Following comments from Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello, BioWare confirms the game is still targeted to launch in 2011.

Our friends over at Darth Hater just sent us a breaking news tip that should be of interest to any Star Wars: The Old Republic fan. During today's conference call to William Blair and Company analysts, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello said that "high-scale testing" would be begin at the end of June. He also mentioned that the "release date would be dependent on the results" of the testing phase. BioWare then told Darth Hater that "game testing is ongoing."

UPDATE: Senior Community Manager Stephen Reid has responded to Riccitello's comments on the official forums. "We've recently transitioned into longer-term and larger-scale testing. We have more people testing the game now than ever before," he said, saying they're essentially in closed beta since it's invite-only and limited in size. They're still aiming to launch in 2011. You can read his full post after the jump.

We've been waiting patiently for a concrete release date for quite some time, and it looks like there might be a light at the end of the tunnel. While you wait, be sure to check out everything we learned about Star Wars: The Old Republic at E3.

Response from SW:TOR Senior Community Manager Stephen Reid

Take a deep breath, everyone...

Game Testing is currently ongoing for Star Wars: The Old Republic. This isn't news - it's been ongoing for quite a while. At different points in the process, we have invited a number of people to test. Some of those people tested for short periods, some for longer periods.

We've recently transitioned into longer-term and larger-scale testing. We have more people testing the game now than ever before. We are allowing them to play for longer than ever before. We're also continuing to invite people to test, so if you haven't signed up for testing yet – now is a good time.

We will be allowing more and more people to test The Old Republic before launch, and that means occasionally we'll spike in our invite numbers. It doesn't mean everyone who's signed up for testing is going to be invited in one block.

What we're doing now, essentially, is similar to a ‘Closed Beta’ for other MMORPGs, but we call it Game Testing. It's invite-only, and it's limited in size. That gives us the most 'bang for our buck' in terms of getting meaningful, actionable feedback. However, we're still ramping up, we're getting more people in... and we're still aiming to launch in 2011.