accounts for roughly 62% of the MMO market.