Update: EA has issued a statement to IGN regarding today's report, saying that it's evaluating how to "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."
Original story follows...
A new report suggests that development on Star Wars: The Old Republic will soon be moving to a third-party studio, as BioWare refocuses on single-player RPGs like the upcoming Dragon Age 4 and Mass Effect 5.
- EA says Mass Effect 5 is now BioWare's "full focus" as it shuffles devs to other studios, with some reportedly facing layoffs following Dragon Age: The Veilguard's underperformance
- Dragon Age 2 director acknowledges "really fast rush" behind the RPG's development as the team tried to "jump on the grenade that was being placed in front of BioWare"
According to IGN sources, BioWare parent EA has signed a letter of intent with Broadsword Online Games, which would see "ongoing development and operation" of The Old Republic move to the third-party studio. The deal would see over half of the current development team (estimated to be around 70 to 80 people) on The Old Republic move to Broadsword, while the remainder of the team could seek other roles within EA or face layoffs.
Broadsword currently handles the ongoing service of other legacy MMOs like Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot. As IGN notes, Broadsword is run by Rob Denton, a BioWare veteran who previously worked on The Old Republic.
The Old Republic remains one of the best MMORPGs out there today, launching to strong reviews and keeping an extensive enough fanbase to support ongoing updates even now, a decade later. That's particularly notable given that it's outlasted its era of Star Wars. With Disney revamping the non-movie Star Wars canon in 2014, The Old Republic was among the material that was excised, and it's now the only source of new storytelling in the old continuity.
The Old Republic served as a semi-sequel to the beloved single-player Knights of the Old Republic games. A remake of the original Knights of the Old Republic was announced in 2021, but the project has been plagued by reports of development trouble ever since.
This all leaves BioWare to double down on the single-player content it built its fanbase around. After the dismal response to projects like Anthem, BioWare has repeatedly assured fans that the next Dragon Age is a fully single-player game, and has done the same for Mass Effect.
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