SWTOR – It Goes to Eleven!

December 20th marked the eleven-year anniversary of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Eleven years! The game has been around for parts of two-decades, and it shows no signs of going away.

I still remember the excitement of the days leading up to the launch of the game in 2011. The hype! The beta weekends! The anticipation of logging into the game for early release.

I’ve said this many times before, but there is nothing quite like experiencing an MMO on it’s first days. It’s the only time in the life of the game where there is truly a level playing field. Everything is new to everyone. Nobody has any money, gear, or accolades. And nobody has an army of alts. It’s you and your first character making your way through this incredible universe.

I could go on about the game’s earliest days, it’s evolution, the good times, and the bad. But I’d rather look to the future. I think Star Wars: The Old Republic has a bright future and that there will be many more anniversaries to come. I say this because think the games most enduring quality is its ability to endure.

This year we saw Charles Boyd leave the game to pursue new opportunities. A loss to be sure, but if you look at the eleven-year history of the game, Charles is just one of many key players to leave the game. Those of you who have been around since the beginning might remember names such as Daniel Erickson, James Ohlen, Damion Schubert, Drew Karpyshyn, Hall Hood, Alexander Freed, Georg Zoeller, and more.

The contributions to the game from those folks cannot be overstated. They’re gone, and yet the game endures.

As I look at the game today, I see passionate storytelling, evovling cinematics, and incredible world-building. The game is in good hands, and I hope that folks charged with continuing to bring it to life will soon become as familar to us as Charles and all of those who came before.

And if I dare to issue a challenge to this team, it’s this. To Eric Musco, Ashley Ruhl, Caitlin Sullivan Kelly, Alan Copeland, George Smith, Keith Kanneg, Jackie Ko, and the rest of the team make it a goal to create an environment where you can deliver more story, more flashpoints, more worlds, more battlegrounds, and more Operations on a regular basis. The work your doing is great, we just need more of it without the wait.

Happy Anniversary SWTOR!