Star Wars: The Old Republic release date announced at Eurogamer Expo 2011

By Robert Purchese Published 24 September, 2011

Finally, it's here.

Star Wars: The Old Republic launches on Tuesday, 20th December 2011 in North America and 22nd December in Europe.

BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk announced the date on stage at the Eurogamer Expo 2011 today.

A flat subscription to Star Wars: The Old Republic will cost $14.99/£8.99 a month. But buy in bulk and the average monthly cost goes down; three months costs $41.97/£25.17, and six months costs $77.94/£46.14.

Each copy of Star Wars: The Old Republic will come with 30 days of subscription time.

In an interview with Eurogamer, Zeschuk predicted that it may be the largest launch of an online game ever.

"It's probably true," he said. "We've launched 14 games so far in our careers, just core games, and we've also seen lots of things.

"What's interesting is that [Star Wars: The Old Republic] is going from zero to 60 immediately. When we flip that switch to go on, it's global.

"It's probably one of the biggest online launches simultaneously in the world."

Greg Zeschuk, co-founder, BioWare

"World of Warcraft only launched in North America in 2004 and it was six months later in Europe. Korean games launch slowly. We're taking a - it's a big launch.

"It's probably one of the biggest online launches simultaneously in the world," Zeschuk went on. "It's daunting. It's exciting."

BioWare has had "tens of thousands" of people "continually" playing Star Wars: The Old Republic to ensure a smooth launch. And when the switch is flipped it won't be for the first time.

"We're planning and testing, and the key thing for us is that we'll verify we can do it before we do it," revealed Zeschuk, "so fans don't have to worry that we're going to flip the switch for the first time."

"Part of our testing process is to flip the switch multiple times with similar scaling, and prove it. And then do it."

Star Wars: The Old Republic is playable at the Eurogamer Expo 2011.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (48) Latest comment 8 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • TheNonk #1 8 months ago

    May the fork be with you

  • Progguitarist #2 8 months ago

    F2P within a year.

  • bobfish09 #3 8 months ago

    Lets be fair here, it may well be the biggest MMO launch ever, but it isn't global, it is just North America and Europe, and there are a finite number of copies available, even the digital version is limited by their own admission.

  • Donaldthescotishtwin #4 8 months ago

    I just remember a 1 hour que full of nerds the only reason I went to the area was to see R2 D2 star wars fans seem to have gone to the level of trekies
    Edited by Donaldthescotishtwin at 24/09/11 @ 12:51

  • Ironlungs76 #5 8 months ago

    I honestly can't muster any excitement for this whatsoever.

    It looks dire, but there again I suppose there are a fair few disenfranchised WoW fans these days that it could attract.

    The combat looks dull and the voice acting less than inspiring. I still expect it to sell in droves though, for better or worse.
    Edited by Ironlungs76 at 24/09/11 @ 12:50

  • crsmithy #6 8 months ago

    Bugger, I'm going to the girlfriend's parents for Christmas and won't be able to play this when it comes out

  • M4RV #7 8 months ago

    Having in mind that Blizzard already announced that Diablo 3 will be released early next year, it's only natural that Bioware follows suite and finally announces the release date for TOR. Wish it was sooner though, since I ordered and payed for the Collector's Edition last month already. :\

    Ohhhhhh well, I guess I still have the expanded universe to keep me entertained... Can't wait for the Revan novel though; Epic stuff. ;)

  • FortysixterUK #8 8 months ago

    H8ers gotta hate...( see some of above posts).

    Me? I'm well excited......and I'm on leave from 24 december for 9 days...bwahahahahahahahahaaaaaaa.


    Ha.

  • Laserbream #9 8 months ago

    Is there anywhere selling the client for sane PC prices? i.e. 30 quid

  • Starman #10 8 months ago

    Wonder will that £8.99 monthly rate include VAT or will we see 20% on top.
    Edited by Starman at 24/09/11 @ 12:58

  • Skelter #11 8 months ago

    Awesome. Looking forward to this. My poor family and children may not be seeing much of me this crimbo though.

  • Softie2k #12 8 months ago

    WoW this is not...

  • bigjimbeef #13 8 months ago

    Very very excited to finally have a launch date. Bit of a weird one - but hooray for knowing!

    Apart from that - well done everyone at EG for managing to grow the Expo to the point that this kind of thing happens there. Really great to see it growing over the years into a real event in the gaming calendar. Great work :)

  • leemorgan978 #14 8 months ago

    News just in Blizzard has annouced that patch 4.3 will hit realms on 20th december in the US and 21st december in europe.
    I lie but I would expect half as much :)
    Looking forward to this though.
    Edited by leemorgan978 at 24/09/11 @ 13:09

  • markyHD #15 8 months ago

    @TheNonk

    That joke was folking terrible

  • Shikasama #16 8 months ago

    Quite a coup for EG, well done guys

  • HMAN #17 8 months ago

    Ye big props to EG on this one. Bit of a coup to land this sort of announcement.

