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A new report claims that BioWare will be handing off control of its long-running MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, to focus on upcoming titles like the currently untitled Mass Effect follow-up and Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.
The report from IGN states that “sources familiar to the matter” claim that BioWare and new developer Broadsword Online Games have both signed a statement of intent. Sources expect the deal to be finalized by the end of June. EA will remain as publisher. Broadsword currently works on Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot and is run by former Mythic Entertainment co-founder and BioWare VP Rob Denton, who worked on The Old Republic at the beginning of its development.
The report also states that 70-80 BioWare employees work on The Old Republic right now. More than half of them are expected to transfer to Broadsword. The remainder may find new positions at EA, but some could also be laid off.
Development and support for The Old Republic is set to continue as planned. The upcoming patch 7.3 and next PvP season are on schedule. Last year, The Old Republic creative director Charles Boyd departed BioWare. As of November 2019, the MMO had made nearly $1 billion in total revenue. A remake of the classic RPG Knights of the Old Republic, unaffiliated with Bioware, was announced, but has since been indefinitely delayed after changing development teams. Both Dragon Age: Dreadwolf and the untitled Mass Effect follow-up have been confirmed, but details of the titles are scant.
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