A galaxy far, far away has a new home. The MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic is officially moving its development from Bioware to Broadsword. After rumors began circulating in recent weeks, Bioware finally confirmed the move in a developer blog last week. Since it was released, the game has been actively developed and maintained full time by Bioware and published by Electronic Arts. EA will continue to be the publisher, but all other work is completely moving out of the studio.
The move makes sense for many different reasons. Broadsword is a studio who specializes in MMO games and community-driven experiences. They are known for Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot. This will allow SW:TOR to continue to grow and receive the care it needs to continue to function as an online game, without it having to rely on the divided attention of Bioware. All of the current plans for content and development will be continuing with the move as well. The blog stated that there are new systems and content that are already being planned by Broadsword so the game will continue to live on.
For Bioware, this move allows them to fully focus on their two flagship IPs, Dragon Age and Mass Effect. The next Dragon Age game, Dragon Age Dreadwolf, is already in development and it sounds like active testing and polishing are underway. With the ability to focus on it more, the game has the chance to be fully unveiled sooner than later. For Mass Effect, not much is currently known about the next installment. A teaser cinematic and a couple teaser images have been shown, but there is very little in firm details. The game has been billed as Mass Effect 4 by many in the media and it seems to be confirmed the game will take place after the events of Mass Effect 3. The game is still in pre-production, but Bioware seems excited at what is coming and can now dedicate more resources to that development.
Image from: Bioware/EA
