Keith Kanneg, SWTOR’s Executive Producer, released his Q2 2025 Executive Producer Letter. This one provides a brief update on the DirectX 12 development and teases new story update news coming soon.
Why Producer Letters Matter
While these Producer Letters may seem pointless to you, as they primarily contain old news, they’re significantly more valuable for people who aren’t playing the game right now and might be looking to return.
They stand out because the information is provided by the person in charge of everyone else and presented in a way that’s a lot more digestible to potential players who aren’t familiar with the current state of the game.
Over time, these producer letters build up as a public record, one that is a lot easier to read than the patch notes if you’re trying to get a sense of the history of the game or what content was released while an individual was confirmed to be working on SWTOR.
Recap of what happened in Q2 2025
Since the Q1 2025 Producer Letter, we have had one major content update. 7.7 “Dynamic Worlds” brought new Dynamic Encounters to seven more planets along with new Augments and Relentless Replication Master Mode. This update also launched PvP Season 8.
The now traditional batch of character modernization effort did not pass on Update 7.7 and this time around we saw tweaks to facial definition and skin texture changes.
A couple of weeks later, update 7.7d surprised us with a few more Class Balance Changes, specifically to Assassins | Shadows, Sorcerers | Sages, Mercenaries | Commandos, and Operative | Scoundrel healers.
What is coming next
As usual, Keeth was not very detailed with his announcements and resorted to mostly just teasing us with what to expect soon.
Nar Shaddaa Nightlife 2025
The next edition of the Seasonal Summer casino event, Nar Shaddaa Nightlife 2025, will start in less than two weeks – on July 8th.
The new featured reward is a Supernova Helmet, which adds trippy color swirls to the inside of the Peerless Explorer’s Enviro-Suit Helmet.
We have already updated the guide with the new details we know of, but on July 8th, we will run another pass to make sure every new detail is well covered.
DirectX 12
We have known that the developers are working on adapting the game’s engine for DirectX 12. This would open a ton of new possibilities for visual and other improvements.
It’s been a long time since we have had an official update on how things are going with this project and Keith’s words from this Producer Letter sound optimistic:
Currently, we have a working version of the game running in DX12! However, we still have more to do before we can release a version for players to test such as converting the game’s UI system to DX12 and ensuring any major bugs are identified and resolved. We will have more to share later this year, but I am pleased with the progress the team has been making on this initiative!
Keith Kanneg, Executive Producer | Q2 2025 Producer Letter
It sounds like we might be able to test a build by the end of this year, but from how Keith said it, we shouldn’t have high hopes for a finished and polished DX12 product in 2025. Well, better late than never. Also, better late but working than early and broken.
What about the new story?
I doubt that there is a player and fan of the game that is not aware of the major delay in new story development since 7.5 “Desperate Defience” and the likely reasons for that.
While the devs never officially stated it, it is believed that the reason was the SAG-AFTRA Video Game Voice Actors Strike. As you might be aware, it has recently been suspended. This means we can expect “Galactic Threads” (delayed from 7.6) and “Master’s Enigma” (delayed from 7.7) to be ready soon.
I am happy to say that we will have concrete details of the release of Galactic Threads and Master’s Enigma in our upcoming 7.7.1 livestream, so we are looking forward to sharing the story roadmap with you all then.
Keith Kanneg, Executive Producer | Q2 2025 Producer Letter
During Star Wars Celebration 2025 the SWTOR team presented a featurette with Ashley Ruhl, Narrative Director of SWTOR that recapped Legacy of the Sith while also showing something that made us all incredibly excited, the return of Darth Jadus!
What to expect in 7.7.1
The next notable update is 7.7.1, which will include the release of Galactic Season 9. The character modernization continues with the next batch focusing on improvements to Rattataki. “Companions not covered in 7.7 will also be getting some love”, Keith said.
The 7.7.1 livestream event will give us more details on the upcoming update and Keith stated that this is the place and time when we “we are looking forward to sharing the story roadmap with you all“. There is no announced date for the livestream at the moment, nor for the update itself.
