PixlBit

This galaxy is closer than you think.

It looks as if EA has a pretty firm release date set for Star Wars: The Old Republic. The highly-anticipated MMORPG from BioWare has been in development for quite some time, and rumors of an astronomical budget have created an understandable amount of skepticism regarding release dates.

However, EA made an announcement that The Old Republic should be arriving on store shelves (and EA’s own digital storefront, Origin) on December 20th. That’s just in time for thousands of would-be jedi, sith, and smugglers to spend Christmas vacation exploring planets, swinging lightsabers, and typing “Noooooo!” in /shout chat. It also gives the game a chance to shine before Blizzard’s 800 pound demon in the room arrives to steal away the majority of PC gamers next year.

There could be a wrinkle in that release date, though, as just days before at an investor’s call, there was some concern that The Old Republic may not make it to stores this year. At that call, EA CFO Eric Brown had this to say:

“In terms of timing we haven’t given a street date yet. We won’t do so for some time, possibly at our next upcoming earnings call towards the end of October. We did hold out a slight possibility that it could slip to our March quarter. And the factors that would cause a slip is, for example, us not being completely satisfied with the scalability testing, and wanting to tune it for several extra weeks.”

In response to that, though, Stephen Reid with BioWare posted on the forums for The Old Republic, and went a long way towards easing the ire of fans looking forward to the game:

“Investor calls and conferences are for investors. They are not meant for the general public, It’s important to also note the word ‘possibly’ was used in Eric’s statement above. Just as he didn’t promise that you would get a release date announcement in September, he isn’t promising a release date before the next earnings call. It could happen, but it’s not a promise. There is absolutely no change to our previous messaging with this statement. We are in active and extensive testing for The Old Republic. We’re aiming to release the game in the holiday 2011 window (or, before the end of the year, to speak in non-American for a minute). However, as with any large and complex game project, there’s always the possibility of slippage. Always. That is why we have always said we’re aiming for that window, because it’s possible that unforeseen issues may push the date. Eric Brown is doing what he’s paid to do – letting investors know that the possibility exists. A possibility doesn’t mean a certainty.”

Even the least ambitious MMOs can be incredibly difficult to develop, much less release with a smooth launch. While they seem committed to releasing The Old Republic on December 20th, there’s still a chance that the game could see one final delay. Hopefully, though, gamers will be able to explore that galaxy far, far away this December, with people that pre-order getting early access.