Star Wars: The Old Republic was released for pre-orders today but, for some reason, Australians are not able to pre-purchase the game, with the message “Star Wars: The Old Republic is not available in your region” appearing on the game’s official website.
This adds credence to earlier rumours stating that the game would be delayed in Australasia.
Stephanie Bendixsen of Good Game tweeted that she was told by EA reps that the upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic had “been delayed for Australasia” around E3 time, but when we spoke to EA directly we were informed that nothing concrete had been decided, since the game’s release date hadn’t been decided yet.
There is still no official release date, but the fact that the official site claims that “[t] o maintain a high quality of service, only certain regions worldwide will be able to pre-order Star Wars: The Old Republic” suggests that there will be some sort of staggered release of the game in different areas. It seems as though Australia will not be among the first regions set up for Star Wars: The Old Republic.
It could also be the case, however, that its simply the ‘early access’ that the pre-order provides that Australia is excluded from. Hopefully this is the case and there isn’t too long of a delay for Australians.
We’ve contacted EA for more details, and will update the story as soon as we receive more information.
UPDATE: A Kotaku reader has had a response email from Bioware Customer Service stating the following:
In North America, Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ will be available for pre-order in the following countries:
United States of America
CanadaIn Europe, Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ will be available for pre-order in the following countries:
Austria
Belgium
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United KingdomAt pre-order AND LAUNCH, Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ will be available only in the countries listed above. Details on additional countries are not available at this time, but will be released when available.
Klutar
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:02 PMFml
Seriously.
xxariochxx
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 7:03 PMwhy really even care since theres not going to be a open or closed beta you have no idea what your getting your hands on..Huge mistake on there part you would have to be a moron to buy this first day or the biggest fanboys of all time..Trust me on this just wait honestly I think it going to be a crash and burn opening with clucky combat from everythng Ive seen. Im so tired of hearing one sided comments on the game orignally i had plans on getting it first till they said no beta after that I closed my options on buying it first day after that..Just wait long enough and it will be free to play with buy options..
Klutar
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 7:14 PMI am a massive Star Wars nerd, a huge BioWare fanboy and all-round MMO addict :P
I’ve been waiting ages for this. Uriah sucks if we have to wait longer than the rest of the world.
benikens
Friday, July 22, 2011 at 9:35 AMThere is a closed beta going on atm and open beta will happen closer to release, thats what preordering gets you, into the beta.
Wardarth
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 10:50 AMActually preordering gives you early access to the full game. To gain access to the beta all you needed to do was say that you would like to be considered for testing on your SWTOR profile.
Ov3rl0rd
Saturday, December 10, 2011 at 3:39 PMuhhh so Austria is a bigger market than australia? think so huh….welcome to the EA version of bioware such a shame guys so many epic games under your belt and your about to be just another mediocre mmo before your product even hits the shelves.
NoobApprentice
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 7:19 PMWhat’s the latest on this thread?
NegativeZero
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:02 PMI hope this doesn’t mean they’re going to do something absolutely batshit retarded like make us play on Euro servers or something.
Very disappointed that I can’t preorder, I’ve been anticipating the game since it was just a rumor :(
Aidan
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:03 PMFurther (via The Cracks in TAY)
“Will Star Wars: The Old Republic be available for retail purchase in countries not listed above?
At launch, Star Wars: The Old Republic will be available only in the countries listed above. Details on additional countries are not available at this time, but will be released when available.”
Looks like we won’t get it immediately.
Oberführer von Schtamperrific
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:04 PMWhy? Same reason the dinosaurs died out…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W23LKD9Z1hw
Sar Selack
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:05 PMThey need extra time to code “The Australian Module”.
A piece of software that requires you to enter your credit card details *only if you are Australian*. The software will then deduct $5 for every 2 hours you play the game (idle time counts).
It is rumoured this will be added to all future software that will be released in Australia.
Sol Freer
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 7:02 PMWhat?!?!
$5 every 2 hours? Where did you get this info?
I guess it’s kinda good to charge you based on the time you spend in the game, rather than just per month (cos then you feel obligated to play more), but this seems pretty expensive!
The Cracks
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 7:24 PMI think your sarcasm filter is broken. You may want to have it checked.
Sol Freer
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 10:07 PMI think you’re double-layer sarcasm filter is broken. ;)
…no, that’s a lie. I just didn’t realise you were joking.
ClashofTOR
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:06 PMLame… why do we always get shafted!
Greyfox175
Sunday, December 18, 2011 at 1:14 AMyeah it really sucks, the games are more expensive here, and we won’t get it for a while :(((((((
DG
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:07 PMi think we should tell EA: “You wont like Australians when we’re angry!”
N0NEoftheAB0VE
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 10:44 PMWe we would if there was a way to contact them! Seriously have you ever tried to contact EA Australia?
On this staggered roll out – sounds like they have no confidence in the game, I thought there was supposed to be a Beta at one stage?
Darth Delay
Friday, July 22, 2011 at 7:20 AMRemember what happened in the simpsons…. remember Bart and his boot, EA. Keep treating us like you have been, and it’s coming for you – and demographically? Australia is actually not so small a dent in your demographic so don’t even try that line.
The Cracks
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:07 PMThanks Mark. Hopefully you can get more info out of EA than the TOR community…
The Insufferable Señor Steengo
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:12 PMHow likely is it that there will be Oceania/Australian servers for The Old Republic? Anyone have any clues?
