SWTOR retails early in Europe and retracts "grace period" for pre-orders.

[Aroth Khashar]

Senior Online Community Manager StephenReid posted on the SWTOR community forums yesterday evening with details regarding on-sale dates for The Old Republic, as well as information about the "grace period" for customers who pre-ordered and will receive Early Access to the game. He had the following to say:

Our sales and marketing teams are working closely with retailers in the US and Europe to ensure that copies of Star Wars: The Old Republic will be delivered in time for launch day.

In Europe, game copies will be available at retail starting on December 15, 2011. For those of you in the USA and Canada, game copies will be available at retail starting on December 20, 2011. For those of you who pre-ordered digital editions of the game from Origin.com, you will be emailed your Game Codes starting December 16, 2011.

As soon as you receive your Game Code (AKA 'product registration code'), be sure to enter it on your account under Code Redemption, because as soon as you enter the code you will receive your digital entitlements in-game (i.e. digital items included with the game edition purchased). Remember, your billing cycle will not start until official game launch, on December 20, 2011 at 12:01am EST.

There will be no 'grace period' post launch in which those who are in Early Game Access will be able to continue to play the game. In order to continue playing past the Early Game Access period, you will need to enter a valid launch game code and payment method. Please read our FAQ for more information. We apologize for any previous messaging which may have led you to believe otherwise.

Stephen Reid | Senior Online Community Manager
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To summarize:

- Retail outlets in Europe will be able to sell and ship copies of the game on the 15th of December.
- Retail outlets in North America (USA and Canada) will not be able to sell (or as of his post, ship) copies of the game until the 20th of December.
- Customers who pre-ordered a copy of The Old Republic and subsequently will be allowed Early Access to the game servers will NOT receive a grace period to continue playing after launch without a product serial code.

This means that anyone who pre-ordered physical copies of the game from online retailers will not be able to continue playing after the Early Access period ends until they are able to enter their product serial code online. As of now that will not be until the game arrives in the mail for those players. Because the game will be available at retail in Europe on the 15th, most people who ordered online will receive their copy in the mail before or on the 20th. However, those living in the USA or Canada, are currently not expected to receive their copies until the 23rd or later. Those who live in countries such as Australia and New Zealand will likely not receive the game in the mail until the 1st of January or later due to overseas shipping times. In addition, those players were not even given the option of ordering the digital copy of the game via Origin.com as the service is currently only available in North America.

For those who are not aware of the concept, a "grace period" in a MMO is a period of time (typically lasting 7 to 15 days) after the launch of the game where players who participated in the Early Access may continue to play the game without needing to enter/activate a serial code for the game. This period serves to prevent players who purchased a physical copy of a game online, many times a Collector's Edition, from being locked out of the game they pre-ordered while waiting for their physical game to arrive. While the point could normally be argued that it is part of the price to be paid for ordering a physical copy online instead of a digital copy, in this instance there are markets where the game was not even available in a pure digital format and customers were only given the option of ordering physical copies from online retailers.

Furthermore, the following was posted by StephenReid himself on the evening of August 7th, 2011, clearly stating that there WILL be a grace period:

Originally Posted by StephenReid
08.07.2011 , 07:39 PM

Hello again everyone,

Since this thread began we've seen a lot of posts, a lot of opinions and a lot of discussion. I'd like you to know we're reading your feedback.

We understand that there's been a desire to gain a definitive 'answer' to why this decision was taken. As I've said before, you already have your answer in the very first post of this thread. It was a decision made to ensure the highest quality of game service in every territory in which we launch, regardless of when that launch occurs.

I'd like to recap on a few other key questions and answers:

There are no plans to 'region lock' or 'IP block' players from the game. You may experience some latency issues if you're not playing in a launch territory.
Anyone who pre-orders The Old Republic and redeems their pre-order code will be eligible for Early Game Access.
Those eligible for Early Game Access will be able to download the game client before it starts.
There will be a period after launch day in which those who have pre-ordered will be able to continue playing before entering their Game Code. More information on this will be made available closer to launch.
We will accept credit card payments for subscriptions.
These seem to be the key questions for those who choose to potentially import the game, and hopefully we've answered those.

We understand many of you are also interested to know the timeframe for release of The Old Republic outside of the initial launch countries, but unfortunately we cannot give you a definitive timeframe right now. As we get closer to our initial launch, hopefully that will change and we'll be able to give you more details.

