Usually a game developer is happy when it sells lots of copies of a game when it ships to stores. But publisher Electronic Arts has announced that one of the biggest games due out in 2011, Star Wars The Old Republic, will have a limit on the initial number of copies that will be made available for sale. Game Informer is reporting that the sales limit will extend not just to physical boxed copies of the game but also to the downloadable version that EA is selling via its Origin service.
Why limit the available of the game at launch? EA claims that it wants to make sure that the launch of the MMO title, developed by BioWare, is a smooth one. In the past a number of MMO game launches have been hindered by tons of players joining the servers all at once, forcing gamers to deal with long waits to join servers that can last for hours until the developers bring more servers online.
EA has given no indication on exactly how many copies of Star Wars The Old Republic will be sold before the initial limit is hit. However, an article at Gamasutra quotes an EA rep as saying, "All versions of the game -- physical and digital -- are available for pre-order on a limited basis only. Once they are gone, they are gone." Earlier this year EA said that pre-orders for the game have already broken sales records at the company, but no announcement has been made as to exactly how many copies of the game have been sold. Star Wars The Old Republic is scheduled to be released sometime in the holiday season of 2011, but EA has yet to give a specific release date for the title.
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