Star Wars: The Old Republic could be heading to a third-party studio after being developed by BioWare for the last 12 years, and that's making fans nervous about its future.
On June 6, it was reported that BioWare was in talks with studio Broadsword regarding the continued development of Star Wars: The Old Republic. According to IGN, the reasoning behind this decision stems from the MMO's original developer wanting to focus on its single-player efforts like Dragon Age 4 and Mass Effect 5.
Shortly after the report was published, EA issued a statement explaining: "We’re evaluating how we give [Star Wars: The Old Republic] 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."
- 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"
- Mass Effect 5 is BioWare's only big project after Dragon Age: The Veilguard, studio veteran predicts, but "isn't ready to suddenly have a team of 250, 300 people"
Nothing has been explicitly confirmed yet, but fans haven't taken the news as well as EA might have hoped. Shortly after the report went live, it was shared on the Star Wars: The Old Republic subreddit where fans began voicing their concerns about the future of their MMORPG. "So this is a good sign saying how the game is still performing well financially. I'm a bit worried though this will be a big change," one Reddit user said.
"So what are the chances that this is in order to basically put the game into maintenance mode?" another questioned; "we get one decent story update a year. If this ain't maintenance mode, it's knockin' on the door," another responded. Star Wars: The Old Republic has remained one of the best MMORPGs out there since its release back in 2011 - so it's a shame to think that it might be approaching the end of its road.
One fan attempted to put players' minds at ease by pointing out that: "I can't imagine a company is going to buy a product for the sole purpose of putting it to bed forever." In fact, it could be good news for The Old Republic players: "Presumably they hope to recoup significantly more than their initial investment," the same user adds, "buying an 11-year-old game, with all of its existing technical debt, is a pretty massive opportunity cost."
Only time will tell what'll happen to The Old Republic. While we wait to find out, get a glimpse into the future with our upcoming Star Wars games list.
