'Star Wars' online game is 4-millennium rewind

Star Wars: The Old Republic represented BioWare’s largest and most ambitious project to that point, expanding the Edmonton-founded company’s role in the global game industry. The MMORPG had more programmers and developers than any previous BioWare production, with a writing team three to four times larger than usual and plans for more content than all of the studio’s earlier games combined. Although development included BioWare’s Austin studio, the project grew from the Edmonton-based company’s established expertise in story-driven role-playing games, including Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect and the original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. By this point, Electronic Arts had acquired the Alberta company as part of an $860-million transaction, demonstrating how a studio founded in Edmonton had grown into an internationally significant developer trusted with one of entertainment’s largest franchises.