After nearly 16 years, Star Wars: The Old Republic creative director Charles Boyd is leaving BioWare.
Boyd has been with Star Wars: The Old Republic for its over 10-year run, but he was also very much part of the team who helped bring it to life. According to Wookiepedia, Boyd joined BioWare in 2006 and was part of a team of writers who help build the foundation of the Star Wars MMO.
His team was led by Daniel Erickson, and Boyd helped create the story for the Trooper class among other things. After Erickson left in 2012, Boyd became a lead writer alongside Hall Hood, and they worked together on the Rise of the Hutt Cartel story. He would continue on to work on many other expansions and would officially become creative director in 2016.
"Even after almost sixteen years, I still can’t fully believe how lucky I’ve been to work on Star Wars: The Old Republic," Boyd wrote. "The Star Wars galaxy has always been a huge part of my life since I was a kid, so getting to play a role in SWTOR’s growth from its initial vision to a colossal release and then an incredible live service for over a decade has been an amazing experience. The team’s passion, creativity, and dedication to this game are incredible; I don’t think I can ever fully express how much I’ve admired and appreciated working with them every single day.
"As always, there are some exciting things in the works for the future of SWTOR – storylines and planets and gameplay and characters that I can’t wait to see come to life. I’m really looking forward to experiencing them all right alongside our players.
"So to the team, to our longtime partners at Lucasfilm, and to all of you: thank you so, so much for this amazing journey. I may be moving on from the project, but the Old Republic will never leave my heart."
As Boyd leaves, Star Wars: The Old Republic continues to live on and the team is hard at work on August 2's Game Update 7.1 that will add new daily mission arcs for Republic and Imperial players on the planet Manaan, a new Operation for 8-player teams, and improvements to the Weapons in Outfitter system. It will also reveal "key revelations about Darth Malgus and the Sith lord whose relics he has been pursuing."
For more, check out where Star Wars: The Old Republic ranks on our list of the top 10 MMORPGs and where IGN's audience placed it in our Face-Off of Star Wars games.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.