WSJ Reports SWTOR Exclusive To New EA Download Service

In an interview with Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello, the Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required to view) Star Wars: The Old Republic will exclusively be a part of their new digital delivery service named Origin. EA will announce more details about Origin tomorrow (Friday).

The article reaffirms players will be able to purchase SWTOR in retail stores as well as from Origin, but the EA service will be the only internet-based one to digitally distribute the game. As we reported in our coverage of the UBS Media and Communications conference, EA CFO Eric Brown stated the game's PC client will be available in both a retail packaged format and digital download format. The Origin service is described as similar to iTunes and will let players purchase, download and keep track of multiple EA game purchases as well as act as a social networking platform. This functionality is available to players even if they don't purchase the game through Origin.

Update 8p PT: BioWare official response after the jump

Update 5a PT 6/3:


After EA's press conference next week at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles, you'll also be able to access exclusive game content and trailers for Mass Effect 3, FIFA 12, SSX, Need for Speed: The Run, STAR WARS: The Old Republic, The Sims 3 and Battlefield 3. EA's E3 press conference is scheduled for 12:30PM PST on June 6, 2011. Be sure to watch the live stream right here on EA.com.
Stephen Reid

Hey everyone well, apparently once again the online world trumps newsprint, as a story that was supposed to pop tomorrow popped up tonight! Let me give you a couple of notes on Origin.

First off: Origin is a fantastic new digital initiative from EA, and we're pleased to confirm that Star Wars: The Old Republic will be available exclusively for digital download from Origin.

However, even though you'll only be able to buy and download The Old Republic digitally via Origin, you will still be able to buy a retail, boxed copy of the game from your favorite retailer (and that includes online retailers who'll ship the box to you). BioWare and EA know the value many gamers place on a cool boxed product... and we're producing a cool boxed product. (Or maybe I should say 'boxed products'. )

Second: it's easy to hear an announcement like this and assume it means that we're about to drop another bombshell or two, especially with E3 around the corner. The reality is, this sort of pre-show announcement is pretty standard PR work, so that the story can 'breathe' a bit before E3 news obliterates everything else.

While I will say we have some super-cool stuff coming out of E3 some of which you're actually going to see before E3 starts I don't want you to jump to conclusions just yet. Instead I'd suggest you just strap in and enjoy the ride. We know every single one of you wants to know when The Old Republic is going to launch, and I assure you, when we are ready to give you a date we'll broadcast it loud and clear.

As I'm sure you know, we're 100% committed to making Star Wars: The Old Republic the best quality game (and service) it can be, as you'd expect from a BioWare MMORPG set in the Star Wars universe.

I've said before that an announcement as big as release date will be so big, it'll come thundering towards us and we'll all hear it long before it arrives. That train's coming... but so far, I'd just say we've laid down some early track.

You have questions, no doubt, and all of them will be answered in time. For now, sit back and enjoy E3 next week.

Comments

  • Crushanator's avatar
    Nerf Herder
    • Posts: 29
    #63 Crushanator Posted 6/4/2011 2:02:51 AM
    ugh, I dont really mind this for an MMO.. just dreading having ME3 require another horrible EA thing to log into, and require constant internet connectivity to play a single player game.
  • Jaspor's avatar
    Dark Lord
    • Posts: 292
    #61 Jaspor Posted 6/3/2011 9:55:24 PM
    3 threads, 165 pages, 1642 replies, and 59,473 views (and climbing) on the official forums pointing back to this item. I'd say that's a nice little load test in preparation of E3. :)
  • aurenmalo's avatar
    Nerf Herder
    • Posts: 14
    #59 aurenmalo Posted 6/3/2011 5:42:30 PM
    launch.swtor.com is no longer active and it is redirecting to swtor.com. This leads me to believe that they are most definitely moving their testing over to Origin....and could possibly be ramping up to run the actual beta via it. I tested launch.swtor.com last week and it worked.

    /speculation off
  • emlaeh's avatar
    Dark Councilor
    • Posts: 995
    #60 emlaeh Posted 6/3/2011 9:26:01 PM
    That is a pretty good observation. I saw that happen too and didn't put two and two together.

