At CES, Electronic Arts’ CEO, John Riccitiello, discussed about the financial futures of the company. He gave the unfortunate news of 1,500 people being laid off, the economy and the holiday season not being nearly as good as they had hoped for. However, in a rare bit of information, he talked specifically about Star Wars: The Old Republic. Riccitiello said that they were planning the launch of “our major new MMO in spring 2011.”

He went on to say that, “As it stands today, the game is making great progress towards a spring 2011 launch. But given the volatility of this particular sector, and the fact that we haven’t yet provided a specific launch date, we will be excluding the revenue from our fiscal 2011 guidance plans.”

Since this was not a confirmed release date announcement, there has been considerable speculation about this. EA’s fiscal year 2011 ends on March 31, 2011. Therefore, the two questions that come up are: Is this going to be released in the fiscal year 2011 or is it being released in the year 2011. And, if it is being released in the spring of the fiscal year, does that actually mean second quarter of the fiscal year? Or, is it being released in March right before the end of the fiscal year to give EA some solid profits to report to investors at the end of the fourth quarter?

In September, BioWare started accepting applications for a closed Beta. Because betas go through so many different stages, it is difficult to tell which he is referring to.

The most likely outcome is that this game is going to be released in Spring of 2011. While there is a lot of speculation about it falling into the fiscal year, there is not enough evidence to back this claim up. Therefore, it is a TOR Universe Exclusive to suggest that the release date for Star Wars: The Old Republic will be in Spring of 2011.

However, EA and BioWare have refused to comment on Riccitiello’s words. They are going to keep it hush hush as long as they can to ensure that they have the game ready for when they are perfectly prepared for the launch.

Update:

Sean Dahlberg, the community manager for the Star Wars: The Old Republic forum, had this to say:

While we have not announced a specific date, we can confirm that we are targeting a spring 2011 release for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. We’ve got a lot of exciting updates and reveals planned throughout 2010, including the first-ever hands-on testing for the game. It’s not too late to sign up to be a game tester, so go to www.swtor.com/tester and sign up today. We can’t wait to share more about the game with you as we progress through the year, so make sure you stay tuned to the official website for details.

Looks to me like that is a confirmation. Star Wars: The Old Republic is going to be coming out in Spring of 2011. However, this is a target date. Could they possibly overshoot? I doubt it. With 5+ years in development, I doubt they’ll overshoot.