According to a new report from IGN, EA is transferring ongoing support for "Star Wars: The Old Republic" from its in-house BioWare team to third-party studio Broadsword Online Games, nearly 12 years after its release, Broadsword may not be a household name, but it can be considered a retirement spot for golden age MMOs.

SW:TOR seems to be in the same boat, with enough players to keep it alive, but not enough to justify a major investment going forward. According to the report, EA and Broadsword have signed a letter of intent, the deal is expected to be finalized later this month, and things are in the advanced stages. the head of Broadsword is the co-founder of Mythic Entertainment, who worked on the early stages of SW:TOR Fans of the game may be relieved to know that Rob Denton, a former employee of BioWare who worked on the early stages of SW:TOR, is the head of Broadsword.

In response to IGN's report, EA issued this statement: [Star Wars: The Old Republic is still a success nearly 12 years after launch, with a dedicated and passionate community that continues to grow. We are very proud of the work our team has done and the future of the game and community remains very bright. We are evaluating ways to provide the best opportunities for the game and the team to grow and evolve, and this includes talking with Broadsword, a boutique studio that specializes in providing online community-driven experiences. Our goal is to do what is best for the game and its players.

So it seems that a deal is in place. One of the most eyebrow-raising elements of this story is how many people are still involved in the development of The Old Republic. The core development team is estimated to be 70-80 people, about half of whom are expected to move to Broadsword along with the game. There is no information yet on whether the rest will face redundancy or be moved elsewhere within BioWare or EA.

The elephant in the room is BioWare itself. If there is any studio that needs to make great games, BioWare is the only one right now. The last decade has been extremely volatile, and the once beloved RPG specialist studio is a shadow of its former self, most recently with the failure of "Anthem" and "Anthem 2". The change of director for SW:TOR is said to be so that BioWare can focus on the next installments of Dragon Age and Mass Effect, but the rationale feels like irrepressible lip service. This is an old MMO being put out to pasture, that's all. [Some say SW:TOR is a great MMO and one of the best games BioWare has made; SW:TOR launched with a WoW-style subscription, but quickly went free-to-play, with regular expansions and updates to keep players interest (EA announced that lifetime revenue reached $1 billion in 2019).

As for the wider Old Republic setting, a remake of BioWare's Knights of the Old Republic is still in development. It is said that. That's the kind of phrase Darth Vader would use after punching a delivery man, but there were just a few glimmerings of development at a recent investor briefing about BioWare and the upcoming Dragon Age and Mass Effect... Well, fingers crossed, but don't hold your breath.