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EA CEO won't share Old Republic release date because of "principal competitor"

E3 usually isn't a big news get for us here at WoW Insider, as Blizzard does its own thing with its own announcements and showing up to conventions. However, one piece of news really stuck out as interesting in relation to Blizzard. EA's CEO John Riccitiello made some interesting statements regarding Star Wars: The Old Republic's release date. The Old Republic is EA's MMO set during the fan-favorite Old Republic era of the Star Wars franchise. Riccitiello said:

Announcing a release date "would be irresponsible for two really good reasons", Riccitiello said. "One, the competitive marketplace. Putting a window out there creates a window of opportunity for our principal competitor to put out an expansion pack or an ad campaign et cetera around our launch window. Bad move at this point in time."

Now, while Riccitiello does not name Blizzard specifically, there are only a few potential "principal competitors" in the MMO market. Blizzard is definitely the biggest name at the table. What Riccitiello is saying is that announcing a release date for their MMO would give Blizzard the opportunity to move in on EA's hype, move its own release dates around, or prepare a patch or game release for the same time frame that The Old Republic would launch.



It is interesting to me that Riccitiello would say these things, especially at an event like E3, where everything is about showing games to players through the press and getting games into people's hands. Shouldn't Riccitiello be more concerned with letting the game stand on its own rather than weasel around with a release date? If two products stand side by side and one is better than the other, people will choose the better product.

I understand the concern -- WoW is the 500-pound gorilla. RIFT has proven you can release against WoW and maintain a sizable user base and even continue to grow. Don't blame Blizzard preemptively, and don't be scared of Blizzard. Yes, the MMO market is a volatile one, and yes, the MMO market feels limited, but it's not as bad as you think. Star Wars is going to succeed initially by brand alone, and while it would be nice to release without any competition, this is the competitive sphere we live in. Release a good game, and people will play it.

On the other hand, first-month launches can ruin an MMO. Perfectly good games have released unopposed, but with a little bad press at the start, fallen flat on their backs. Riccitiello isn't a dummy, and it is a smart move to avoid as much unnecessary competition as you can, especially from Blizzard. EA just wants to pull out all of the potential problems when launching.