There have been huge estimations about how much it has cost to develop The Old Republic, and while it probably isn’t $300 million, according to games industry analyst Michael Pachter, development costs could be up to $80 million.

“The contribution from the Star Wars MMO is significant. Under the terms of its deal with LucasArts, EA is required to pay a royalty, but was required to front all of the development, marketing and distribution costs, as well as the costs of building out servers for the game. We estimate that LucasArts’ share is 33% of revenues, AFTER EA recoups its investment in game development. Given that the game was in development for over four years, with an estimated 200 full-time developers working on it, we estimate that EA’s investment exceeds $80 million,” Pachter stated.

Pachter also supports EA’s claims that the game only needs 500,000 subscribers to be profitable, especially since sales of the physical game will be pure profit for EA. “”We estimate that EA will cover its direct operating costs and break even at 500,000 subscribers.”

Dr. Ray Muzyka, BioWare co-founder and CEO, announced this weekend at an Electronic Arts showcase event that EA would be taking over publishing duties for Star Wars: The Old Republic from LucasArts.

EA has released a press release detailing the agreement, citing the reasoning “so that all publishing, marketing and distribution responsibilities can be centralized for efficiency.” LucasArts will stay involved as a “key partner”.

The new agreement will not alter the game at all, but Muzyka said it will benefit gamers in the long run with things such as customer service. He also said that LucasArts will remain “very involved” in ensuring the game remains in an appropriate Star Wars style and tone.

MMORPG reported on an interview posted in gameindustry.biz. Phil Elliot interviewed Darrell Rodriguez, who is the president of LucasArts.  The question of the business model for TOR came up, and Rodriguez replied briefly.  Mr. Elliot expanded on that question in this article. Rodriguez’ answer? Decidedly vague.  Saying “we’re looking at it all” is a non-answer.  I don’t think we’ll know how we’re going to pay to play until much closer to the game release date.

IGN sat down earlier this week with Dallas Dickinson from Bioware and Jake Neri from LucasArts for an extensive Q&A about The Old Republic.

Don’t be fooled by the size of the article though. Not a lot of new meaty info in this one unfortunately =) Worth a read anyway. Might be something in there you didn’t catch somewhere else!

Check out the interview here.

This year at E3 True_Avery and I got the chance to sit down with LucasArts Executive Producer Tom Nichols to ask your questions about The Old Republic and threw in a few of our own. And we hit solid gold: Jumping is confirmed! Hit the break to read the full interview. Read more»

Speaking to VG247, LucasArts online head Tom Nichols has commented on the prospect of creating such a huge game. He believes the combination of LucasArts, Bioware, and EA have what it takes to make it happen and make it be a success. However, he acknowledges it will be a long road.

“Daunted? I don’t know if I’d use that word,” Nichols said. “I’m bullish, I’m optimistic. I think it’s a huge opportunity for us, and for BioWare and EA.”

Read everything he had to say at Videogaming247.com.

EA and LucasArts are aiming to take on World of Warcraft with BioWare’s newly announced MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Speaking to Videogaming247, EA Games’ president, Frank Gibeau, spoke of the company’s ambition to use the Star Wars IP to build up a user base to overtake that of Blizzard’s.

“We have very high expectations for this,” Gibeau explained. “Just look at the base of Star Wars fans, plus what BioWare can do. Trust me: we want to win. EA’s reputation is for wanting to win.”

“This is going to be a powerful category and there’s lots of ways to compete in this category. [Blizzard] created a much larger opportunity for everybody else, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to stay that way.”

LucasArts’ Tom Nichols agreed, adding: “When World of Warcraft came out, everybody thought, ‘No, the market is only this big, because that’s as big as EverQuest was.’ Blizzard showed that it could be much larger.”

“Our goal is to show that by bringing storytelling to the genre that we can attract an even wider audience. Plus, we have the benefit of this huge brand, which has done very, very well for nearly 30 years.”

When asked specifically if the game would be bigger than World of Warcraft, Nichols said: “I think this game has that potential.”

According to VG247, Tom Nichols, LucasArts’ online head, has reported that The Old Republic is to be PC only, conflicting with a recent report from EA boss man Frank Gibeau.

“It is PC-only,” said Nichols when asked if KOTOR’s Xbox tradition would be upheld.

Nichols further commented, “We’re just focused on the PC platform at this time.” Nichols spoke at the San Francisco announcement of the game the same day EA mentioned the possibility of TOR along with Warhammer Online moving to consoles. According to this, do not expect The Old Republic to be on a console near you.

The title of the brand new Star Wars MMO, is indeed – Star Wars: The Old Republic. Set 3500 years before the movies.

Just two factions have been confirmed. The Galactic Republic and the Sith.