Star Wars: The Old Republic Is Being Passed Off From BioWare to a New Studio

BioWare has today announced that it will be passing off the ongoing development of its MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic to a new studio. Since its launch all the way back in 2011, BioWare has been the sole developer on The Old Republic and has continued to keep the game alive with new content and updates. Now, after such a long period of time working on the title, BioWare has revealed that it will be ending its own work on Star Wars: The Old Republic and will hand the reins to developer Broadsword. 

In a new blog post on BioWare's official website, studio GM Gary McKay explained that he believes The Old Republic has the "best opportunity to grow and evolve" if given to a new developer. As such, Broadsword will be stepping in to take over the ongoing work on the Star Wars MMO moving forward. Previously, Broadsword has worked on other MMO titles, namely with Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot. 

"I've been working closely with Keith Kanneg, who leads the SWTOR team, to give the game and the team the best opportunity to grow and evolve. And so, while EA will remain SWTOR's publisher, development of the game will move to our partner and friends at Broadsword, a boutique studio with expertise in managing online games," McKay said. "In the long run, though, we are confident that this is the best decision for the game and its community. We at BioWare will miss being a part of SWTOR's story going forward. But we also know that it will be in very good hands."

McKay also made clear that this shift in developers doesn't mean that anything on the player side will be changing with Star Wars: The Old Republic. EA will still serve as the publisher of the project and some individual devs that have previously been on the Old Republic team will have the option to jump ship to Broadsword. So while this marks the end of BioWare's time being the lead developer on the long-running MMO, it doesn't seem like this move is one that will have a negative impact on players. 

How do you feel about BioWare letting another studio take over the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic? And do you think this could be a good change for the game? Let me know either down in the comments or reach out to me on Twitter at @MooreMan12.