I especially like this part of the article, the update:
«In a conference call this afternoon, EA said the decrease was indeed due to "casual and trial players" cycling out of the game.»
Ok, so they called 400,000 people individually and asked them if they quit the game because they were casual and cycling out of the game due to their expiring trial, or because their post-subscription first month access period was done? How do they know that? I mean, on paper, if you check their accounts you know if they were playing for 7 days for free (by invitation), or if they used their 30 days period after subscription. That's the obvious part, but what does THAT say about the player's actual intention(s) (such as coming back maybe?) and feelings about the game?
What I mean is how do EA know - past the observation of individual accounts - if the player him/herself simply didn't quit because the game was boring, instead of "oh, yeah I quit because my 30 days access to the game is gone, I'd still play the game because I love it, but alas it's not F2P yet so I quit, but don't get me wrong, the game isn't bad!". So EA assumes that because you leave and don't stay playing, you're automatically casual? EA labels their consumers like that? They don't even know if the player who just left isn't actually "hardcore" in other games, but simply thought that Old Republic sucked balls. Now of course that didn't crossed EA's thoughts. So the game is either good and you stay, or you're a casual player and because of that, you leave. Nice.
Them defensive PR stunts make me laugh. As soon as you have news like this, EA jumps in and claims "NO no! Wait guys! Hahaha... ok, seriously that was a good one, you guys over there writing articles like that. Look, The Old Republic is the best thing since sliced bread, ok? Those 400,000 players didn't quit, they loved the game, they just cycled it out! They play 'x' games, they try them, then they leave, it's their "cycle". See? They were ALL casual players, each 400 thousands of them, we know that. They loved the game, but they left because they were casual and cycled the game out, out of a bunch of others. Very simple, now move on, nothing to see here."
I'll just say this... speaking for myself since of course those 400,000 players who quit the game were just casual players but they happened to love the game so I must be in a minority in EA's mind. I tried Old Republic for 7 days thanks to a trial invite. It was one of the most boring, generic and bland gaming experience I've had in years. I wouldn't imagine trying to endure the game for longer. I stopped playing on the 5th or 6th day of my trial period and uninstalled it. If there's 1.3 million players left whom happen to actually enjoy the game and aren't playing because they feel obliged to play since they payed to play it, then good. Having 1.3 million players still playing your game is better than seeing 400K leaving, right? Right?
Surely, when you have 25% of your players base leaving the game, they weren't consumers, they were "just" casual players, not important those peeps are they? Naaah, not important. It's totally not a sign that the game sucks. Nope. They still have 1.3 million players on it after all, and not a single one of them play it because they feel obliged to, due to the financial link to their monthly subscription fee.