Rumor Mill - Star Wars: The Old Republic Delayed to Fall

A series of sources working inside video game developer BioWare have stated that the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO is being delayed, with the new launch date set for a time frame during the month of September of this year.

Initial reports from Electronic Arts, who handles all publishing duties for the game, suggested that The Old Republic would be launched during spring, but no clear date has been released and the publisher has so far been pretty quiet on the subject.

Sources within BioWare have told industry site MCV about the new date with the development team probably using the time to polish some aspects of the MMO.

Electronic Arts has not commented on the rumor and will probably refuse to talk about a launch date before it is ready for an official announcement.

At the moment, a select number of players are actually playing Star Wars: The Old Republic in order to eliminate all bugs that could limit the enjoyment of the game.

The MMO is a big bet for Electronic Arts, with another source previously saying that the publisher has spent more than 300 million dollars on the development process, with the aim being to establish an MMO presence that can rival that of Blizzard made World of Warcraft.

Star Wars: The Old Republic takes place a few thousand years before the events seen in the movie created by George Lucas, with the Jedi and the Sith engaged in a tough battle for the galaxy.

Players can choose a class and an allegiance and then explore a world that BioWare says is bigger than that offered in all its previous games put together, which is no small feat.

The company also aims to differentiate The Old Republic from other MMOs by delivering a game that relies more on story, with fully voiced NPC dialog and choices that groups of players need to make together, affecting the whole in game universe.