Analyst: EA investors expect The Old Republic to fail

An analyst has warned that investors in mega-publisher EA are "betting against" the possibility of success for Star Wars: The Old Republic.

According to Gamasutra, Janco Partners' Mike Hickey suspects EA's backers are wary of BioWare's MMORPG.

"We believe many investors are betting against SWTOR achieving market success, provided the company's and industry's track record at releasing successful new MMOs," he said.

On top of EA's failed past forays into the MMOPRG space with Warhammer Online, particular aspects of SWTOR itself seem to be putting the wind up the purse-string holders, including "a suspected subscription pricing model versus a market that is quickly transitioning to free to play, generally modest previews of the game and elevated development expense and suspected aggressive royalty to LucasArts."

Hickey allowed that investors' caution may also stem from recent high-profile issues including the acquisition of casual portal PlayFish and the ongoing legal battle with Activision over ex-Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella