Release Date and Pricing Plan for Star Wars: The Old Republic Finally Announced

[Scott Bullock]

Release Date and Pricing Plan for Star Wars: The Old Republic Finally Announced

Bioware holds to its promise to release its upcoming MMO in 2011, with only 11 days to spare.

After what seems like ages, Bioware has finally bitten the bullet and announced the final release dates in North America and Europe for the long-awaited and much anticipated The Old Republic.

On December 20 (just five days before Christmas; I guess Bioware isn't banking too much on huge holiday sales) the game will be released in the US and Canada, and two days later across the pond in Europe.

The subscription price is nothing terribly surprising, and in fact has the exact same pricing structure as the game that will (as always) be the MMO's primary competitor: World of Warcraft. So that's $14.99 a month, $41.97 for three months, and $77.94 for a six month subscription. Translated for those readers of a more European persuasion, that's €12.99, €35.97, and €65.94 respectively.

I'm not sure what will be more heartbreaking: the crushed spirits of unfortunate gamers unable to get their mitts on a copy of the game when it is released, or the downtrodden and pitiful expressions on the faces of countless family members when gamers ditch Christmas in favor of lightsabers and Wookies.

Source: MCV [http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/star-wars-old-republic-finally-gets-2011-release-date/085319]

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[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I predict 40,000 YouTube videos of depressed and angry kids getting sweaters and socks instead of The Old Republic.

I plan on waiting a month or so, give them time to iron out the beginning kinks.

 

[New Troll]

I'm not even a Star Wars fan but I'd have to say lightsabers and especially Wookies over Christmas for sure! And the sad part is I will probably quit playing by the time 2012 rolls around.

 

[JediMB]

Well, at least those of us who've pre-ordered will have some time to play the game before Christmas rolls in, so we can surely afford staying off the game once family time begins.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Aaaarrggh, if only I had the money. I quit WoW to save money, but I don't think I will have enough to get it before or shortly after launch.

If I do play it, it will be after I get a job and I actually start making money. But seeing how getting hired somewhere is one of the hardest things to do these days with stupid employer hiring tactics, I don't see myself getting a job for many more months to come.

If only I could think of something awesome and new to write for the Escapist.

 

[Sonicron]

Considering I only get two or three chances a year to see my family (and I mean any family members), the choice is pretty eas--oh, wait! I wasn't planning on buying this game anyway! Even better. Have fun with the bugs and instabilities of the post-release days, everyone!

 

[Artemis923]

Never again will I pay monthly to play one just one game.

Especially since it's the same "tank-heal-deepz" routine as WoW anyway.

FUCK monthly subscriptions...greedy bastards.

 

[Rawne1980]

Already have it ordered and waiting for the headstart.

I barely like most of my family anyway. I'll give the kids their presents and the wife hers, have dinner and then get to stabbing things in the face with my big laser sword.

 

[RobCoxxy]

FUCK monthly subscriptions...greedy bastards.

How dare they need money to maintain world servers and keep updates and content coming to the game to make it worth playing for longer?

How very fucking dare they?

 

[llubtoille]

Already have it ordered and waiting for the headstart.

I barely like most of my family anyway. I'll give the kids their presents and the wife hers, have dinner and then get to stabbing things in the face with my big laser sword.

Haha, I love how you're referring to your immediate family,usually it's the extended family most try to avoid.

I don't see myself buying this pre-2012, while I don't doubt it'll be a fun game.
the lure of the warm summer days outside (down here in the pacific) is more enticing.

 

[Issurru]

Already have it ordered and waiting for the headstart.

I barely like most of my family anyway. I'll give the kids their presents and the wife hers, have dinner and then get to stabbing things in the face with my big laser sword.

This is pretty much my sentiment, sure some of my friends called me a bastard for not really wanting to spend time with my family. But they don't really know my family. One side is full of assholes and snot nosed brats whom I only like a few since they are the tolerable ones. As for the other side of my family? Well they make fun of me for gaming so I usually just get to tell them to piss off while I play something.

