News March 21 08:00 pm

Star Wars: The Old Republic has gained 2 million accounts since going free-to-play

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Star Wars: The Old Republic has cost Electronic Arts hundreds of millions of dollars, so when it the publisher announced that developer BioWare's massively multiplayer online game was going free-to-play last year, the news came as a shock ... but not much of a surprise.

Subscribers didn't stick, and the game was struggling less than a year after it launched in December 2011.

Of course, the free-to-play option comes with restrictions, and subscribers get special benefits.

But today, in a "State of the Game" post, executive producer Jeff Hickman reported on how those massive changes have affected The Old Republic for the better. Roughly four months have passed since the release of the free-to-play version.

Over 2 million new accounts have been created since then, and thousands are joining every day, he said.

"Even though there’s bound to be dissent about every aspect of MMOs on the Internet these days, player feedback, in general, has been very positive about the new things in the game," wrote Hickman. "We’re committed to continuing our eight-week new content cadence and are looking forward to the launch of the first digital expansion, Rise of the Hutt Cartel, this spring."

Hickman also announced a new feature for early summer, which lets players change their character's physical attributes and species using Cartel coins.

"Our major focus after Rise of the Hutt Cartel launches is going to be on 'quality of life' improvements," he wrote. "We will keep at it, I promise. We’ll keep listening to your feedback and continue to dedicate ourselves to making the game the best it can be. Nothing is more important to us than getting it right."

Players are discussing the open letter in the community forums.

Follow @wita on Twitter.

[via Game Informer]

Tags: Star Wars: The Old Republic, Electronic Arts, BioWare