    Really excited for this but I do have 3rd year uni exams first week of January

  • WinterSnowblind #18 8 months ago

    The game looks alright, but I don't understand why anyone would pay so much money on a subscription (and don't say server updates and support, because most sub based MMO's are supported by the developers less than the F2P ones).

  • Stuz359 #19 8 months ago

    Really conflicted about getting this, something galling about paying full price for a game and then having to pay subscription fees on top just to continue to play the thing. Make it subscription or a flat fee (at least for a year) and I might be interested.

  • RedPanda #20 8 months ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • havoc2011 #21 8 months ago

    Great - this ties in with my 3 weeks Christmas holiday from work. Good times.

  • Daddy-Doom-Bar #22 8 months ago

    £8.99 a month? Fuck off. By charging the same amount as WoW, they're making it a choice of either, not both. They really think people are going to want to pay £8.99 a month for this for the next few years? As well as other subs they got? I don't think so.

    F2P within a year.

  • RodHull #23 8 months ago

    Aunt Beru as an unlockable character or GTFO.

  • Markitron #24 8 months ago

    I dont get the hate for this game, I really dont. Fair enough that some ppl wont be interested, but to actively wish a game to fail, to wish misery on other players, is plain childish. I want every game thats released to be good, not just the ones Im looking forwad to.

  • MMMMMM7 #25 8 months ago

    Totally unimpressed by all the gameplay trailers I have
    seen so far and although I am a STAR WARS fan I must
    say that this isn't the STAR WARS game I would be
    willing to play and pay for.

  • Scimarad #26 8 months ago

    If I only paid for the time I was actually playing the game I'd be much more likely to play MMOs. Well, more likely anyway.

  • yrg_autumn #27 8 months ago

    @Markitron:

    If this ends up being good, there DEFINITELY won't be another KOTOR game. Many people were hoping for a new KOTOR, so they are now hoping that this will fail (seeing as how this clearly isn't going to be KOTOR, it will be WoW).

  • rashes #28 8 months ago

    no Christmas hols for a lot of bioware staff so!

  • Markitron #29 8 months ago

    @yrg_autumn

    If you think this games failure will help KOTOR 3's chances your mad. It would kill the brand

  • Hindle #30 8 months ago

    Post deleted at 23:04:43 04-04-2012

  • digitalash #31 8 months ago

    What better way to enjoy Christmas than locked in a darkened room pretending to be a Jedi.

  • Zaiz #32 8 months ago

    It sounds like they are rushing this if they only now announce a release date a few months away. Now why would they rush?

    Oh right, this game was getting compared to Guild Wars 2, and looked to be landing at the same time. Much how Red Orchestra 2 was dropped before the autumn FPS season.

  • misinformed #33 8 months ago

    As has been said, gameplay doesnt look like anything different, id like to get excited about it.

  • GamesConnoisseur #34 8 months ago

    I ve tried to get into MMO but always failed to muster commitment beyond the first few bits, the need for investments of time and money is what usually kill it for me.

    Loved KoToR and still wishing for the xbox series fans to be appreicated, none of that here and just for MMO crowd on the PC, try not to be childish and bitter about it. But wouldn't be honest if said didn't bother me in the least.

    If this is indeed a wonderful game and a must for MMO noobs, then maybe I would get it for my PC but back to time and money heavy investment required, so a no from me at the moment. I know I always eventually weaken to the dark force, so see what happen!

  • George-Roper #35 8 months ago

    /crystalball

    Game releases on those dates, servers explode, no staff around to address the problems, internet explodes with gamers angry about not being able to play the game for at least 2-3 weeks after release.

    This game has FAIL written all over it. F2P within 6 months.

  • dagas #36 8 months ago

    15 dollars or 9 pounds. I wonder how much it will be here in Sweden. I bet it will be 15 euros which is a lot more than 15 dollars or 9 pounds. I wish I could pay in dollars or pounds since that would equal about 100 SEK, but €15 is about 140SEK so 40% more expensive in euros.

    EDIT: I checked swtor.com and it's €13 so at least a little better than I had feared. Thanks Eurogamer for not having the price in euros. Maybe it should be called UKGamer instead of Eurogamer.
    Edited by dagas at 24/09/11 @ 16:21

  • General_Zod #37 8 months ago

    The game looks about as good as the cat I ran over last week. Pulling a string of guts from the back of your car is not fun.