The Cracks
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:17 PMSlim to none, if you go by the fact that we can’t even preorder…
NegativeZero
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:24 PMActually quite possible – Warhammer Online has (had?) Oceania servers actually located in Australia.
Piss poor excuse to delay the game here though, if that’s why. They’ve been developing it since 2008 or so, it’s not as if the release has sneaked up on them.
Jason Hall
Friday, July 22, 2011 at 4:21 PMWarhammer just got some of the old UO Oceania’s servers from one rumour I heard that were already located in Aus
DENAz
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:15 PMYou just can’t f’ing win!!!
Jammo
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:19 PMIt sucks, but it’s not the first game to do this. Star Wars Galaxies was initially not available in Australia either. Back then I just found an overseas online retailer to sell me a copy. This time I did the same. Pre-Ordered my CE through Amazon.
Dlaiyre
Friday, July 22, 2011 at 12:44 AMYep, got my pre-order code right here!
shannon
Monday, November 14, 2011 at 5:10 PMhey mate, so im a little confused about all this, as i found a seller in australia who is selling the old republic on pre-order but are we defiantely able to play it in australia>?
Jake
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:20 PMPossibly because Origin is shit?
Brett C
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:23 PMSo probably no local servers then.
Thanks EA!
DENAz
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:24 PMOk I just preordered from Amazon.com, so we can still get it… just a couple of hoops first
kinkuma
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:27 PMAt least explains why don’t know anyone from Aus/NZ who got into closed beta …
Daniel
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 10:35 PMI was in one beta weekend playing from Cairns and it ran without any lag pretty much. I am used to 450ms lag playing WoW on EU servers, but this was around 50ms, not sure what server I played on for the beta.
The Cracks
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:31 PMAlso,
Why are supplies limited for pre-orders of Star Wars: The Old Republic?
BioWare has always had a history of delivering high quality experiences for our customers and we are dedicated to making sure that track record continues with Star Wars: The Old Republic. Our focus is on not only delivering a high quality game, but also in developing a thriving online environment. In order to ensure a great user experience we have decided to limit initial launch supply. Further supplies will be released post-launch.
Neo Kaiser
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:39 PMMaybe they’re expecting their audience to be adults and thus won’t be able to sell to Australia.
Michael Barnes
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:44 PMOf course the game is coming to Australia. Don’t be ridiculous. Its probably because they haven’t set up servers for us. Its still early, give it a chance.
lambomann007
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 7:28 PMActually, that’s a good point you raise there. Maybe they haven’t finished working out a deal/contract/whatever-you’d-call-it for the Australasia servers yet and don’t want us Australasians pre-ordering it until they’re absolutely certain that we’ll have Australasian servers to play on. I so hope that this is the case.
Alinos
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 7:35 PMNo reason not to sell to us
because i for one wont be playing on the Australian servers anyway.
yet it doesn’t want to sell the game to me. Come off it.
Servers or no. this is no reason not to sell the game to us.
I play with a bunch of american’s on all my MMO’s since they are generally the same bunch of people i have been playing MMO’s with since i started before australia ever got it’s first server
Andrew
Friday, July 22, 2011 at 12:28 AMYou do realise that most MMOs, including WoW, don’t have servers located in oceania. The WoW oceania servers just have timezone friendly restarts, they’ve got exactly the same lag as the american servers.
Luke
Friday, July 22, 2011 at 8:48 AMWoW doesn’t have timezone friendly restarts for Oceania, it just has its clocks set to our our timezone. They still restart them when they restart the US servers.
TG
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:48 PMSo fkn angry right now. Is there seriously localisation issues for Australia? I can understand Korea, China, Japan with translation and voice over work, but wtf has to change between the US/AU version of the game? Ragequit life.
Luke
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:51 PMWouldnt worry to much. Have already pre ordered the CE from Amazon US, with the best shipping it is around $175. And got my early access code already !!
Tapek
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:54 PMIt does seem like a lot of effort to proxy up and use a US forwarding address just to pre-order a video game… Sure, will be able to buy it from any online store and play on US servers when it comes out but i want the first access and collectors edition! :(
Will wait till more info is out before going over board.
Tapek
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:54 PM@Insufferable – slim to none, do ANY MMOs have Aussie servers yet?
jt
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:58 PMthere will not be servers in Oz at anystage untill our isp’s can do something with their billing rates, the cost to run a server for a game here in australia is staggering and not viable.
ST
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 6:59 PMordered my collectors edition from Amazon and have already used my preorder code.
sucks that you cant order it properly from origin and i doubt i would have ordered it from an Aus store since it would have probably would have cost $200+ the way those crackheads charge
ST
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 7:04 PMi need to stop changing what i type
Carl Evans
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 7:01 PMHey guys i just got an email from Bioware saying:
I have received your transmission.
{113}
In North America, Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ will be available for pre-order in the following countries:
United States of America
Canada
In Europe, Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ will be available for pre-order in the following countries:
Austria
Belgium
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
At pre-order AND LAUNCH, Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ will be available only in the countries listed above. Details on additional countries are not available at this time, but will be released when available.
If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to contact us again.
Should you need further assistance with this matter, please do not hesitate to let me know. Galactic support is our specialty…
Sincerely,
Protocol Droid D3-A0
SWTOR Customer Service