Everything we know coming to SWTOR in 2026 including Story, DirectX 12 and 8.0 Expansion.
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SWTOR 2026 Roadmap
Keith Kanneg recently posted an Executive Producer Letter over Christmas, highlighting many unexpected and new announcements and updates for SWTOR planned across 2026.
In this letter, Keith recounted SWTOR’s update schedule and released accomplishments in 2025, highlighting a successful return to story content over a year of delays which was most likely caused by various worker and union strikes across America and Europe since 2024.
Below are ALL of the highlighted and known information we have for 2026 going through SWTOR.
DirectX 12 Update
SWTOR updating the game to DirectX 12 was first announced back in 2023 and news since then has been few and far between, during the Game Update 7.8 livestream in late 2025, the developers cited a major UI issue was the current reason why the move to DirectX 12 had been taking so long.
However we have now been given a definitive understanding of what DX12 will accomplish in SWTOR by Keith:
As we look forward, I wanted to touch on our migration to DirectX 12 and provide you with why we’re making this change along with the current status:
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.
Developer Livestream
Keith has confirmed that the first order of business for SWTOR as we enter 2026 is that a special Developer Livestream will be held in February 2026. This livestream aims to highlight Game Update 7.8.1 as well as various other things that SWTOR will feature over 2026 such as the 15th Anniversary of SWTOR and potentially the announcement of the 8.0 Expansion!
Master’s Enigma 7.8.1 Story
Following the release of 7.8 in December 2025, the developers promised that the next part of the main Legacy of the Sith storyline, Master’s Enigma, will release ASAP or “Late Winter” 2026.
Alongside the Master’s Enigma storyline, we will be recieving several pieces of side content as well!
The Master’s Enigma story was first revealed at Star Wars Celebration in May of 2025.
In order to play Master’s Enigma story on release, players must have completed the Galactic Threads story-quest from the Legacy of the Sith expansion.
Kira Carsen and Torian Cadera Date Night
Kira Carsen and Torian Cadera will feature as two Date Nights (repeatable, free quests) to players that have romanced Torian and Kira. These two date night quests will most likely also reward free titles and decorations for eligible players that romance Kira or Torian.
Galactic Season 10
There has been no information given as to the theme, release date or objectives of Galactic Season 10, only that it will release alongside Game Update 7.8.1 – Master’s Enigma. However Kieth Kanneg did reveal that SWTOR will be changing how Galactic Seasons work with Season 10 in the following quote:
This season will work a little differently than previous seasons so stay tuned for our next live stream for details, along with insight about the two Date Nights featuring Torian and Kira.
This means that players can expect a change as to how Galactic Seasons operate in the future, as for what that means, we won’t know until the official SWTOR Livestream in February 2026.
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Legacy Reborn 7.9 Update
SWTOR’s next Story Update, titled ‘Legacy Reborn’ is set to release in Spring of 2026!
Not much is known about Legacy Reborn however we do have a few small details:
- Legacy Reborn will be the Finale of the Legacy of the Sith storyline
- PvP Season 10 release date
- Beginning of the next story ‘Era’
We don’t know what the Finale of the LotS story entails, will Malgus, Heta Kol or Shae Vizla finally be defeated/over, or will their storylines continue into the 8.0 Expansion? Keith only teased us with the following information:
As the Legacy of the Sith story reaches its finale in 7.9: Legacy Reborn, we’ll be introducing the next story Era just around the corner! Without giving too many spoilers, you can expect quite the shake-up across the galaxy. We’ll give more details about the next Era in 2026.
PvP Season 10
During the release of the 7.9 Legacy Reborn story update for SWTOR, the game will also release its 10th new PvP Season and rewards for players.
7.9.1 Galactic Season 11
SWTOR is set to release Galactic Season 11 after the Legacy Reborn update, targeting ‘Summer’ of 2026. There has been no information given as to the theme or objectives of Galactic Season 11, however Keith Kanneg remarked that like Galactic Season 10, it will also feature the ‘change’ made to the Galactic Season system.
Both the ‘changed’ Galactic Season’s 10 and 11 will be spoken about together in the next Developer Livestream, scheduled for February 2026:
We’ll talk about Galactic Season 11 during the next Livestream when we discuss Galactic Season 10 as both will follow a similar path.
SWTOR 15th Anniversary
There has been little information revealed for SWTOR’s 15th Anniversary, set for December of 2026. However Keith has officially given word of at least one major update for the 2026 holiday period:
8.0 Expansion Announcement
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!
– Keith Kanneg
Whether 8.0 will release FOR Christmas 2026 or the testing/announcement period only begins in Christmas 2026 is unknown.
It’s likely that Christmas 2026 will only feature the first trailers, teasers and public test periods for balancing and taking feedback for the expansion before it releases.
However I think most players would be absolutely surprised to learn that SWTOR has enough fight left in it to gain support for another expansion, especially since the current expansion has had its main storyline drift without any end in sight for several years now, given that the storyline started all the way back in 2018 and has been unresolved to this day.
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