  • Red-Moose #38 8 months ago

    75 quid for the digital download version and then ~ 100-120 euros a year? 200 squids for one year with the game?

    W
    T
    F?

  • tangoownage #39 8 months ago

    Can't wait for this game! It looks fantastic.

  • DJMC2412 #40 8 months ago

    I cant wait to play as my Jedi tank, then jedi mage, then jedi dps, then jedi healer. Then of course their sith counterparts! *sarcasm*

    Seriously the lack of innovation/ imagination that has so far been shown by this game from the game mechanics to the features has pit me right off.

  • tangoownage #41 8 months ago

    Only 2 types of jedi/sith.

    Shows how much you know fool

  • defdaz #42 8 months ago

    Not a fan of the cartoony look - can really see which market they're trying to tap into. For me, SWG had better graphics and that game is over 7 years old. Bizarre.

    Thank god for swgemu.

  • anomagnus #43 8 months ago

    @george roper

    George, George, where have you been?! Tell us again about the six months, it was so good the first time!!

    One thing though George, the last time I saw you, you were bitching in a news article where bioware had said they'd restrict the numbers in an effort to control the number of initial players

    Also George, I find it hard to believe that you want to say the game will explode on launch, yet be dead in six months. Even war hammer online is still going.

    Finally George, I'd like to point out, that if they are launching on the 23rd, they'll have a full contact centre. Blizzard has a contact centre here in cork, Ireland, and they are open on Christmas. The bioware contact centre is also in Ireland, and I'll tell you now, that thing will be open over Christmas.

    But none of these facts matter to you George, because you're so keen to see TOR fail, you'd ignore anything any one says, or even what you say, just to get a chance to predict what you hope will happen. You'd even contradict yourself to get your point across. It's actually really pathetic, and is so typical of the stereotype of an online hater.

    I actually meant what I said in your last rant, when I put a reminder in my outlook to come back on to eg in the summer of next year to challenge your point.

  • Tyronne #44 8 months ago

    Sad thing is, that with the large amount of games coming out over the next few months, even if I wanted to play this I would simply not have the time (Skyrim is going to be taking as much of my free time up as it is without anything else) .My other half would have my nuts in a sling if I said `sorry love, this game has just come out before Christmas and I simply must play it` , my life would simply not be worth living as we go about seeing family and enjoying the festive time of year.
    This is one game I am going to have to pass on,shame really but my game playing time is getting less and less and I really have to be picky about what I spend time on (what with BF3,Rage,Batman and Skyrim ,there is simply not enough time free anymore)

  • levitate #45 8 months ago

    I'm with Tyronne on this one. I will spend my time on Skyrim instead. I don't think I'll ever have the time to play another MMO again. It's a shame really, but that's what RL does to you when you grow up.

  • r4z0rbl4d3 #46 8 months ago

    Biggest problem for me is: Do I activate my sub when it's released or after Christmas? I'll loose a lot of days when I'm away for Christmas... We get 30 days with the client, and I want to utilize those to the fullest! Who's the crackpot who decided that date anyway!??!

    The pricing is pretty much spot on, only costs a few pints for 30 days of game play.

  • George-Roper #47 8 months ago

    @anomagnus

    I called DC:U going F2P, 6 months from release and it took what, 7-8?

    This will be F2P within 6 months. Guaranteed. It will fall much quicker and much harder than SW:G, simply because its trying to be WoW in SW clothing.

    And as for...

    Finally George, I'd like to point out, that if they are launching on the 23rd, they'll have a full contact centre. Blizzard has a contact centre here in cork, Ireland, and they are open on Christmas. The bioware contact centre is also in Ireland, and I'll tell you now, that thing will be open over Christmas.

    WTF does that have to do with server infrastructure? What can some bod, sat in a call centre do to fix login problems? You're a fucking naive gimp if you think launching an MMO at Christmas will result in a solid gameplay experience for anyone trying to play. The number of MMOs that launched with a smooth release I can count on half the number of fingers on one hand (minus the thumb).

    Oh, and... u mad?
    Edited by George-Roper at 25/09/11 @ 14:48

  • Sikosh #48 8 months ago

    I used to be a naysayer about this game, then looked back and realised the most fun I ever had in an MMO was in Dark Age of Camelot, which also had pretty cack graphics and stilted animations. Fun factor was through the roof, though. If TOR can recapture the fun factor, I'm in. Lord knows it won't be the first MMO I've paid for and then not played it ever again (Warhammer and Age of Conan, I'm looking at you).

    Then again, DAOC was 10 years ago and had graphics to suit, rather than TOR which looks like it's being released with a 10 year old engine.. bahaaaa :D

    Time will tell!