BioWare has handed over the baton to work on a new Mass Effect title, but the development transition for Star Wars: The Old Republic (shortened to SWTOR for short!) hasn’t been entirely smooth.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is a long-established MMORPG with a solid fanbase for over a decade. Still, from now on, it’s not BioWare’s responsibility, but Broadsword Online Games’ (i.e., the earlier rumors weren’t wrong this time either…), who are also involved in maintaining an even older MMO, Ultima Online. So you could say that SWTOR got a walking cane, and BioWare’s Gary McKay wrote a blog post about it:
“While Electronic Arts will remain Star Wars: The Old Republic’s publisher, development of the game 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.
All current plans are still in place. There are also exciting new features planned that the team is not quite ready to talk about yet, but suffice it to say that players can expect improvements and new content in the future. […] No significant change comes without challenges. Among them is that most of the current team will be invited to accompany the game on its move to Broadsword, though unfortunately, not every role will make a move. This is the hardest part of this transition, and these decisions were not made lightly. We are, of course, doing everything we can to support the affected team members, who have an opportunity to find new roles within EA,” McKay wrote.
So, unfortunately, some people are being fired with this developer swap, as BioWare’s Edmonton/Austin studio duo are now devoting all their time to “building, polishing, and tuning” Dragon Age: Dreadwolf for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC, while the new Mass Effect remains in pre-production. Keith Kanneg, a veteran developer of Star Wars: The Old Republic, continues at Broadsword, so consistency and stability will be there even after the MMO’s 7.4 update.
Too bad some people won’t have jobs after this… and it’s suspicious that Electronic Arts hasn’t announced HOW MANY people they’ve fired!
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