A report from MCV claims that sources within BioWare have stated that Star Wars: The Old Republic will release September of this year, which is later than previously expected. The upcoming Star Wars MMOG is purportedly BioWare's most ambitious project ever, and is currently in a closed testing phase.

Know what else is scheduled for late 2011? If you read the headline of this article, you may have guessed that Mass Effect 3 is also slated for a 'Holiday 2011' release. We were already skeptical that Mass Effect's conclusion would be released the year after ME 2, and now we're even more skeptical - would EA and LucasArts really want two BioWare games butting heads in the same release window?

Granted, The Old Republic is a PC-only Star Wars MMORPG, and Mass Effect 3 is a multi-platform single-player RPG, so they won't necessarily conflict. Still, massively-multiplayer games aren't just tossed into the 'done' pile after launch - they need a ton of attention, especially during the crucial first weeks. As pointed out in the comments down there, BioWare has multiple studios, but we nevertheless imagine that the pressure on the company as a whole, and the need for Old Republic's launch to go flawlessly, will have an effect on its ME3 release decision.

Call us pessimists, but we're not convinced that we'll play Mass Effect 3 this year. Feel free to prove us wrong, BioWare, but if you do, please don't rush it. Ain't no reason not to take it slow...

Jan 26, 2011

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