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As I'm sure you've heard by now, Disney has closed developer/publisher LucasArts which it acquired awhile back. LucasArts has been in the game since the early 80s and to see it go like this may have come as quite a shock to most. At this point it's still up in the air what will happen to the projects they were working on, like Star Wars 1313, as they switch to a licensing based model. Below is an official statement made by the company: After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles.

It would seem that BioWare is considering taking Star Wars: The Old Republic into the Free to Play realm. According to Emmanuel Lusinchi, Lead Designer at BioWare, the studio is investigating said possibilities and stated "We are looking at free-to-play, but I can't tell you in much detail. We have to be flexible and adapt to what is going on."  It makes perfect sense for BioWare to consider this model for SWTOR. The F2P market is getting bigger and better; so if gamers are given the option of playing something both fun and free -- most likely they'll opt for that compared to a subscription based model. Personally I'd love for them to go F2P. It would give me the ability to play whenever without having to feel like I wasted money by not playing with the month. We'll have to wait and see what BioWare decides for the future SWTOR. [via Joystiq ]