Gaming
'StarCraft II' to sell 4 million units?
Published Thursday, Jul 30 2009, 12:43 BST | By Mark Langshaw
Industry analyst Michael Pachter has backed Blizzard's upcoming StarCraft II to sell 4 million units in its first quarter.
According to a MarketWatch report, the MMO's release has been delayed due to late beta testing, but Pachter is adamant that the game will be a comercial success.
"Nobody knows how long the StarCraft II beta will take," he said. "It's highly likely that the game is polished, with few or no bugs. The issue is balance, and until there is a large scale beta, Blizzard won't be able to test every single weapon, defence, et cetera, in order to ensure that the three races are perfectly balanced.
Based on his sales predictions, the publisher stands to make $160 million (£97 million) from the game's release, with operating profit hitting $80 million (£48 million).
"They did a phenomenal job with the World Of Warcraft beta (as I recall, it was around four months), and they will have no issues at all in attracting 30,000 supremely knowledgeable beta testers, so my bias is that the beta will take less time than most expect.
"The Blizzard guys are perfectionists, and if they want to take six months, nobody at Activision is going to challenge them."
StarCraft II is expected to launch some time between late 2009 and early 2010.
According to a MarketWatch report, the MMO's release has been delayed due to late beta testing, but Pachter is adamant that the game will be a comercial success.
"Nobody knows how long the StarCraft II beta will take," he said. "It's highly likely that the game is polished, with few or no bugs. The issue is balance, and until there is a large scale beta, Blizzard won't be able to test every single weapon, defence, et cetera, in order to ensure that the three races are perfectly balanced.
Based on his sales predictions, the publisher stands to make $160 million (£97 million) from the game's release, with operating profit hitting $80 million (£48 million).
"They did a phenomenal job with the World Of Warcraft beta (as I recall, it was around four months), and they will have no issues at all in attracting 30,000 supremely knowledgeable beta testers, so my bias is that the beta will take less time than most expect.
"The Blizzard guys are perfectionists, and if they want to take six months, nobody at Activision is going to challenge them."
StarCraft II is expected to launch some time between late 2009 and early 2010.
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