The development of the long-running MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic is moving from BioWare to Broadsword. Broadsword is currently heading up the development of two venerable MMOs, Dark Age of Camelot and Ultima Online.
Earlier this month, rumors began to float that EA was looking to unload the nearly 12-year-old game to move some team members to the Dragon Age Dreadwolf project. Those rumors are now confirmed with the publication of a new post on the SWTOR site from BioWare General Manager Gary McKay and Executive Producer Keith Kanneg.
While EA will remain SWTOR’s publisher, the game’s development will move to our partner and friends at Broadsword, a boutique studio with expertise in managing online games. Both the Broadsword studio and SWTOR team members will join forces and work tirelessly to support “every player, every day,” ensuring that these worlds and communities continue to thrive and grow. Their Founder and President, Rob Denton, even has direct experience with SWTOR, having helped lead the team during the development and launch of the game during his time at EA.
According to McKay’s post, most of the team “will be invited” to move over to Broadsword, though not all positions can be accommodated. This, of course, means layoffs. The post says that BioWare will work with affected team members to “find new roles in EA.” In addition, BW will be partnering with Broadsword to help members move to its studio “as comfortable as possible.”
Players worried that this spells trouble for SWTOR are assured that the game’s current update schedule will continue, presumably relatively unaffected by the behind-the-scenes moves. Earlier this month, Keith Kanneg wrote on the SWTOR forum that “all future content updates are also moving forward as planned.”
Kanneg further elaborated, “We are excited about the future of SWTOR, and once we get our feet firmly planted at Broadsword, we look forward to sharing plans for game direction and improvements. Until then, rest assured that all the current plans are still in motion!”
Check out the full post about Star Wars: The Old Republic and its future by visiting the BioWare site.
