A friend tipped me off to this article on IGN. Star Wars: The Old Republic could see a delay to 2012, EA has admitted.

Speaking to investors, EA CFO Eric Brown revealed that a release date won’t be announced until late October.

“In terms of timing we haven’t given a street date yet,” Brown said. “We won’t do so for some time, possibly at our next upcoming earnings call towards the end of October.”

Brown added that the release date could end up in the next calendar year.

“We did hold out a slight possibility that it could slip to our March quarter,” he said, “and the factors that would cause a slip is, for example, us not being completely satisfied with the scalability testing, and wanting to tune it for several extra weeks.”

BioWare’s Stephen Reid commented that the statement shouldn’t have been made public.

“Investor calls and conferences are for investors. They are not meant for the general public,” Reid said. “It’s important to also note the word ‘possibly’ was used in Eric’s statement above. Just as he didn’t promise that you would get a release date announcement in September, he isn’t promising a release date before the next earnings call. It could happen, but it’s not a promise.”

Reid insisted that 2011 is still a possibility for the title, but that nothing is out of the question.

“There is absolutely no change to our previous messaging with this statement. We are in active and extensive testing for The Old Republic. We’re aiming to release the game in the holiday 2011 window (or, before the end of the year, to speak in non-American for a minute),” Reid added. “However, as with any large and complex game project, there’s always the possibility of slippage. Always. That is why we have always said we’re aiming for that window, because it’s possible that unforeseen issues may push the date. Eric Brown is doing what he’s paid to do – letting investors know that the possibility exists. A possibility doesn’t mean a certainty.”

Source: IGN.