Luckily for gamers outside of the launch territories, BioWare has no plans to IP or Region lock players from The Old Republic, meaning those who want to import the title can do so without worry that the game will be unplayable - though the developer does warn that players outside of the launch territories may experience some latency.
While the decision to launch the title at different times may sound unfair to gamers outside of the initial launch, BioWare’s Community Manager Stephen Reid took to the The Old Republic forums to assure everyone that this was done with good reasoning.
Reid also answered a few burning questions regarding countries outside of the launch territories. One of the most important, and of course fundamental, was that BioWare will accept credit cards as a form of payment - which coincides with their decision to not block those who import the game form playing.
As well, those who pre-order the game and redeem their code will also be able to download the Early Access Client (note, this is different from the beta). Players will be able to download the client and play it - even after the full game launches (though only for a limited time).
While the Star Wars name will doubt do wonders for sales, the upcoming MMO may have a difficult road ahead for it - as it faces off against the juggernaut that is World of Warcraft. Like any MMO, SWTOR boasts hundreds of hours of gameplay and the decision to make the game region-free should help from the PR perspective.
Will you be picking up Star Wars: The Old Republic?
Star Wars: The Old Republic is set to launch late this year, though an actual release date has yet to be given.
Source: SWTOR Forums
