Star Wars: The Old Republic Creative Director is leaving Bioware

Charles Boyd, Star Wars: The Old Republic’s Creative Director, has announced in a statement that he is leaving Bioware. He had been working at the company for 16 years.

Boyd joined Bioware in 2006 as a writer and started working on what would become The Old Republic. He is credited with creating the story for the class Trooper.

This was his first job after University and a sort of dream come true, given that he was already a massive Star Wars fan.

He rose through the ranks as each expansion was released until eventually reaching the Creative Director position in 2016 – meaning he played a crucial role in the game’s last three expansions.

This is a rough blow for an MMO that still thrives in a massively overcrowded market. Star Wars: The Old Republic has managed to maintain a very steady number of players – around 5000 on average according to SteamCharts.

The game even reached its Steam all-time peak very recently in 2020, despite being released in 2011.

The show must go on, though. Keith Kanneg, the project’s director, decided to publicly present the team that will be leading SWTOR’s journey after Charles leaves:

This announcement came alongside SWTOR’s 7.1 update’s release date, so the MMO will hopefully still be going strong.

Bioware hasn’t had an easy time in the last few years, but their Star Wars game is still a bright spot. Fans have also remained hopeful for news on Dragon Age and Mass Effect, two names which were mentioned directly by Bioware’s General Manager Gary McKay.

Charles Boyd hasn’t yet announced where he is going next, but mentioned that his time at Bioware was a very special one:

Let’s see what the future brings for both Charles and SWTOR as they travel on two separate paths for the first time in 16 years.