Can SWTOR be played in Asia upon release?

milwal

Hi Guys,

I am in Thailand and played in the last 2 weekend beta tests with no problem logging in from Thailand.

Now when I go to purchase the game it tells me that I cannot play from my region.

Anybody know the region access, obviously UK/EU and USA have access but how about Asian Countries?

I have already tried EA CS but just get an automated droid reply with no relevance.

Ausare

Usually takes awhile for western games to break into Asia.  Copyrights are different there and many MMO companies over there make it harder for new games to come in from the West.  So not sure of your time table.

Drast

If you can manage to buy it on a site such as Amazon and have it shipped to you, yes you will be able to play at release.  Stephan Reid recently stated through Twitter, that there will no region-locking or IP-blocking for SWTOR at release.

holifeet

Am I right in thinking that there is a later release date in the Far East and Oceania? I'm sure I read something about that before.

I know there was an Aussie getting a bit narky about not being able to get the game till late and that there wasn't a period of grace between the early start's end and him having to put in a code to play from the official release day.

The wiki page says just Australasia will have a later release date, but it also says the release date is 20th December for EU and North America. It doesn't mention Asia.

With the forums down it'll need someone with the answer to hand to tell you what's the deal.

holifeet

Here's the official pre-order FAQ answer:

 

In which countries will I be able to pre-order and purchase Star Wars: The Old Republic?

In North America, Star Wars: The Old Republic will be available for pre-order and retail purchase in the following countries:

United States of America
• 
  Canada

In Europe, Star Wars: The Old Republic will be available for pre-order and retail purchase in the following countries:

• 
  Austria
• 
  Belgium
• 
  Czech Republic
• 
  Denmark
• 
  Finland
• 
  France
• 
  Germany
• 
  Greece
• 
  Hungary
• 
  Ireland
• 
  Italy
• 
  Netherlands
• 
  Norway
• 
  Poland
• 
  Portugal
• 
  Russia (Standard Edition only)
• 
  Spain
• 
  Sweden
• 
  Switzerland
• 
  United Kingdom

Will Star Wars: The Old Republic be available for retail purchase in countries not listed above?

At launch, Star Wars: The Old Republic will be available only in the countries listed above. Details on additional countries are not available at this time, but will be released when available.

haemo74

You can wait for an "oceanic release" at some indefinite time in the future, or order from a retailer in the green zone and play on a US /Euro server.  There's no guarantee that an oceanic release will mean servers located regionally.

Bioware has stated that access to servers won't be IP restricted.  What you got during beta is what you will get at release (lag wise).

If you order a physical copy from a green zone retailer, you probably wont be able to pay at release due to shipping delays, but may have to wait a few days or weeks.    There are some sites offerring to email cdkeys prior to release, but you can do your own research.

Boudewijns

For one thing its a releave that asia isnt on the list, more problems for the credit farmers from a certain country(s)

ming_xuan

Originally posted by Boudewijns

For one thing its a releave that asia isnt on the list, more problems for the credit farmers from a certain country(s)

You know, gold farmers are organized, especially Chinese. They have relatives and contacts everywhere and you can be sure game codes will be for sale a week or so after release on Taobao, the local ebay - I've seen it before. They also use VPN when they have to - there's a lot of money at stake you know, more than you can imagine. Some organization even use virtual currency for money laundry!

OP, if you manage to import the game, the rest is gonna be easy. There's several solution to buy subscription for this game, including Paypal or US websites that will sell you codes from pre-paid game time cards if they don't take Chinese/Thai/<insert funkuy country name here> cards. Me, I just asked an American friend to order it for me last summer. I will get my game code on the 20th or the 21st.