Those of you aching to get a chance to try Star Wars: The Old Republic, but weren’t digging the idea of paying a subscription fee may be a wee bit excited about this sweet morsel of news. SW:TOR is going free-to-play, as announced by EA. Players will have the option of playing any of the games interesting set of characters up to the in game level of 50, with certain other restrictions of course. At that point, or any point before, players can take on the $15 subscription fee (with one month free access) in order to access the rest of the game’s features, though some can be unlocked via an in game method called “Cartel Coins”.

General Manager of BioWare Austin, Matthew Bromberg, had this to say:

“Players want flexibility and choice. The subscription-only model presented a major barrier for a lot of people who wanted to become part of The Old Republic™ universe.”

Executive producer of SW:TOR, Jeff Hickman, then added:

“Since launch, we’ve been listening to feedback from our fans and adding new content and refining The Old Republic at a breakneck pace. We believe we are in a position to help improve the service even more, not only by continuing to add new content, but also by expanding the game to many more Star Wars fans, increasing the populations on worlds and the vibrancy of the community.”

No date is yet set for when the popular MMO will official go free-to-play, but a bright horizon is indeed near.