SWTOR To Be Released Late 2010?

Earlier this week a French site, Star Wars Universe (English translation here), reported that they had learned, via a reliable source within LucasArts, that SWTOR was on track to be released in October of 2010. Let’s go ahead and break this down and see, based on previous releases, how accurate this may be.

First, we’ve got to look at the MMO giant, World of Warcraft. Blizzard made it’s official announcement that the game was in the works on September 2, 2001. After much development and a rather significant open beta, WoW was released to the public on November 23, 2004…3 years after their initial press release. Another genre favorite, Guild Wars, took about two years to create its first incarnation with an announcement in April of 2003 and a release in September 2005. Keep in mind that the scale of SWTOR greatly outweighs both of these games, especially the latter.

With some kind of reference for the industry standard games, next we need to see where The Old Republic is at in its development cycle. Bioware Austin was formed in early 2006 with the sole purpose of creating SWTOR. The official announcment of the game came on October 7th, 2008. It is incredibly important to remember that at the time of this press release, the team at Bioware had a fully functioning game that employees were playing on a daily basis. If the folks over at Star Wars Universe really do have a reliable connection who believes release is October 2010, that’s a four and a half year development period. Pretty hefty, right? With the amount of content that is going into this game, and the team’s dedication and demand for perfection, I would say this rumor certainly holds some weight. In which case, I am super stoked!!

Do you think the rumor is accurate? If so, will we see a public beta as soon as Spring of next year? Vote in the poll and let us know what you think in the comments!

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