The galaxy far, far way is about to get a little bit bigger, as today Bioware and EA announced that the first major expansion for Star Wars: The Old Republic, entitled Rise of the Hutt Cartel, would be released sometime during the next spring.
Most of the expansion’s content will be focused on the new planet of Makeb, which is at the center of a new conflict between the Sith and the Jedi. The game’s level cap will be raised to 55, and the additional new levels will allow players of all character classes to earn unique new abilities and skills. Bioware is also promising new gear and loot for players to collect as well. As with the original game, all of the expansion’s story content will feature full voice acting.
The Old Republic has had a tumultuous first year, starting with a strong launch but quickly losing subscribers as the months progressed. The game recently adopted a free to play model, and while detractors have been predicting the quick death of the game for months now, the announcement of this expansion makes it pretty clear that The Old Republic isn’t going down anytime soon.
Players who have a subscription to The Old Republic will be able to buy Rise of the Hutt Cartel for $9.99, while free to play players will have to pay the full $19.99 price for the expansion, which will only be sold digitally. Anybody who preorders the expansion before January 7th will get access to the expansion 5 days before it goes live for everybody else.
