Star Wars: The Old Republic
A Star Wars MMORPG with eight class stories and full voice acting.
Last updated
Set within the Star Wars universe, the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) known as Star Wars: The Old Republic was developed by BioWare Austin and a supplemental team at BioWare Edmonton.[1] North America and parts of Europe received the Microsoft Windows version on December 20, 2011.[1] Within three days of its launch, the game's subscriber count reached one million, earning it the title of the "fastest-growing MMO ever".[2][3]
Making and release
BioWare had long been interested in a MMORPG but waited for the right partners, team, and intellectual property.[4] BioWare Austin, along with an additional team from BioWare Edmonton, handled the development; the project was first revealed to the public on October 21, 2008.[1] All of BioWare Austin's staff were dedicated to the game's creation.[4] Character-specific narratives were a primary development emphasis; by October 2008, BioWare stated that this title contained more story content than the entirety of their previous games put together.[4]
On March 1, 2012, the game launched in Oceania and Asia.[1] Individuals who pre-ordered online received early access starting December 13, 2011, which was seven days prior to the official release.[5]
What the cited sources add
A Huffington Post article from December 2011 reported that over one million gaming fans signed up for Star Wars: The Old Republic over the festive season.[3] The same article quoted Baird Equity Research analyst Colin Sebastian viewing the early success as an indication of a healthy MMO market.[3] A Polygon article from July 2012 reported that EA stated the game slipped to under one million subscribers, contributing to the decision to make it free to play.[6] That Polygon article also noted EA had previously stated only 500,000 subscribers were needed to see the game as "substantially profitable".[6]
References
- Wikipedia, "Star Wars: The Old Republic" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "LucasArts and Bioware Reveal Star Wars: The Old Republic", LucasArts and BioWare, October 21, 2008; "BioWare, Lucasarts Unveil Star Wars: The Old Republic", October 21, 2008; Nguyen, "Star Wars KOTOR MMO Announcement Liveblog", 1UP.com, October 21, 2008; "Launch Date for Star Wars: The Old Republic Announced", Electronic Arts, September 24, 2011; Infield, "Star Wars: The Old Republic announced at Eurogamer Expo", Daily Telegraph, September 26, 2011; "Global Launch for The Old Republic", BioWare, October 14, 2011; "Star Wars en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Star Wars: The Old Republic" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Star Wars: The Old Republic Jumps to Light Speed (NASDAQ:EA)", Investor.ea.com, December 23, 2011; Rundle, "Star Wars: The Old Republic Is 'Fastest-Growing MMO Ever' With 1m Users", Huffington Post, December 27, 2011; Ray, "'Star Wars: The Old Republic' subscribers fall to under one million", Polygon, July 31, 2012 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Rundle, "Star Wars: The Old Republic Is 'Fastest-Growing MMO Ever' With 1m Users", Huffington Post, December 27, 2011. facts only, no text reused. huffingtonpost.co.uk
- Wikipedia, "Star Wars: The Old Republic" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Canlan, "6 years + $100M = 1 Star Wars game", The Business Journals, December 9, 2011; Thorsen, "Star Wars: The Old Republic revealed", GameSpot, October 21, 2008; "Star Wars: The Old Republic Revealed", GameSpot, October 21, 2008; Thorsen, "Star Wars: The Old Republic revealed", GameSpot, October 21, 2008; Butts, "Star Wars: The Old Republic Preview", IGN, October 21, 2008, p. 2; Thorsen, "Star Wars: The Old Republic revealed", GameSpot, October 21, 2008; Schiesel, "Star Wars: The Old Republic vs. World of Warcraft Online", en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Star Wars: The Old Republic" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Star Wars The Old Republic Approaches Hyperspace Launch", BioWare, December 7, 2011 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Ray, "'Star Wars: The Old Republic' subscribers fall to under one million", Polygon, July 31, 2012. facts only, no text reused. polygon.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Star Wars: The Old Republic (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Science Fiction Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Star Wars: The Old Republic (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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