Report: EA's Riccitiello Confirms Star Wars: KoToR MMO

Author: by Staff

According to a new report from Conde Nast's Portfolio.com, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has confirmed in an interview during the E3 Summit that EA and BioWare are working on a Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic-based MMO in association with LucasArts. Speaking in an interview with the site, Riccitiello noted: ""We've got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development... the first title, based on the Warhammer property, will launch soon." He continued: "And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about -- in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it." When asked if he meant the 'oft rumored Knights of the Old Republic Online', according to the site, Riccitiello confirmed: "Yes". Original Knights Of The Old Republic developer BioWare established its BioWare Austin studio in 2006 specifically to work on an unnamed massively multiplayer online role-playing game, and confirmed a 'mystery project' with LucasArts in late 2007. At the time of the Electronic Arts acquisition of BioWare/Pandemic, Citi analyst Brent Thill called the acquisition "a strong positive" for EA, in light of his prediction "based on past development work" that BioWare is quietly working on the Star Wars MMO, and Thill also theorized the publisher was ready to make a move that "bolsters [its] MMO exposure."