EA: The Old Republic not launching by July 1st

Fan site Darth Hater has a bit of cold water to throw on the fires of Star Wars: The Old Republic fans who thought the highly anticipated MMORPG might actually launch prior to July 1st. It seems as if Eric Brown, CFO of TOR publisher Electronic Arts, quashed that long shot in a speech at today's Lazard Capital Markets Technology and Media Conference. If you think that was a mouthful, Brown's quote is as well, but that isn't stopping it from making the blogsphere rounds this afternoon.

"So we said it's going to launch sometime in calendar, but not within Fiscal 11. So that basically pens down between, you know, April 1st and December 31st of this calendar year. It's also reasonable to infer that it's not in our Q1 guidance. We gave Q1 Fiscal 11, Fiscal 12 non-gap revenue guidance, minus 39 minus 44 cents and I think it's not unreasonable to infer that it's not included in that 90 day period," Brown said.

So, for the three of you who actually expected BioWare's Star Wars opus this summer, we're sorry. For everyone else, it's back to the guessing game regarding release dates.

Reader Comments (63)

Eh, no real surprise here. if it gets launched is year it won't be till the holiday season to get the biggest box sales possible. This is pretty much what I've been expecting. Probably will be getting Rift this weekend for something to do till Tera or SWTOR or whichever comes out first.

@Morbius

Agreed. Releasing at year-end makes the most sense because the profit-potential is largest with Christmas, Hannukah, all going on simultaneously.

Sure, some so-called "holiday release games" can drop as early as October, to allow for a maximum shopping window -- but I'll be really surprised if SW:TOR drops any earlier that that.

@Morbius

Also, it gives them more time to make this game. I'm fine with delays as long as they deliver a quality product. Remember, quality is always better than quantity.

So, basically, no rushing please.

NERD RAGE!!!!!!

July is 4 mounts and some odd days till ME3. No way the game comes out in that time period. That puts in into competition with ME3. It won't eat many potential ME3 buyers but it will eat some. I'm thinking this game will be out in 2012.

@Yellowdancer I would be very surprised if ME3 isn't pushed back into 2012. ME2 used to be penciled in as a holidays release as well at one point if I remember correctly.

@sirBetamax
I would be very happy if ME3 were pushed back into 2012. Any sign that they're taking their time to do it right will come as a relief at this point.

How Shocking! LOL

It's official: Christmas 2011.

@gildhur Sure, if by Christmas you mean Easter, and by 2011 you mean Stardate 44197.3

No shocker there, if it were they would have had a far larger showing at PAX than simply a new trailer. I'm still thinking if TOR shows up at all this year it will not be til November, but it wouldn't shock me to see 2012 show up before the game.

Meh... played it at PAX. When a short demo doesn't excite you, I don't believe there's much to look forward to.

110% WoW-in-space. If that's what you're looking for, you won't be disappointed, but I felt like I already played this game for years. While the Star Wars IP definitely adds a level of "cool" to it, I don't think it's gonna be enough to suck me in.

GW2, on the other hand, now that was freakin' exciting! Can't wait for that game. Stole the show IMO.

@Macabre 13

GW2 steals the show everywhere it goes. It is definitely the Next Big Thing™.

@Macabre 13

Did it look better than GW1 cause Guild Wars sucks IMO. I'm hoping GW2 is much better. I hope they allow you to use more than 8 skills this time around.

@JaySpeed
I think the whole charm of GW was the 8 skill system, the limitation led to some awesome builds (which you could experiment or search online for) and in general completely obliterated any diverse 'class' system other games had. But again IMO - although I advise to look at different aspects before using the word hate.

@JaySpeed
They allow you to use 10 skills now. The first 5 skills are decided by the weapons you're actively using and the second 5 you get to pick out of a list.

@Macabre 13

So there were people waiting hours to play GW2? If not, I'd say it didn't steal anything.

whatever, keep on polishing the game. you dont want to make the same mistakes that always keep happening in the industry.

This game is going very late.
By the time swtor is out warhammer 40k will be out as well.
Between those 2 i prefere wh40k

Well I guess it's not ready til it's ready but this game already seems like it's behind the MMO curve. How long is it gonna survive when you have games like GW2 in development?

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EA: The Old Republic not launching by July 1st

Reader Comments (63)

Posted: Mar 15th 2011 4:37PM Morbius said

Posted: Mar 16th 2011 3:54AM mysecretid said

Posted: Mar 16th 2011 12:45PM jaydark123 said

Posted: Mar 15th 2011 4:38PM Mr Angry said

Posted: Mar 15th 2011 4:40PM Yellowdancer said

Posted: Mar 15th 2011 9:24PM sirBetamax said

Posted: Mar 16th 2011 10:03AM Irem said

Posted: Mar 15th 2011 4:41PM Thac0 said

Posted: Mar 15th 2011 4:41PM gildhur said

Posted: Mar 15th 2011 7:50PM cowboyhugbees said

Posted: Mar 15th 2011 4:46PM Arkanaloth said

Posted: Mar 15th 2011 4:49PM Macabre 13 said

Posted: Mar 15th 2011 4:57PM gildhur said

Posted: Mar 15th 2011 6:07PM JaySpeed said

Posted: Mar 15th 2011 11:28PM PaperSpeaks said

Posted: Mar 16th 2011 10:06AM Dirame said

Posted: Mar 16th 2011 5:39PM Harley Dude said

Posted: Mar 15th 2011 4:52PM FTPgodmode said

Posted: Mar 15th 2011 4:53PM Rayne26 said

Posted: Mar 15th 2011 4:53PM freebase said

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