Ongoing support, management, and development of Star Wars: The Old Republic is being moved away from Bioware and into the hands of third-party developer, Broadsword Online.
As initially reported by IGN, the free-to-play MMORPG is going to move from EA's in-house Bioware studio to Broadsword Online, and will do so primarily to focus the former's time and energy on singe-player game series, notably Dragon Age and Mass Effect.
EA later confirmed that it was in "conversations with Broadsword" regarding the ongoing support for the game, so it looks like the change is incoming. This upcoming change in the studio that manages the game doesn't change anything publisher-wise, as EA remains firmly at the helm. Broadsword has pedigree in the field, developing the likes of Dark Age of Camelot; it's also headed up by ex-Bioware VP Rob Denton - who himself has previous experience with The Old Republic. This means the game and its community are still going to be in very safe hands.
Star Wars: The Old Republic might be a 12-year-old game (having released in December 2011) but remains incredibly popular since its switch from a subscription model to free-to-play. It also gets regular updates and new content drops, complete with expansions that constantly keep things fresh for committed players.
At the other end of this move, seeing EA commit and refocus staff, time, and resources purely on Dragon Age and Mass Effect is great news. Updates on both series have been relatively hard to come by in recent months - we still don't know too much about Dragon Age 4 - known officially as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf now - or Mass Effect 4, beyond a handful of teasers.
Naturally, this online game is not to be confused with the upcoming Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake that's in the works too. However, we also don't know very much about this project either, with only a teaser trailer from a 2021 PlayStation Showcase to go on still.
If you're looking for more inspiration when it comes to titles like this one, then check out our guides to the best online games going, and the best single-player games to dive into.
