Over the weekend Bioware sent out a release stating that Star Wars: The Old Republic would now have a "Global Launch Date", but after checking with EA locally, we've been informed that Australia and New Zealand will not be involved in that Global Launch.

The release on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic website stated the following…

Today BioWare and LucasArts are excited to announce that the new global launch date for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ will be December 20th, 2011. Updating from previously announced plans, the release will now be simultaneous in North American and European launch territories!

There had been speculation on the site forums that Australia and New Zealand's dates would be moved forward – a reasonable assumption considering both countries are part of the 'globe' – but a local representative informed us that the "local message had not changed". They're still waiting for an official release date for the Star Wars: The Old Republic locally. According to EA, Star Wars: The Old Republic was still very much on a staggered launch schedule for the Oceania region.

There are, however, some positive signs. Bioware has been involved in beta testing with Australian players, which signifies that a local release date may come sooner than we initially expected.