BioWare’s Keith Kanneg Says Star Wars The Old Republic Isn’t Going Into Maintenance Mode

Earlier this month, BioWare made the worrying announcement that it was planning to pawn off Star Wars The Old Republic to a third-party studio. At the time, the studio was looking at Electronic Arts-subsidiary and Ultima Online developer Broadsword Online Games to take over development, although both parties have yet to come to an agreement as of this writing.

BioWare Executive Producer Keith Kanneg, however, has assured the SWTOR community that a new studio taking over doesn’t mean that the game will be going into maintenance mode. In fact, there’s several big updates already in the pipeline for the Star Wars MMORPG for the next two years.

“With 7.3 now live, our priority is continuing to prepare for Game Updates 7.3.1 and 7.4 along with planning for 2024 and 2025 with a focus on content and continued modernization initiatives,” Kanneg said. “[…] We are working on future plans including more story and modernization initiatives for the game. We’ve upgraded the game to 64-bit, and are working on moving the servers to the cloud, and there are more content and tech updates on the way.”

“Moving to a third party studio would allow us a lot of creative freedom, and we’re very much looking forward to the opportunities that will be open to us,” he added.

Kanneg also emphasized that the upcoming change will have minimal impact on the game. The development team will continue working from their Austin base, with the exception of remote workers. EA will maintain its role as the game's publisher, and player accounts and in-game currency, such as cartel coins, will remain unaffected. The game's forums will remain operational, and EA will continue to provide support services.

“I know that when something like this happens it can bring on feelings of doom and gloom,” he acknowledged. “This isn’t the beginning of the end, this truly is a new beginning for us. As you can imagine there are quite a few moving parts right now but we have a lot to talk about in our future. You can expect 7.3.1 towards the end of the summer, with the story continuing in 7.4 on its heels as we enter the holidays.”

Players can also expect backend improvements, including transitioning to DirectX 12 and improved Steam integration. The team promises to reveal more information about the aforementioned updates in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Update 7.3: Old Wounds is now live with new story quests and a new Flashpoint mission to take on.