Experience Star Wars: The Old Republic for free this weekend only

We expect the 1.7 million-strong player base of EA and BioWare's first massively multiplayer online game (MMO) to go into hyperdrive this weekend. The two have announced that Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR), will be free to play for this weekend only. Between March 15 and 19, would-be players can download and play the game for absolutely free.

While there will be no need for a payment method to play, there are some caveats. BioWare will only grant free weekend players access to the initial areas for each of the game's eight classes, a few early-level Flashpoints (four-player dungeons) and player versus player Warzones.

While this is exciting news for folks who were wary of dropping $60 on a game they may not like, they'll still have to drop that coin on the game to play when the trial is over. (And the $15 monthly fee once their initial free month is up.) Of course, this is exactly what BioWare wants, and the developer stands to garner plenty more players as a result.

This is in no way to say that SWTOR will go free-to-play completely anytime soon--it's one of the last in the old guard of paid MMOs, and likely aims to keep it that way. Heck, World of Warcraft had been around for almost eight years before developer Blizzard opted to make its first 20 levels of play free. At the very least BioWare is toying with the idea, and that can only be a good thing.

[Via VentureBeat]

Do you plan on trying out SWTOR now that it will be free to play this weekend? Do you think the game will gain more dedicated players as a result? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.