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EA unable to guarantee Old Republic pre-orders

BioWare's upcoming Star Wars MMOG The Old Republic will only be available through Origin, and the ongoing confusion surrounding EA's new download service continues with the revelation that pre-orders are not guaranteed. While the explanation - that BioWare wants to limit day-one server load to ensure a lag-free experience at launch - makes sense, asking fans to pay $5 solely for the privilege of being able to play a game on release day most certainly doesn't. Perhaps most telling of all is this line from the game's FAQ: "Please be careful when pre-ordering Star Wars: The Old Republic, and only pre-order from trusted retailers or Origin.com."

Source: The Old Republic

Comments

5
FabioSooner's picture
FabioSooner says:
July 22, 2011 at 12.44pm

Is this $5 fee on top of actual price/monthly subscription or the customer is only paying $5 in advance for that privilege?
If that's the latter I see no problem with it. But see, bashing EA is cool nowadays. Keep doing that and maybe we'll see it return to its pre-Riccitiello state from years ago - you know, when they didn't dare to release new IPs such as Mirror's Edge, Dead Space or Shadows of the Damned.
Gamers are such pantsies sometimes. No, let me rephrase that: almost always.

DaFranker's picture
DaFranker says:
July 22, 2011 at 2.00pm

It's the former. You're paying 55$ for the game, which only includes one month, plus subscription fees later, and on top of that they're stacking a 5$ fee for the privilege of reserving a tiny amount of download bandwidth on Day 0/1 which you are not even guaranteed to get. That is where the rage comes from.

randomroy's picture
randomroy says:
July 22, 2011 at 1.01pm

Considering you get a 30 day trial with the game I think its the former.This game is trying to be the game everyone wants. I hope it is but I suspect it's not.I want to play as an interpreter droid class.

Diluted Dante's picture
Diluted Dante says:
July 22, 2011 at 11.26pm

So, out of interest, when people are putting down £20 to order the £130 special edition, with the couple of days early access, does this actually mean they will get it?

jaks's picture
jaks says:
July 25, 2011 at 5.19pm

I pre-ordered mine on Amazon.com and they didn't charge me money to pre-order it. And I got their 1st day guarantee.

Origin.com is just ripping consumers off.