No SWTOR for the Aussies- Maybe Someday but Not at Launch

We previously wrote about how (and potentially why) there was no pre-order available for SWTOR to Australia, or anyone outside of the US and Europe. While many were searching for answers and speculating on the reasoning behind this, Darth Hater set out to get us some answers at San Diego Comic Con this weekend.

They posed the question to Stephen Reid as follows:

Darth Hater: We know that publishers have a variety of problems when trying to launch a game overseas that range from regional politics, ratings boards, server infrastructure, localization, distribution, and more. Why did you choose not to launch in certain regions?

Stephen Reid: The answer is “none of the above.” We didn’t make that decision because of ratings board issues, localization or whatever else. What it ultimately comes down to is simple, but it is kind of a difficult concept to grasp: it is about quality of service. We know the level of demand for Star Wars: The Old Republic is pretty much unprecedented in MMO history. We know realistically the number of players we can deal with on launch day and the launch period. We made the difficult decision to say the player experience is paramount. We don’t want them to have a bad experience on launch day. And that led inevitably to certain decisions and one of them was reducing the number of territories we go into at launch.

The process of putting a boxed product in any territory is difficult. The process of deciding whether or not we want to put regional services into an area is also difficult. So it is a combination of a lot of different factors, but ultimately it comes down to the two competing factors: one is demand for the game, and two is what we can supply at that level of service we really want to give. And this is the result. We understand many people want to play the game from all around the world, and we’re absolutely going to get to as many territories as we can over time, but we’re not ready to commit to a specific time frame on that yet.

So there you have it, folks. There is no real change on the matter at this time but it seems like BioWare is making the decision in the interest of creating a “smooth launch” for the game. If you’re looking for a work-around, be careful.

Reid also tweeted about the concern that credit cards from regions not capable of pre-ordering would be blocked if they chose the pay their subscription that way after buying the game overseas. In simple terms, if you order your copy from the US and try to pay your subscription with your credit card at your local address, your subscription will be blocked.

You can, however, still purchase your game overseas and use Paypal to pay your subscription. Or you’re going to have to wait for more information to be released regarding when SWTOR will launch in your area.

Ready for some fun on the topic? Check out these videos.