BioWare is offering a grace period for those who have pre-ordered Star Wars: The Old Republic, but may not recieve their official copy before the December 20th launch date. BioWare made the announcement of a two-day grace period for Star Wars: The Old Republic customers who have pre-ordered the game. Given the massive amounts of pre-orders, it's likely that some retailers may have mixups, or errors, in shipping and you may not recieve your copy in time to input your actual product registration code by launch date. This could result in you being locked out of the game.
BioWare's Greg Zeschuk wrote on the official Star Wars forums, "While we've worked closely with our retailers in the launch territories to ensure copies of Star Wars: The Old Republic are available from our launch date of December 20th, we understand that for those of you who’ve pre-ordered, there may be a concern about getting your copy on time."
The two-day grace period gives everyone hwo has pre-ordered the game and is in the Early Game Access program has forty-eight hours from launch in which to enter their product registration code. These codes will be found inside the physical cases for the games, or if you purchased on Origin.com it will be emailed to you after December 16th and will arrive before December 19th at 11:59 PM EST.
After December 22nd 12:01AM EST, you will be required to have a valid payment method and product registration code registered to your account.
"We understand that for some, your copy of the game may still arrive on or after December 22nd. Unfortunately, we cannot extend the grace period any further. We suggest you contact your retailer to discuss shipping options, if this is a concern."
Some good news is that this grace period will not run into your free 30 days of game time which is included with your purchase of the game. This means if you get into the early access period, get the 2-day grace period, and get your 30 free days, you can rack up some levels before you even have to begin with your subscription.
Greg explained, "If you redeem your product registration code during the grace period, and add a valid payment method to your account, you will begin your billing cycle from then, and you will be entitled to 30 days of game time. If you redeem your product registration code before December 20th, your billing cycle will begin on December 20th at 12:01AM EST (the official launch date and time of the game)."
