The Old Republic confirmed for a December 20 release, pricing structure revealed

Well THAT didn't take long. Mere hours after Blizzard announced that Diablo III was being pushed to 2012, BioWare jumped on the open holiday season with an announcement that The Old Republic would be releasing on December 20, 2011 in North America, and December 22 in Europe. It’s a weird date but we’re not going to complain – that’s a waste at this point. Time is of the essence! We need to start coming up with excuses as to why we won't be attending any holiday parties. Maybe our families will believe that we all have hibernation sickness.

As we explained yesterday, Diablo's delay gave way to a completely open holiday season for The Old Republic to flourish in. Without it, there's really no competition when it comes to online RPGs on the PCs. Needless to say, we're really happy that EA decided to take advantage of this sudden opening. The only caveat is the strange release date. December 20 is cutting it really close to the holidays; especially for a game that will likely have a flaky first week (if past releases in the genre are any indication).

It’s possible that BioWare is trying to really play up the importance of the “early access” bonus that comes with pre-orders of the game. BioWare hasn’t yet announced exactly how much of a head-start players who pre-order will get, but as long as it’s more than a week we expect to see the number of pre-orders shoot up dramatically. Getting to jump in a few days early is helpful enough as is, but getting to log in the first or second week of December? That makes it a necessity.

The pricing structure was also announced, though it's hardly surprising.  It's posted below – what do you think? Are you ready to pay to play The Old Republic?

• 1 Month Subscription: $14.99 (£8.99/€12.99)
• 3 Month Subscription: $13.99 per month (one-time charge of $41.97/£25.17/€35.97)
• 6 Month Subscription: $12.99 per month (one-time charge of $77.94/£46.14/€65.94)

Sep 24, 2011