Star Wars: The Old Republic’s ongoing development may shift from BioWare to an external studio

EA are in conversations to move ongoing development of BioWare MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, to a third-party developer, Broadsword Online Games. IGN reported the news earlier today, after which EA confirmed that conversations were taking place.

“Almost 12 years after launch, Star Wars: The Old Republic remains a success and continues to grow its dedicated and passionate community,” says the statement from EA. “We’re so proud of the work the team has done, and the future of the game and the community continues to be very bright. We’re evaluating how we give the game and the team the best opportunity to grow and evolve, which includes conversations with Broadsword, a boutique studio that specializes in delivering online, community-driven experiences. Our goal is to do what is best for the game and its players.”

IGN report that 70-80 developers continue to work on Star Wars: The Old Republic at EA, without around half expected to move to Broadsword. Those who don’t make the move may face lay offs.

Star Wars: The Old Republic was released in 2011 as an uncomfortable marriage between BioWare’s storytelling and the systems design expected of a post-World Of Warcraft MMO. It eventually found its footing in expansions by leaning into the former, and is now your 17th favourite space game.

Broadsword Online Games was founded by former developers from Mythic Entertainment, also an EA subsidiary, when that studio was closed in 2014. Broadsword took over ongoing operations of Mythic’s MMO, Dark Age Of Camelot, and are also now the studio maintaining genre stalwart Ultima Online.