Gamasutra are reporting that Electronic Arts will be artificially constraining the availability of both digital and retail copies of Star Wars: The Old Republic at launch, a move which seems weird on the surface but it is being done to prevent dramas around the launch caused by too many users:

"We are limiting launch quantities of Star Wars: The Old Republic to ensure players have a smooth and high quality game experience and service at launch," a rep for EA and BioWare told Gamasutra.

"All versions of the game -- physical and digital -- are available for pre-order on a limited basis only. Once they are gone, they are gone," he added.

The report also mentions that sales will simply be cut off once they've reached a certain limit.

No mention is made on what the limits are, so more skeptical people might simply see this as a super-clever marketing move on EA's part to try to increase the number of pre-orders. But if you can't stand not being in the action from day one, you might want to bear this in mind!