| Mail |

You might also like: WoW Insider, Massively, and more

More Sites You Might Like

EA waffles on Star Wars: The Old Republic launch date, expects it before next March

by Alexander Sliwinski on May 4th 2011 7:10PM

EA's fourth quarter investor call today had some Jedi mind tricks going on when it came to the topic of highly-anticipated MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic's launch date. In documentation provided to investors, the company noted the title is "expected to launch in either Q2 FY12 or Q3 FY12." Translation: Second half of 2011, as was previously stated.

However, during the investor call, EA CEO John Riccitiello said, "The launch date, while in our fiscal year (before March, 2012), is not yet certain."

The hedging continued later with CFO Eric Brown, "While we fully anticipate launching Star Wars: The Old Republic in Q2 or Q3, the low end of our guidance range assumes the outside possibility of a January launch."

If you're playing along at home: when the paperwork, CEO and CFO aren't on the same page, it means EA isn't exactly sure when this thing is coming. One thing is for sure: they hope it's by next March.

Tags: BioWare, EA, Electronic-Arts, eric-brown, John-riccitiello, pc, Star-Wars, Star-Wars-The-Old-Republic, The-Old-Republic

Reader Comments (39)

Honestly, at this point, I don't care when it actually comes out. I just want it to be amazing when it does.

This wasn't the launch date I was looking for.

Mm, waffles.

@Ezio Auditore da Firenze
and star wars mmm

@Ezio Auditore da Firenze

By the way, happy Star Wars Day, everyone!

@Shadowbender may the 4th be with you

Give it to Obsidian, and they'll have it out by the end of the month...

Oh, you want it to not be glitchy? Then I have no idea...

@Gibbeynator What about writing? Obsidian has a damn good writing team

First ME3, now this! I don't think my 24y/o heart can take it.

ahh phuck it! *truffle shuffles*

@hellohello
They're going to drop this and ME3 within months of each other?

Well they aren't gonna release TOR and ME3 too close to one another, so judging by the ME3 delay, I imagine TOR is likely going to hit sometime in the fall, probably when ME3 was originally meant to release.

Release date will presumably be announced at E3, with additional testing in between (and hopefully an open beta)

@Frostfell

They might end up going with Dragon Age: Origins/Mass Effect 2 route, sure. Origins released in Fall '09, ME2 released January '10.

meh.. I don't want to see Star Wars and video game in the same sentence unless it's announcing Battlefront 3.. and without any bs motion gimmicks.

Regarding the Mass Effect 3 delay, anyone could have seen that coming from a mile away. There was no way even Bioware themselves actually thought that they would meet the 2011 window.

Old Republic-wise, I'd like to try out the game an see if the gameplay is tasteful on my end.

Late games are only late until they come out.
Bad games are bad forever.

@(Unverified)

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness says hello, my friend.

Please just make KOTR 3 oh and please don't dumb it down like ME2 and DA2 I want to play an actual RPG

@marcopolo45

I'm sorry, I liked KOTOR, but if you think spamming MASTER FLURRY MASTER FLURRY MASTER FLURRY is somehow a deeper RPG experience....

Well, I guess we'll disagree. So there.

@KvanCetre Man, if they could make it like Mass Effect 2, or hell Dragon Age 2 if they had to, I would take that KOTOR 3 in a heartbeat. I just gotta play more Revan man, I GOTTA

@KvanCetre I reached inside your mind and saw that you were thinking that marcopolo45 is a whiny putz.

I'd rather the delay and get it right. Anyway, I've been more than satisfied with the other Star Wars news today. Wait, way to try and bury that one EA!

@Hong Dong

What other Star Wars news?

@dissectional75 not sure what he means either. The only other Star Wars news i've heard today is that the Star Wars Blu-ray set will not contain the unedited editions, which is hardly something to rejoice over.

@TheDarkWayne

Maybe it's that today is Star Wars Day? May the 4th be with you... :l

Would you say that their hope that it's by next March is...a new hope?

As long as the game is kickass, I don't mind a few delays. Or if they let me into testing, they can take all the time they want :P

'course now I have find some other game to obsess over. I can't follow this every day for the rest of the year...

there joking ? im getting sick of waiting and the shine has been taken off the game cos of all their backpeddling

@vetoo i find your lack of faith disturbing.

Dont belive what that Idiot says.

I'm sorry but this article is wrong. The range that was offered was July - January 2012. They went on to say that their target date is before the end of october, and that january is the least likely of possibilities. I think a lot of people are confused because Fiscal years and quarters aren't the most logical if you're not an economist or the like.