Stephen Reid | Senior Online Community Manager
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My question to you, as fellow gamers, is this. Is such of behavior and treatment of customers acceptable? What will YOU do in response to this?

EDIT:

The SWTOR forum topic that this was brought up in can be found here:
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=724271

The original post by StephenReid stating that there WILL be a grace period can be found here:
http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=8064577

 

[VoidWanderer]

As I am in Australia and stuck waiting for the damn thing to come out in the Southern Hemisphere, There are many things I would LIKE to do, but they are illegal.

This is more prevalent after getting invited into the Stress Test weekend not so long ago.

 

[Aroth Khashar]

What exactly is the problem you are having, that for once something releases in Europe before the US or that you won't be able to play the game for one or two days?

My problem is that its not just one or two days. For anyone outside of Europe or North America (namely those in Australia and/or New Zealand) you will have to wait upwards of two weeks to be able to play a game you may have placed a pre-order for back on July 21st when it first opened up. Even then if they had just said out right from the beginning that there would be no grace period, or even that there "might" be one, rather than there "will" be on I wouldn't care as much because it would be the customers' own faults for not paying full attention to the posts from representatives. However, by saying that there will be a grace period (and saying it as early as two weeks after announcing/allowing pre-orders) they enticed customers into purchasing Collector's Editions of the game who would otherwise have purchased digital versions.

Also, the issue with Europe retailing the game on the 15th is that customers who ordered online in Europe will have their games shipped out in time to receive it on the 20th, where as everyone else's will not be shipped until the 20th. Even if you go into a store in Europe on the 15th and buy the game you will not be able to do anything more than install and register it before the 20th.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Just for that, I am not going to buy this game. A decision made all the easier since I had no intention of buying it anyway.

 

[Shinkicker444]

I ordered off of Amazon myself (I live in Australia), my est arrival date is something like the 4th-17 Jan, but if I get the expedited shipping It could be here on the 22nd-25th Dec for an extra $10. I think that works out to be around $85(?) for the normal version of the game, the CE would be $175 with the speedy shipping, still probably cheaper then what they'd shill it for over here.

I was kind of hoping that the grace period would continue after the early access but if not that's a little sad. It would be nice if Amazon sent out the copies early, I don't know why that would matter with an MMO it's not like you can play it. To be honest the whole limited region release thing stinks to me all they did was hurt sales down here since anyone that wants in will order it online and not wait the 1-3 months or whatever it is they are doing before they release it officially down here. But what do they care, they got their money.

 

[Steampunk Viking]

I'm not too bothered about the grace period, but that might be down to the fact I live in the UK and I have 5 days to register my game. What bothers me is the implication that you have to pay for the first month... how many MMOs do that? It's become pretty much tradition that the first month is free. That is shocking, I'm expected to pay £45 for a single month (including the payment for the physical copy).

Having said that, I've always said the EA are the Satans of the gaming industry, which is why I was furious when I heard they bought out my favourite game developer (Bioware if you hadn't already guessed).

 

[Shinkicker444]

What bothers me is the implication that you have to pay for the first month... how many MMOs do that? It's become pretty much tradition that the first month is free. That is shocking, I'm expected to pay £45 for a single month (including the payment for the physical copy).

Sure it's not just them asking for CC info to have on file? A lot of MMO's do that just to have it on record so that when the free days roll past they can charge you straight up for the following month. Past experience for me with that is after I've put the card details in and have been able to log into the game I take them off the account anyway and I'm still able to play. They just like to have it there for when you make the account.

Yeah I'm kind of keen on the secret world too (if only for all the Cthulhu mythos type stuff), but keen on TOR as well.

 

[Steampunk Viking]

What bothers me is the implication that you have to pay for the first month... how many MMOs do that? It's become pretty much tradition that the first month is free. That is shocking, I'm expected to pay £45 for a single month (including the payment for the physical copy).

Sure it's not just them asking for CC info to have on file? A lot of MMO's do that just to have it on record so that when the free days roll past they can charge you straight up for the following month. Past experience for me with that is after I've put the card details in and have been able to log into the game I take them off the account anyway and I'm still able to play. They just like to have it there for when you make the account.

It did cross my mind and I hope that's the case, but I didn't have that when I join WoW for the first time. Having said that, I started with pre-paid cards to begin with so, that's probably why.

 

[keideki]

I was on the swtor forums when all the threads concerning this started to pop up. It was a nightmare... missing out on the grace period is just going to set people back a few days. People are making it into such a big deal.