TLDR: I'll be bringing my computer home to my mom's house to play this, sure i'll spend SOME time with my extended family (the ones I actually can stand) and with my immediate family, who despite their numerous flaws I still love.

P.S I would still take a bullet for ANY of my family members so please don't call me a terrible human being, even though it is true

 

[Th37thTrump3t]

Eh... prices are a bit steep for my tastes but no doubt they will go down within a few months. As they said they are aiming for a smooth launch with not many people at the start, so my bet is on them having the subscription prices pretty high so people are not as enthused to go and buy a subscription. Then after a few months, when they have enough feedback from those who did shell out to play it and have a bit of time to iron out most of the post-release bugs, they will cut the prices and make it more cost-effective to play, therefore opening the gate for those with a lesser income rate to afford to play.

This is just my little theory though. I honestly don't plan on buying it any time soon. If it gets good reviews (Not talking about IGN or any of those fuckers) and if the price for subscribing goes down I will consider it.

 

[RejjeN]

FUCK monthly subscriptions...greedy bastards.

How dare they need money to maintain world servers and keep updates and content coming to the game to make it worth playing for longer?

How very fucking dare they?

I agree that some way to earn revenue is necessary, but I think if they should take 15 USD/Month buying the actual game should be very cheap (just covering the retailing costs), or it should simply be along the lines of 10USD/Month. I'm on the fence about this game since there's already so many games coming out in the following months that I want more, but perhaps next year...

 

[EHKOS]

I hate monthly subscriptions because I'M TOO POOR FOR THEM Maybe I can rig it so I can play it offline somehow, then I'd buy it.

 

[RobCoxxy]

FUCK monthly subscriptions...greedy bastards.

How dare they need money to maintain world servers and keep updates and content coming to the game to make it worth playing for longer?

How very fucking dare they?

Yes, because God knows that all MMOs in existence must demand monthly payments out of their customers, or else they couldn't possibly keep their servers running. There's simply no way to fund a game on F2P status, that's why there's no F2P MMOs out there.

Oh, wait, WoW recently changed its early-game to a F2P system purely because of the fact that F2P is more lucrative than a monthly model and allow players to try the game before paying into it, whereas monthly models demand that players pay into a service they haven't tested before and don't know if they'll like or not. And Guild Wars 2, which is likely to have a much larger playerbase than The Old Republic, is going F2P as well. Huh. Imagine that.

Wow is F2P up to level 20, then you can't level up. If you hit level 21 after paying, you can't use that character until you pay again.

Hardly a proper f2p model.
And Guild Wars 2 is also shaping up to be awesome, but I definitely want TOR.

 

[Roserari]

I think I'll wait for the f2p subscription model.

 

[ReservoirAngel]

I'm tempted to buy this just so I have an excuse to lock myself away from my family at Christmas.

I joke, I have no intention of buying this at all. But on the serious side of it, I would appreciate something to keep me away from my family during the holiday period. Getting my extended family together is like a textbook lesson on "how to piss absolutely everybody off in 12 minutes or less".

 

[AuronFtw]

Meh. Prolly gonna wait to see if TOR has any endgame content before buying. Rift was a total letdown in that regard - decent leveling, varied zones, standard kill 10 x quests, but the raiding/heroic dungeon content was just awful. Blatant rip-off of WoW's model without the magic that makes WoW endgame engaging - a single chestpiece required 200 plaques which dropped 1 or 2 at a time per boss. Factions that required 100k rep to max, with daily quests only giving 300. Joke on wheels.

Definitely don't wanna dump any time into TOR if that's all there is. Or if there's less :/

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Just saw TB's interview with the story director, and you could've actually counted me interested then. But no way am I ever paying a subscription for a game. I need that to spend on other games, keep up the variety and so forth.