Rumour: The Old Republic for September

BioWare MMO Star Wars The Old Republic will release worldwide this September, according to a new report.

Development sources suggested the release window to trade magazine MCV.

In December last year EA said the ambitious MMO would launch sometime between April and Christmas 2011.

Previous estimates pinned a spring 2011 date on the MMO.

The Old Republic will be the biggest game in EA's history. How much it has really cost we don't know - rumour has it EA has sunk a gargantuan $300 million into the project.

"It's a big bet," BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk told Eurogamer in response to the "EA Louse" report, "but it's the right kind of bet to make for EA."

In November, Bigpoint CEO Heiko Hubertz told attendees at the London Games Conference 2010 that he finds it hard to picture EA or BioWare ever making a profit on the title, which for the time being remains planned as a subscription MMO.

And in a further blow, this week a top analyst claimed EA's investors were "betting against" it.