Star Wars Celebration Europe 2016 is at full blast, and we’re getting information that a new expansion is coming to Star Wars: The Old Republic .
Star Wars Celebration Europe 2016 is a three-day all- Star Wars conference featuring meet and greets, panels and screenings, and exclusive screenings from our favorite franchise. Running from July 15 to July 17, the Star Wars Celebration Europe 2016 is produced by Lucasfilm in cooperation with ReedPOP, the organizer of huge events like PAX, NY Comic Con, OZ Comic-Con, and many others.
Of course, one of the panels at the Star Wars Celebration Europe 2016 consists of Star Wars: The Old Republic , the massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the Star Wars universe and developed by BioWare. Released in 2011, Star Wars: The Old Republic is finally getting a new expansion.
Star Wars: The Old Republic’s director of design at BioWare, James Ohlen, took center stage earlier today at the Star Wars “Meet the Makers” panel at Star Wars Celebration Europe 2016 and revealed that over 87 million characters have already been in created in SWTOR . To celebrate the success of SWTOR , they are releasing a new expansion, Knights of the Eternal Throne , which will be released in Fall 2016.
New Expansion Revealed: Knights of the Eternal Throne — Coming Fall 2016: https://t.co/cUHkyw7ZIK pic.twitter.com/c2WuEzJWTz
— The Old Republic (@SWTOR) July 16, 2016
Celebrating Star Wars: The Old Republic’s fifth-year anniversary this coming December 20, 2016, Ohlen thanks the loyal patrons of SWTOR for staying and believing in the title.
“ Star Wars: The Old Republic has spawned many things like the rebirth of the infamous Darth Revan and the rise and fall of Darth Malgus. More recently, we saw the incarnation of one of the most dangerous families in Star Wars with the Eternal Emperor Valkorion, his son Arcann and his equally powerful and sinister daughter, Vaylin. From guildmates to lifemates, this game has created a community that has grown up together and stayed true to one core value – we all love Star Wars and The Old Republic!
“From those of us here at BioWare, we want to say ‘thank you.’ We are humbled by your loyalty and support over these past five years. We thank you for being here from the beginning and sharing your saga with us… for joining us at Cantina events worldwide over the years and for bringing our dream to life. Celebrate with us using #SWTOR5 as we begin the countdown and Happy Anniversary!
“May the Force be with you!”
To prepare the Star Wars: The Old Republic for the upcoming Knights of the Eternal Throne expansion, BioWare announced that the first chapter of the older expansion, Knights of the Fallen Empire , will be open for free trial. Everyone with a Star Wars: The Old Republic account can play Knights of the Fallen Empire Chapter 1 for free, which gives the player the opportunity to create one free Level 60 character and play through the prequel story.
Visit the SWTOR Knights of the Fallen Empire portal to play the chapter free.
As of now, no new information has been released about the Knights of the Eternal Throne apart from the teaser website , where practically nothing else is on right now.
As part of the countdown to the Star Wars: The Old Republic anniversary, BioWare released an infographic detailing the milestones of the game. With over 87 million characters created, over 1.5 billion hours clocked in, and at 53:47 ratio of people choosing the light and the dark side, Star Wars: The Old Republic is excited about new characters and definitely millions more hours to be brought about by the upcoming expansion.
View the full infographic at the SWTOR website .
Watch the Star Wars: The Old Republic five-year celebration trailer below.
[Image via Lucasfilm]