The wait is finally over. BioWare today has announced a release date and a set of three subscription options for their highly anticipated MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic. While previous reports this week suggested that the title might slip to 2012, gamers should be excited to know that 2011 is the year.

Unfortunately, though, The Old Republic won’t be releasing until near the end of the year, December 20th to be exact, but any solid release date is better than no release date. Also, for those living in various European regions, you can look forward to getting your hands on the game a mere two days later, on the 22nd.

As far as the pricing options that will be available at launch, those come in a one-month, three-month, and six-month package. Each will be a one time charge, and are comparable to what is available to World of Warcraft players. Of course The Old Republic will ship with 30 days worth of subscription time, but from then on it’s up to the player to decide how much time they want to commit to the MMO.

Here’s a complete breakdown of the three pricing options:

  • 1 Month Subscription: $14.99 (£8.99/€12.99)
  • 3 Month Subscription: $13.99 per month (one-time charge of $41.97/£25.17/€35.97)
  • 6 Month Subscription: $12.99 per month (one-time charge of $77.94/£46.14/€65.94)

BioWare also makes note of the early access promised to pre-order holders but does not say how that will figure into this launch. We imagine, based on the phrasing of “Early Game Access” that those who first purchased any of the game's three editions when pre-orders were announced will be able to jump online before the 20th.

There isn’t much else to say about The Old Republic that hasn’t been said a thousand times over. Our previous hands-on experiences with the games have shown a solid blend of BioWare’s signature storytelling abilities and the MMO experience, And, with the promise of a unique storyline specific to your character’s class, we can’t help but feel like this game will be sucking away a large portion of our life.

Are you ready to finally explore the galaxy far, far away? Which of the three subscription options are you going for?

Star Wars: The Old Republic release December 20, 2011 for the PC.

Source: The Old Republic