Star Wars Galaxies Shutting Down

Yesterday SEO made the announcement that on Dec 15, 2011 Star Wars Galaxies would be shutting down permanently.  President of SOE, John Smedley, talked with Massively about the shutdown and when asked why, he had this to say.

The decision to shut down SWG is first and foremost a business decision mutually agreed upon between SOE and LucasArts. LucasArts has a new game coming out, and the contract would be running out in 2012 anyway, so we feel like it’s the right time for the game to end.

So it seems that Star Wars: The Old Republic definitely came into play when the decision was made to not renew the contract.  However I think many SWG players already assumed the game would close its doors before SWROR was released, even though it was previously stated that SWTOR would not have any effect on SWG.

Those players that choose to stay until the end, they’ll be able to participate in the galaxy-ending event which will take place one week before shutdown.  However if you want to stay you will need an active subscriber account in good standing before Sept15th, as no new or reactivated accounts will be accepted afterwards.  After Sept 15th, those players with active accounts will be able to play for free for the final months.

Below is the full schedule for the shutdown and for full details about events and memberships, check out the official SWG site.

June 24

• 12, 6 and 3-month subscription packs turned off
• TCG store closes

Sept 15

• SWG MMO and Trading Card Game no longer available for sale or subscription
• No new or reactivated accounts accepted after this date

Oct 15

• Billing turned off
• Free game trials begin

Dec 15

• Star Wars Galaxies service ends

Dec 31

• Free game trials end