EA Takes Over All Publishing Duties For Star Wars: TOR From LucasArts

Electronic Arts announced that it is taking over all publishing, marketing, and distribution responsibilities previously held by LucasArts Ltd. for upcoming MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic. EA says it updated its global publishing agreement with LucasArts in order to have these publishing duties "centralized for efficiency", claiming that this will benefit customer service and other operations. LucasArts, as the licensor of the Star Wars property, will continue to collaborate on the online game's design and marketing. "There's not going to be any obvious change for gamers," said BioWare CEO and co-founder Dr. Ray Muzyka according to a report from consumer site Joystiq. "It makes things easier for us to have everything under one roof, and that will eventually benefit players." Developed by EA subsidiary BioWare Austin, Star Wars: The Old Republic is slated to ship for PCs some time in the first half of 2011. The title will be BioWare's first MMORPG and is said to have more story content than all of the company's previous titles combined. Star Wars: The Old Republic will allow gamers to play as Jedi, Sith, or other Star Wars roles in a universe set thousands of years before the franchise's films. Players can make in-game decisions that determine their path down the light or dark side of the Force, befriend companions, and team up with friends to battle enemies.