The game itself was released to the public on December 20, 2011, and The Old Republic is accompanied by an expansive metaseries of Star Wars multimedia, including a four-book novel series, three comic series ( Threat of Peace, Blood of the Empire, and The Lost Suns), and a number of short stories, as well as additional content. Developed over the course of more than five years by BioWare Austin and LucasArts at a cost of over $200 million, Star Wars: The Old Republic was first conceived in 2005 as an MMORPG follow-up to BioWare's previous video games, the popular Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, and the game was first announced on October 21, 2008.
Star Wars: The Old Republic, simply known as SWTOR or TOR, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that was produced and released by BioWare, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. Much as the first 'Star Wars' movie in 1977 changed history, its makers hope to create a new gold standard for gaming.' ―Ben Fritz and Alex Pham for the Los Angeles Times, Janu ' Even among its interactive peers, 'The Old Republic' is touted as a leap forward.
