Players will be able to access it early if they pre-order

Oct 18, 2011 07:10 GMT  ·  By

Developer BioWare and publisher Electronic Arts have announced that they are moving the European launch date for their MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic so that it coincides with the December 20 one that was announced for North America.

The announcement was made by Stephen Reid, who is the leader of the community outreach effort at BioWare.

Initially The Old Republic was set to come later to those playing in European countries, which angered fans who believed that the two days delay would mean that they would be behind the leveling curve for some time after launch.

For a long time the two companies that are in charge of the new Star Wars MMO were unwilling to talk about when the game would be out, mentioning only that they planned to deliver it during 2011.

When the two late December dates were announced some players were annoyed that the MMO would conflict with the Christmas holiday season.

Some have speculated that the earlier European launch date is linked to the fact that the Ireland support center that BioWare has created is up and running earlier than previously thought.

The Ireland location will apparently handle all support requests for Star Wars: The Old Republic.

The new MMO is seen as a potential contender for World of Warcraft, the Blizzard made title that has dominated the genre for the last few years.

BioWare has paid particular attention to the narrative side of The Old Republic, telling fans that the game would be like experiencing a number of Kings of the Old Republic titles at the same time.

The mechanics of the new MMO will be too different from the basics of the genre but the developers are promising that players will be able to easily create groups and will have a huge number of planets and ships to explore.