EA: 'Announcing SWTOR release date would be irresponsible'

EA are not announcing the release date for in-development MMO The Old Republic because they are worried it will give their competitors an advantage. EA CEO John Riccitiello gave their reasoning at E3 on Wednesday as reported by CVG.

'Putting a window out there creates a window of opportunity for our principal competitor to put out an expansion pack or an ad campaign et cetera around our launch window,' said Riccitiello.

He described the idea of announcing a release date as 'irresponsible' and did not state who he thought to be their principal competitor.

Riccitiello also stated that the beta of the game was also preventing them from announcing a release date. He described the possibility of not reacting properly to the beta phase of development as a failure to 'sub-optimise a ten year revenue opportunity.'

He went on to say that EA has created their annual operating plan around the release and have a good idea of what sort of date they're aiming for.

EA has previously announced that the release could be pushed back to 2012 instead of the initially planned 2011.

We've already had a look at The Old Republic and didn't reckon much to it, but why not check the video below and let us know your thoughts in the forums?

You can check out other news from the show via our E3 2011 News hub.