{"id":384611,"date":"2023-06-06T16:32:30","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T21:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/?p=384611"},"modified":"2023-06-06T16:32:30","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T21:32:30","slug":"ea-star-wars-the-old-republic-moving-to-third-party-studio-bioware-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/ea-star-wars-the-old-republic-moving-to-third-party-studio-bioware-report\/","title":{"rendered":"EA is reportedly moving Star Wars: The Old Republic to a third-party studio"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><em>The Old Republic\u00a0<\/em>could be under new management as BioWare shifts focus<\/h2>\n<p>It sounds like things are shifting at Electronic Arts and BioWare. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/star-wars-the-old-republic-development-third-party-bioware\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">new report from IGN<\/a> says EA is nearing an agreement to hand development and operation of\u00a0<em>Star Wars: The Old Republic\u00a0<\/em>to a third-party studio.<\/p>\n<p>According to IGN&#8217;s report, Broadsword Online Games\u2014developer of\u00a0<em>Ultima Online\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0<em>Dark Age of Camelot<\/em>\u2014would take the reins. The deal is expected to be final as soon as this month.<\/p>\n<p>Over half of the 70 to 80 people on the core <em>Old Republic\u00a0<\/em>team are expected to move to Broadsword. Those remaining with EA will reportedly have an opportunity to look for other roles in the company, but could otherwise see layoffs.<\/p>\n<p><em>Star Wars: The Old Republic\u00a0<\/em>will keep getting updates, including the upcoming 7.3 patch, and EA would remain publisher.<\/p>\n<p>On the BioWare side, the team will focus its resources on current single-player efforts. This includes both <em>Dragon Age: Dreadwolf\u00a0<\/em>and the next entry in the\u00a0<em>Mass Effect\u00a0<\/em>series.<\/p>\n<p>We reached out to Electronic Arts for comment, and a spokesperson provided the following response:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cAlmost 12 years after launch, <em>Star Wars\u2122: The Old Republic<\/em> remains a success and continues to grow its dedicated and passionate community. We\u2019re so proud of the work the team has done, and the future of the game and the community continues to be very bright. We\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"STAR WARS\u2122: The Old Republic\u2122 - 4K ULTRA HD \u2013 \u2018Return\u2019 Cinematic Trailer\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Pb8M5P1QKX8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>A new era for the republic<\/h2>\n<p><em>Star Wars: The Old Republic\u00a0<\/em>has been running for quite a while, having launched back in 2011. It added <a href=\"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/star-wars-the-old-republic-can-now-be-played-for-free\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">free-to-play options<\/a> a year later, and has since rolled on with expansions and content updates.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not surprising that EA wants to keep its\u00a0<em>Star Wars\u00a0<\/em>MMO running. But moving it from BioWare does draw some attention back to the developer.<\/p>\n<p>Both\u00a0<em>Dreadwolf\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0<em>Mass Effect\u00a0<\/em>are in development, though we haven&#8217;t heard much recently from either project. The new\u00a0<em>Dragon Age\u00a0<\/em>has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/dragon-age-dreadwolf-alpha-milestone-bioware-ea-news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">passed an alpha milestone<\/a> and received a subtitle, while we haven&#8217;t heard much about the new\u00a0<em>Mass Effect\u00a0<\/em>since its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/mass-effect-came-to-the-game-awards-just-to-pronounce-itself-still-alive\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reveal.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/bioware-mass-effect-veteran-mac-walter-leaves-news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">senior talent<\/a> has also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/casey-hudson-and-mark-darrah-are-retiring-from-bioware-but-mass-effect-and-dragon-age-are-in-good-hands\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">left the company<\/a>, though former executive producer Mark Darrah has returned as a consultant to work on\u00a0<em>Dreadwolf<\/em>. Additionally, EA reportedly told <a href=\"https:\/\/venturebeat.com\/games\/mark-darrah-rejoins-dragon-age-team-and-mass-effect-studio-will-help-polish-the-game\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">VentureBeat<\/a> that the\u00a0<em>Mass Effect\u00a0<\/em>team is helping with production of the new\u00a0<em>Dragon Age<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>All this seems to point towards a push to get something out the door for BioWare. Hopefully\u00a0<em>The Old Republic\u00a0<\/em>can at least find a good home for the players still adventuring in it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Old Republic\u00a0could be under new management as BioWare shifts focus It sounds like things are shifting at Electronic Arts&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":808,"featured_media":384615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"article_type":"","ub_ctt_via":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[330,22680,19722,19180,19556,123,1753],"internal-label":[],"invoiceable_action":[],"article_type":[],"coauthors":[{"id":808,"display_name":"Eric Van Allen","user_nicename":"ericvanallen"}],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/StarWarsTOR_Lead_060623.jpg?fit=1200%2C675","author_info":{"display_name":"Eric Van Allen","author_link":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/author\/ericvanallen\/"},"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/StarWarsTOR_Lead_060623.jpg?fit=1200%2C675","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384611"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/808"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384611"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":384622,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384611\/revisions\/384622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384611"},{"taxonomy":"internal-label","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-label?post=384611"},{"taxonomy":"invoiceable_action","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/invoiceable_action?post=384611"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=384611"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=384611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}