14 DAY TRIAL // Video game publisher Electronic Arts has revealed during a presentation for its upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic that it plans to limit the availability of both physical and digital copies for the title in order to make sure the launch of the game goes smoothly.
EA and developer BioWare say that server crashes and long waiting times are a usual feature of launch days for most MMOs and that they do not want fans of The Old Republic to go through that.
The publisher says that it is more interested in making the initial Star Wars MMO experience as good as possible for those who get in than in selling as many copies of the game as possible in the first day.
It's highly unusual for a game publisher to actually limit the availability of one of its biggest releases and to stop digital downloads after a certain number of orders is made is unheard of.
It would make sense for Electronic Arts to make sure that those who pre-order will be able to play on launch date but the representatives at Gamescom have not said what is the sales number after which the company plans to turn off digital downloads.
The developers have said that if the limit is hit they plan to work to add more capacity and make the game available as soon as possible to all those who are interested to see how BioWare can reshape the MMO space.
Star Wars: The Old Republic has apparently established a new pre-order record for Electronic Arts, although the publisher is unwilling to reveal actual figures.
The MMO does not yet have a launch date which makes the limited availability announcement all the more puzzling.
It might be just a subtle way of making pre-ordering the game more attractive for the next few months.