Keith Kanneg, SWTOR Executive Producer, published the Q4 Producer Letter, outlining the plans for 2026 with several game updates and confirming SWTOR 8.0!
Why Producer Letters Matter
These regular Producer Letters may seem pointless to a regular player. They contain mostly recap of old news. These are significantly more valuable for returning or potential new players who haven’t been in and around the game all this time.
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.
Today’s Q4 Producer Letter is special. For the first time in years, Keith confirmed and revealed details about several upcoming updates and what we expect to be the 8.0 expansion. Only… Keith did not call it “an expansion”, just 8.0.
What happened in 2025
Keith’s letter recapped not only the last three months of 2025, but the entire year. If you have been away from the game, this is a great opportunity to catch up.
2025 started for SWTOR in March with the release of Update 7.6.1 with the following features: R-4 Anomaly Timer, Basilisk Prototype Customizations, Dynamic Encounter Specific Achievements, New Speeder Piloting Legacy Perk
In the Summer, Update 7.7 added dynamic encounters to the starter and capital planets, as well as Ilum. We got the Master Mode of Relentless Replicator and the first appearance of the Eras window, which gives you a very high level overview of the major events your character has been through so far. If you are looking for a complete timeline and story progression, we have just the guide for you!
In Update 7.7.1, the devs introduced a new batch of F2P improvements, limited the free Cartel Coins given from the Security Key. This was the last update (for now) when we saw Character Modernization efforts. There will likely be more, but we don’t know when.
The biggest, and by far the most interesting update, came this December. Update 7.8 finally brought the long-awaited continuation of the storyline in SWTOR with Galactic Threads.
Sadly, the KOTOR-style cinematics invasion continued to plague the crit path, but at least I personally enjoyed the story. I should remind everyone that I am a big Malgus fan. If you are not, you may not have had this much fun.
A new gameplay system was introduced on Dantooine where a mysterious space-zoo ship has crashed and created three distinctly unique biomes full of opportunities and secrets. This system is a combination of Dynamic Encounters with Daily Area elements.
Update on DirectX 12
It’s been a long time since the first announcement of SWTOR’s planned upgrade to DirectX 12. At least Keith did not disappoint, delivering honesty and clarity on the progress with DirectX 12:
The goal of the DX12 conversion is to enable us to add new visual features to the game. Once we reach current feature parity, we’ll retire DX9 and continue forward with DX12. After that, we’ll begin to add new features to enhance the game, improve performance, and enable us to take advantage of future graphical features. Here’s a quick update:
- In our test environment, SWTOR is playable in DirectX 12.
- The game is mostly functional using DX12 except for some advanced rendering features. But, the UI isn’t working properly yet, which is why we can’t make it available to test yet.
- Since the migration to DX12 requires extensive (and deep) changes, we can’t give a solid timeframe for making it available to test. The good news is we are getting closer and will keep you updated on our progress.
2026 Roadmap
It was short, it was evasive and it was vague on details, as these letters always are. But we received first bits of info about several future game updates.
As previously announced, the story will be delivered with a three months gap, instead of the usual pace of six months. The devs are catching up for the time lost during the Actors’ strike.
Update 7.8.1, in early 2026 (expected in “late Winter”), will bring the next Galactic Season 10 and the storyline titled “Master’s Enigma”.
Galactic Threads was teased several times by the devs as the beginning of the end for Legacy of the Sith. In his letter, Keith confirmed that there are two more story chapters before this era is complete. Two additional Date Night missions will be released with this update – Torian and Kira.
The next two Galactic Seasons will be somewhat different, but we don’t know how and why yet. Details about them are expected at the first livestream in 2026 (date TBA).
This season will work a little differently than previous seasons so stay tuned for our next live stream for details
Update 7.9 is expected some time in the Spring and will bring “Legacy Reborn”, the final part of Legacy of the Sith. 7.9.1 will be in the Summer. Nothing is teased to be part of it except the usual Galactic Season.
That’s it. We are done with 7.0! Bring 8.0!
8.0 Confirmed!
I am very excited and a little cautious about the wording Keith used in his announcement of 8.0! Here is his full message on this topic:
This is an incredibly thrilling milestone and with it will come many questions, I am sure. First things first, stay tuned for our 7.8.1 livestream in February. We will cover what you can look forward to in 2026 AND share the first details about what to expect as we celebrate 15 years of SWTOR with 8.0!
It is important to know that throughout the year, we will be both releasing new content and simultaneously working on development of our Anniversary Update. We look forward to sharing details over the course of the year, which could include updates during our quarterly livestreams, hosting 8.0 specific livestreams, public tests, emails, articles, and more. There is a lot to talk about, so make sure you join us for the ride!
It’s fantastic that we finally have a confirmation of SWTOR’s next milestone in 2026. The downside was that Keith avoided calling it an expansion.
If they provide the same amount of new content as 6.0 and 7.0, I think it is fair to remove the word “expansion”. These updates have been free to subscribers, which is great. They were not worthy of being called an “expansion”, though.
Looking forward to 2026. By far, my most anticipated new features are DirectX 12 and news about 8.0. What about you?