    Nice spec!
  • danubus's avatar
    Nerf Herder
    • Posts: 3
    #57 danubus Posted 6/3/2011 3:04:52 PM
    This is basically EA's answer to the way Blizzard has setup their Battle.net. That is all this is. I am glad to see them do this and I will download the game via Origin when it comes out.
  • darthuser774's avatar
    Dark Councilor
    • Posts: 620
    #56 darthuser774 Posted 6/3/2011 1:23:58 PM
    I guess I'll be buying a box. As long as EA doesn't force Origin on users if they buy a boxed copy, I don't really care.
  • Dejarik's avatar
    Spice Runner
    • Posts: 208
    #55 Dejarik Posted 6/3/2011 1:19:33 PM
    I dare say even boxed copies will require you to log in via this service and they will force you to use it for ME3 etc.

    It always amuses me that around a convention, the official site is the very last place to look for news and once again they're forced to announce something because they cannot exercise control of how information is released.

    If it were me, I would have long ago hired a separate team of dedicated PR professionals to exert that control and free up people like Reid to do what they do best as right now it's like he's having to do three different people's jobs.
  • Sinic's avatar
    Nerf Herder
    • Posts: 26
    #49 Sinic Posted 6/3/2011 11:45:00 AM
    I'm really not sure why everyone thinks that they are not going to give us a release date at E3? I read his post several times and unlike other conventions he never says they will not be releasing the launch date. He just says,
    "While I will say we have some super-cool stuff coming out of E3 some of which you're actually going to see before E3 starts I don't want you to jump to conclusions just yet. Instead I'd suggest you just strap in and enjoy the ride. We know every single one of you wants to know when The Old Republic is going to launch, and I assure you, when we are ready to give you a date we'll broadcast it loud and clear."

    I took it as they are going to give the release date just not through the Wall Street Journal so get ready for the big show. Almost trying to make us think there is no release date and then BAM, here is the release date.

  • Nanfoodle's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #51 Nanfoodle Posted 6/3/2011 12:28:22 PM
    Its simple.. before they announce the release date BW will be making a lot of fan fair about the date they will tell us the release date. This is so there will be lots of press coverage and hype about it. If we were getting a release date at E3, BW would be picking formats to yell out loud "WE ARE GOING TO GIVE YOU A RELEASE DATE AT E3!" Time to do that is running out so is very unlikely to happen at E3.
  • JakeAUS's avatar
    Nerf Herder
    • Posts: 22
    #42 JakeAUS Posted 6/3/2011 5:17:21 AM
    Well I guess I'll be buying from retail then, kind of sucks, since I was hoping to get from Steam, like all my other PC games.
  • Approxy's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 61
    #45 Approxy Posted 6/3/2011 7:22:45 AM
    Yeah, this is a major bummer. I'm sure EA will release it on steam like 6 months after launch just to spite us.

    A long time ago in an MMO far,
    far away. . .

  • Sarna's avatar
    Nerf Herder
    • Posts: 10
    #46 Sarna Posted 6/3/2011 8:03:45 AM
    I wouldn't count on it though.
  • Vrach's avatar
    Nerf Herder
    • Posts: 15
    #50 Vrach Posted 6/3/2011 12:13:04 PM
    Don't count on it. WoW's not on Steam either, there's good reason for it. They'll want to sell the game themselves, not split the profit with an online retailer when there's absolutely no need for that with an MMO.

    You can still shove a non-Steam game into Steam if you just wanna launch your games from there.
  • Misenus's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 84
    #62 Misenus Posted 6/3/2011 10:41:49 PM
    I'd agree from a fiance perspective, EA doesn't have to print and ship outdated copies of the game only to sit on a shelf and collect dust in some big box retail store. Granted you're swapping costs from printing and shipping to the physical iron in data centers serving up the content, however that's the way gaming is moving to a real-time delivery system. And the costs of delivering all your games through the platform have to pay off after year 2 or 3 of the investment.
  • Nanfoodle's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #52 Nanfoodle Posted 6/3/2011 12:30:56 PM
    I think Origin will be in direct competition with Steam. EA sees all the money they are making and they want a slice of that cake. I dont think we will see any more EA titles on Steam.
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