Star Wars, Star Wars, gonna put on some Star Wars.
Skywalker, Skywalker, Yeah!
Skywalker, Skywalker, Yeah!
Han, Han, Han, Han...

I would be willing to bet that the release date hasn't changed; its just that they are now pretending to be more like ArenaNet and Blizzard for the press where it comes to release dates--"when its ready".

goog news! i have so many games I need to finish b4 ToR comes out xD

I keep hearing about this game, and it's funny because I thought it was a PC game that had been released ages ago, like some of those other Star Wars games. I guess this one is getting some Duke Nukem Forever treatment. Well, maybe not quite THAT extreme.

@TCJJ Sounds like you're getting this game mixed up with Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel, which were released a few years ago. Rather confusingly, Lucasarts in their wisdom decided to name their upcoming MMO "The Old Republic"

Anywho, Knights of the Old Republic 2 was infamously shoved out the door to meet an arbitrary release date, leaving it full of more holes than your average block of swiss cheese. I'd rather this game get delayed and be good, rather than rushed and be bad.

Is that Mr. Incredible with a lightsaber?

This isn't news. This is just Joystiq muddying the waters unnecessarily. The CEO said "The launch date, while in our fiscal year (before March, 2012), is not yet certain." That's nothing new...they haven't announced a launch date other than the second half of the calendar year and they aren't going to set a date on an investor call.

As far as the CFO's statement about the possibility of January or beyond, most publicly traded companies provide investors with a range of guidance on how the company might perform over the coming year. If you ever read a financial filing, it is filled with disclosures on the risks of forward looking statements. For companies in this industry, delays are almost always a risk and therefore it's only prudent to provide investors with low end guidance which might include a delay to a title as important their financials as TOR is to EA.

Don't worry, Bioware's down there! They'll have that game released in no time!

... Or this'll be the weakest release of all time...

Hopefully atleast Guild Wars 2 makes it out this year. My time and money will be spent on whichever releases first.

Breaking News

Star Wars: The Old Republic

EA waffles on Star Wars: The Old Republic launch date, expects it before next March

Reader Comments (39)

Posted: May 4th 2011 7:18PM blackangel209 said

Posted: May 4th 2011 8:23PM Magrippinho said

Posted: May 4th 2011 7:23PM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: May 4th 2011 7:24PM Rizraz said

Posted: May 4th 2011 7:46PM Shadowbender said

Posted: May 4th 2011 8:33PM Rizraz said

Posted: May 4th 2011 7:25PM Gibbeynator said

Posted: May 4th 2011 9:02PM Thumpybass said

Posted: May 4th 2011 7:25PM hellohello said

Posted: May 5th 2011 10:10AM SuperWoody64 said

Posted: May 4th 2011 7:26PM Frostfell said

Posted: May 4th 2011 7:35PM Shadowbender said

Posted: May 4th 2011 7:30PM DigitalImpulse said

Posted: May 4th 2011 7:32PM Shadowbender said

Posted: May 4th 2011 7:35PM (Unverified) said

Posted: May 4th 2011 10:58PM Obelix the Gaul said

Posted: May 4th 2011 7:41PM marcopolo45 said

Posted: May 4th 2011 7:49PM KvanCetre said

Posted: May 4th 2011 8:21PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: May 4th 2011 8:35PM Vagrant Zero said

Posted: May 4th 2011 7:41PM Hong Dong said

Posted: May 4th 2011 7:58PM dissectional75 said

Posted: May 4th 2011 8:22PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: May 4th 2011 8:58PM dissectional75 said

Posted: May 4th 2011 8:36PM Trojan said

Posted: May 4th 2011 8:48PM hereafter said

Posted: May 4th 2011 8:50PM vetoo said

Posted: May 5th 2011 1:36AM buck hunter said

Posted: May 5th 2011 12:47AM Viiral said

Posted: May 5th 2011 2:41AM omniverousbeef said

Posted: May 5th 2011 2:49AM Vocality said

Posted: May 5th 2011 2:54AM Rez Delnava said

Posted: May 5th 2011 5:04AM Da Mr said

Posted: May 5th 2011 7:27AM TCJJ said

Posted: May 5th 2011 9:34AM jivjov said

Posted: May 5th 2011 9:04AM Grimlock said

Posted: May 5th 2011 10:47AM Rockhurst said

Posted: May 6th 2011 5:54PM PurpleHayes215 said

Posted: May 6th 2011 11:36PM Anticrawl said

Star Wars: The Old Republic Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

WB conjures up Harry Potter for Kinect this fall

Featured Stories

Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is a stranger in a strange land

Silver Lining: I Am Alive's unfeeling world

Game Of Thrones and the paradoxes of adaptation

Engadget

TUAW

Massively

WoW