EA has this afternoon officially pegged Star Wars: The Old Republic for a "holiday 2011" release window via a press release - as sources tell CVG the MMO will launch this November.
According to a reliable senior retail source speaking to CVG, the hugely ambitious BioWare online title will join that gaggle in 2011's penultimate month.
BioWare's official stance on the release window, in the words of co-founder Dr. Ray Muzyka, is: "We are targeting Star Wars: The Old Republic to be one of the biggest launches in the 2nd half of 2011."
This afternoon EA detailed three purchase packages for Old Republic, including a £130 Collector's Edition with statue, official soundtrack, journal and more.
If you haven't already, stick your eyes on that amazing CGI trailer from E3, and instantly want to spend money on Star Wars.
Comments
19 comments so far...
humanhand on 21 Jul '11 said:
I think that's a good idea, just get it out there!
ZeroTime on 21 Jul '11 said:
Enough November games. The publishers argue that it's an ideal time for release, but when you have 3+ AAA games within weeks of each other, it only hurts your profit.
Rockstar was smart and got Red Dead Redemption a near-Summer release date. Not only were there no other major releases, but people were able to enjoy it over the summer when there was no one else bold enough to release a big game.
ukdruid on 21 Jul '11 said:
Its a very very very bad month to release it, ill be to busy playing Skyrim/UC3 and Saints Row 3 to have any time at all for an MMO.
Hoping for Sept/Oct date, hell even Dec would be prefareble
humanhand on 21 Jul '11 said:
Yeah, but how many AAA games loose profit in the long term? (I'm not being cocky I really wanna know...)
I think it might be good for buzz that there are that many games coming out then.
humanhand on 21 Jul '11 said:
Thinking about it, I guess the price point has to drop some after a while which would hurt.
Balladeer on 21 Jul '11 said:
I'll say this once and only once, because I don't expect anyone to pay any attention. Got a lot of games lined up for November? Wish some of those were coming out in the summer? Leave some of those games and buy them next summer instead (or whenever else is convenient). You're sending a clear signal that games will be bought in summer, and you won't be playing them until then anyway. Plus they might be cheaper by then.
humanhand on 21 Jul '11 said:
Yeah, but if you waiting for the game to be cheaper (which I know wasn't part of your whole point) you probably won't buy it from a major retailer.
mogel94 on 21 Jul '11 said:
They should grow some balls and release it tommorrow
The Living End on 21 Jul '11 said:
I don't see this competing hugely with non MMO titles anyway, the vast majority of players waiting for this will buy it whichever day of the year it releases.
FlacidDonkeyGuy on 21 Jul '11 said:
This the game is going to have bugs in it anyway (MMO Helo), that and I can cancel most of my pre-orders (if it's good).
icedmetal57 on 21 Jul '11 said:
Well, that's where you're wrong. There are plenty of people out there who play more than one genre of game, so saying it won't have much competition is stupid. People only have so much time and money to spend on these games, if all AAA games released at the same time of year, the rest of the year would get boring and these companies wouldn't receive as many week 1 sales. Publishers should seriously start spreading out their releases. I'm more likely going to buy a game that I have time to play which I wouldn't if there are many other games out there I want to play coming out. Of course as a gamer I can always just hold off till I have the time and money if I can't afford it, but then that affects the publishers because they're not getting as much sales early on as they should when it's being sold full price. To be honest, I think an MMO would be better suited releasing right before summer starts as people tend to have more free time in summer so they'll be playing it a lot more, which means more subscriptions if it's subscription based.
pRM8 on 21 Jul '11 said:
Totally agree and like I said in another thread all you have to do is prioritise. After thinking about it for me, ToR and BF3 are deffinate pre-orders and although I'm really excited for Skyrim I might just leave it till after Xmas.
kimoak on 21 Jul '11 said:
MMO's are quite a different beast to your regular games. A good one is played over years at a steady pace while buying and enjoying new releases when they are released side by side. There are enough hours in the day to play more than one game unless you are extremely busy or ... oh.. you have a family life of course.
The Living End on 22 Jul '11 said:
I'm not wrong, releasing this in november will have no significant effect at all on its launch and uptake, it may reduce sales of other non MMO titles released near it but again I doubt it would be significant, times are not that hard, people are not as poor as the media likes to make out, and the players who will make or break this game (not just play the first free month and shelve it) have been waiting a long long time for it.
KMakawa on 25 Jul '11 said:
SWTOR has a different market then the other titles coming out in November, so it shouldnt really impact it that much.
RetroJB on 25 Jul '11 said:
Absolutely correct. The vast majority who will be queing up for SWTOR aren't interested in CoD, Battlefield, Saints Row etc.
Roll on November.
Jedikillar on 26 Jul '11 said:
I for one am overwhelmed by all the new releases, and while I would love to play them all, I simply don't have the money nor the time. I have preordered TOR already and am going to play it until next summer or whenever I can afford these other games my time and(considerable less amount at that point) money. So even though it is in a completely different market, TOR still affects these other games.
Cevox Vulgar on 2 Aug '11 said:
So question,
I get that all of you are upset because of the possible november launch, why?. The main reason seems to be that there are several titles launching in or around the same time and you have an issue with not havng the money for all of them. Heres what I do to avoid that being a problem, maybe this will help, though I expect some kind of nay saying will happen; I simply reserve all of my games and pay them off during the off time of year when there are no major releases. When November rolls around I just walk into whatever retailer I reserved it at and pick it up and dont feel it in the pocket because all year long Ive been paying for them because I know there are always several releases in November I simply cant live without. It seems kind of funny to me that any of you are worried about this, it happens every year and you would think by now you might have figured this out. Its kind of like the small town at the bottom of a mountain that is suprised EVERY year by a flash flood that they never prepare for. Some of you will say the retailers are making money off of your deposit, who cares, yer gonna spend it anyway, might as well help the economy in the meantime. Others will still say they still cant afford it, well guess what, sometimes poor people should realize they just dont get what they want when they want it and the world doesnt owe them anything, tough luck. All in all, "Chance favors the prepared mind" (Louis Pasteur). So if yer out there cring about the string of games that hits EVERY year and you cant afford them or dont have time to play them you only have one person to blame, check the mirror next time you happen by one.
GlassBox on 8 Aug '11 said:
In the vacation when you have nothing to do they dont release games and when its 2 weeks vacation and you actually have to go visit everyone so you don't have enough time to play then they bury you with awesome games. -,-