Now that I’ve had a few more days to think about it, I wanted to further discuss my thoughts on EA potentially selling SWTOR to Broadsword Online Games. I discussed my initial thoughts in a previous article ‘Does SWTOR have a Future?‘.
What we actually know
- “Electronic Arts is evaluating opportunities to give the game and the team a new home” – Keith Kanneg
- Conversations (about moving the team happening) with Broadsword – EA and Keith Kanneg
- All upcoming content 7.3, 7.3.1, 7.4 plus modernisations, more story and MMO content are still happening/planned – Keith Kanneg
Likely to be true
Reflecting on my Initial Reaction
When I first read the news from IGN, I felt nothing. When EA more or less confirmed the news about the move, I felt nothing. When Keith made a post on the forums, I felt nothing. Writing this now, I still feel nothing.
I made my peace with the game many years ago. SWTOR to me has been limping along for a while now posting small updates that occasionally interest me. I still enjoy the game sometimes, but I don’t expect much from it in return. Those moments are few and far between. So whatever direction the game takes, I’ll still be around finding my joy when I can in this Star Wars universe. What happens, happens.
Watching people react emotionally in various ways was a strange experience for me, but I don’t blame them. The only thing that makes me feel anything is thinking about all the connections I’ve made through SWTOR over the years and the varying degrees of impact those have had on my life.

The Insane Community Reaction
The spectrum of reactions to the news by the SWTOR community has been quite astonishing. The various assumptions and predictions being made that have no basis in fact, have been incredibly bemusing and even despairing at times. Armchair experts grasping at straws’ head cannoning events playing out that we know absolutely nothing about.
What they are doing is taking the IGN article as fact. Just because one part of it turned out to be mostly true, does not mean there is any truth to the rest of the article. More often than not, gaming journalism is filled with just as much guesswork as any random gaming forum post.
In this sea of craziness, it is important to remember that a lot of what you are seeing or reading is probably not true at all. The random YouTube react essays and the long, seemingly well-articulated forum or Reddit posts you may have read, they’re all just guesswork. Regardless of their intentions or what side they fall on, it’s not worth taking any of it seriously. Until we get further communication from the parties involved (SWTOR Developer Team, Broadsword, EA), there is no point in drawing any conclusions.
I completely understand players’ distrust or frustration with the developers. The last couple of years in particular have not been the best for SWTOR with delays to major updates and promised content seemingly shelved. So it’s not particularly surprising that some players do not trust Keith Kanneg or EA’s word. But that is all we have right now. Making up stories to fit your truth about SWTOR is not a viable alternative to ignoring the word of our only official sources to date.

We Know Nothing
I prefer to deal with facts and the fact is, we don’t have any tangible information to go on. All we know is that this move is being discussed. We don’t know the exact details of what that will entail or how it will affect the SWTOR team. We don’t know when the deal is going to be finalised. And we certainly don’t know why this is happening.
Right now, there are a lot of corporate and legal shenanigans going on behind the scenes. This is what prevents all parties involved from communicating what is happening. Until the move is finalised (or not), there is nothing else we can do but wait.
It is a shame the Broadsword move was leaked. It would have been better for the SWTOR Developers (and the players) if the move had been communicated on their terms when the deal was finalised. This way, the team could have been open and clearly communicated everything about the move and what was happening. In turn, players would not be in the dark about the state of and future of SWTOR.

Final Thoughts – Be Patient
At this point, I’m not overly worried about what the deal means for the future of the SWTOR. I’m more worried about how this could impact the development team. Despite a rough couple of years, they have remained dedicated to the game and Keith at least seems hopeful for the future of the game. As I’ve stated previously, the fact that EA is exploring moving SWTOR to another studio rather than just shutting the game down is a hopeful sign.
Finally, I don’t want anyone to mistake my somewhat positive outlook on the move for being happy with the state of the game. Those are two separate things.
Be patient. The SWTOR Developers will talk to us when they can. Find your joy in the game or not, I don’t give a damn.