EA to Take Star Wars: The Old Republic Global
EA landed the global publishing rights to Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Electronic Arts (EA) and Lucasfilm Ltd. announced on Thursday a new global publishing agreement for BioWare's highly-anticipated MMOG, Star Wars: The Old Republic. EA said that all publishing, marketing and distribution responsibilities will be shifted over to the company, reportedly centralized for efficiency.
"There's not going to be any obvious change for gamers," said BioWare co-founder Dr. Ray Muzyka during an EA Games showcase event in San Francisco. "It makes things easier for us to have everything under one roof, and that will eventually benefit players." Customer service was offered as an example.
So what role will Lucasfilm (LucasArts) play? According to EA, Lucasfilm will continue serving as a key partner, collaborating on design and marketing, and as a licensor of the property. This means George Lucas and Co. will continue to stay hands-on with the project to ensure that the final experience is 100-percent Star Wars in content and overall tone.
When launched, players will explore "an age thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader when war between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire divides the galaxy." As indicated, the game will have two factions with four classes each: Trooper, Smuggler, Jedi Knight, and Jedi Consular for the Galactic Republic and Bounty Hunter, Sith Warrior, Imperial Agent, and Sith Inquisitor for the Sith Empire.
Currently Star Wars: The Old Republic is still slated for a Q1/Q2 2011 release. We're hoping sooner than later.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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fspikec Great, after seeing the videos, I was starting to already be disappointed in the game. Now, I have a completely valid reason to not buy it.Reply -
TeKEffect who cares whos marketing it..... whos making it is what counts. EA keep your fingers out of production and time tables and let them make a good game. You just focus on the billboardsReply -
EXT64 I'd say Lucas having any control over the game is more dangerous than EA. (Jar Jar, anyone?)Reply -
False_Dmitry_II blarneypeteYeah, yeah. I still want KOTOR3.Reply
Indeed, I likely won't even try to play this. -
fspikec False_Dmitry_IIIndeed, I likely won't even try to play this.Reply
I'll take Jar Jar over a game released 6 months ahead of original release date which ends up killing the game cause it wasn't ready. Yeah, I'm talking about Hellgate: London.