Wednesday, June 7th 2023
Report Suggests EA/BioWare Offloading Star Wars: The Old Republic onto Third Party Developer
IGN has been informed by inside sources that Electronic Arts is in negotiations to "offload" ongoing development and support of BioWare's long running MMORPG "Star Wars: The Old Republic" to a third party studio. In a news article published yesterday speculation points to Broadsword Online Games being the prime candidate to takeover a franchise that has been kept alive since December 2011. Broadsword was established about a decade ago by Rob Denton - a former BioWare Vice President and co-founder of Mythic Entertainment - his team currently oversees the running of Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot. The IGN news piece notes that Denton previously worked on Star Wars: The Old Republic during its incubation period.
Electronic Arts has since caught wind of IGN's report and provided the news site with their own statement today: "Almost 12 years after launch, Star Wars: The Old Republic remains a success and continues to grow its dedicated and passionate community. We're so proud of the work the team has done, and the future of the game and the community continues to be very bright. We're evaluating how we give the game and the team the best opportunity to grow and evolve, which includes conversations with Broadsword, a boutique studio that specializes in delivering online, community-driven experiences. Our goal is to do what is best for the game and its players." The spokesperson's wording on the matter does not fully confirm that Broadsword is fully confirmed to takeover, but IGN's inside information posits that Electronic Arts will remain as the franchise publisher, while BioWare will concentrate on the development of its single-player intellectual properties (Dragon Age and Mass Effect).
A signed a letter of intent between Electronic Arts and Broadsword Online Games could result in half of the existing "Old Republic" team (presumably at BioWare's Austin, Texas location) transferring over to the third party outfit. The core development group is (at present) composed of roughly 70-80 individuals - EA is reportedly planning to move remaining members to other internal studios, or considering a small number of layoffs.
Sources:
IGN News, The Escapist
Electronic Arts has since caught wind of IGN's report and provided the news site with their own statement today: "Almost 12 years after launch, Star Wars: The Old Republic remains a success and continues to grow its dedicated and passionate community. We're so proud of the work the team has done, and the future of the game and the community continues to be very bright. We're evaluating how we give the game and the team the best opportunity to grow and evolve, which includes conversations with Broadsword, a boutique studio that specializes in delivering online, community-driven experiences. Our goal is to do what is best for the game and its players." The spokesperson's wording on the matter does not fully confirm that Broadsword is fully confirmed to takeover, but IGN's inside information posits that Electronic Arts will remain as the franchise publisher, while BioWare will concentrate on the development of its single-player intellectual properties (Dragon Age and Mass Effect).
10 Comments on Report Suggests EA/BioWare Offloading Star Wars: The Old Republic onto Third Party Developer
EA can choke on a BB-8.
Easy mix up.
I've only played 'the better part' of a playthrough on KoTOR(1), and I absolutely loved that game.
Looking into KoTOR2, it really looked like an improvement all-around on an already great game.
Sadly, a failed drive in the system it was installed on meant my save and all the time I'd put in was 'just gone'.
In a strange counter-intuitive twist, it was that 'incident' that eventually made me realize I was getting 'too emotionally invested' into games.