 

[Nalbis]

This news makes me very happy! I went into GAME the other day to try and pre-order a copy to be told the only pre-order I could do was £5 deposit and that would give me early access, I wasn't prepared to part with £5 just to get in the game earlier... I've waited 3 years I'm sure I can wait another 5 days, but now I don't have to!

 

[Kragg]

What bothers me is the implication that you have to pay for the first month... how many MMOs do that? It's become pretty much tradition that the first month is free. That is shocking, I'm expected to pay £45 for a single month (including the payment for the physical copy).

Sure it's not just them asking for CC info to have on file? A lot of MMO's do that just to have it on record so that when the free days roll past they can charge you straight up for the following month. Past experience for me with that is after I've put the card details in and have been able to log into the game I take them off the account anyway and I'm still able to play. They just like to have it there for when you make the account.

It did cross my mind and I hope that's the case, but I didn't have that when I join WoW for the first time. Having said that, I started with pre-paid cards to begin with so, that's probably why.

Yes you did, it's the same as WoW, enter credit card, no money gets withdrawn till after 1 month, you start with free month, do need a payment plan chosen before getting free starter month.

Ontopic, feeling very meh about this. Even though i live in Europe most games i've bought have arrived late nad i'll just assume ill not be playing the 20th, but hey, so what? i can wait a couple days, it is not a race right, it is just a game? Though must suck for people who planned their holidays around it ... but those people have diff problems alltogether ><

 

[Kragg]

This news makes me very happy! I went into GAME the other day to try and pre-order a copy to be told the only pre-order I could do was £5 deposit and that would give me early access, I wasn't prepared to part with £5 just to get in the game earlier... I've waited 3 years I'm sure I can wait another 5 days, but now I don't have to!

uhm ... you know you dont lose that money right? it gives you 5 pounds off your gamepurchase

 

[Rawne1980]

This news makes me very happy! I went into GAME the other day to try and pre-order a copy to be told the only pre-order I could do was £5 deposit and that would give me early access, I wasn't prepared to part with £5 just to get in the game earlier... I've waited 3 years I'm sure I can wait another 5 days, but now I don't have to!

That £5 goes towards the game purchase......

On release you would have gone in and paid for the game minus £5.

Everyone who pre-ordered had to pay £5, even digital pre orders.

On Topic...

What will I do, hmmmm.

I guess i'll pick my pre-order up on the 15th and carry on playing.

 

[Lawyer105]

Yet more evidence that the average gamer is an entitled douche-nozzle. Seriously?

There are people in the world dying of starvation, and yet various gamers are still nerd-raging about a couple of days delay, or that somebody else gets to play a few days earlier?

I'l like to pretend I'm surprised, but to be honest, I'm not even sure this rates a facepalm it's so totally expected.

An MMO that doesn't launch in sync globally, is a worthless MMO.

Really? Really?

I'm not even quite sure how to respond to this.

 

[tehroc]

An MMO that doesn't launch in sync globally, is a worthless MMO. (Not that SW:ToR is a great game either) I'll be waiting for The Secret World.

I'd prepare yourself for disappointment. Nothing but fail comes from Funcom at a product's launch. Anarchy Online was barely even playable until after 6 months of live (don't get me wrong, AO was my first MMO love, but lordy are they bad about polish). The only good that happened at launch for Age of Conan was the starting area.

Once the Norwegian government subsidies run out for Funcom the product is rushed out the door in an attempt to recoup any losses occurred.

 

[lacktheknack]

There are people in the world dying of starvation, and yet various gamers are still nerd-raging about a couple of days delay, or that somebody else gets to play a few days earlier?

"Waiter, there's a spider in my soup!"

"Sir, children in Africa are being raped and starved to death, and all you can think of is a spider in your soup?"

"Be that as it may, I'm still not going to eat this soup!"

Protip: Referencing starving people around the world cheapens your argument even more than Godwin's Law. Not because we don't care, but because it's a conversational fallacy. After all, why are you complaining about nerd rage on the internet when there's starving children in Africa? (Answer: It's not relevant.)

If an MMO is a seven-course meal, then getting the grace period taken away with no chance of acquiring your preorder the day of release is very much like a spider in one's soup. Imagine if you invested hours into something you enjoyed, only to get blocked out of it for five days. Tell me you wouldn't be thoroughly annoyed. TELL ME.