Star Wars: The Old Republic now free to play up to level 15

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A free trial for Star Wars: The Old Republic is now available, letting players explore the universe as any class for as long as they like up to level 15. That'll give you a chance to see the starting world, and a little bit of your faction's capital planet. You'll also be able to jump into PvP Warzones and Flashpoints (TOR's equivalent of dungeons. In space).

This is a bit of a step up from the regular free trial weekends we've seen popping up for TOR over the course of the year. Dipping subs and layoffs at Bioware Austin suggest that TOR is treading water. This free trial could encourage players to jump in, but a disturbance in the Force suggests that a move to free-to-play is at least being contemplated somewhere deep inside EA's Deathstar.

"Ultimately some day we can move in and embrace that model. It's all a matter of timing and thinking things through,” said EA boss Frank Gibeau of the idea. But as TOR game director James Ohlen has pointed out, moving from a subscription to a free to play model isn't an easy move to make .

Will you be downloading the trial client? What do you think of TOR's chances in the coming year?

Tom Senior
Tom Senior

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.