If you're hoping to hop merrily into the beta phase of Bioware's highly-anticipated MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, it looks as though you'll have to join in the queue; and it's very long.

Electronic Arts CFO Eric Brown told press members at the Lazard Capital Markets Technology & Media Day presentation that 1.5 million people have expressed an interest in beta testing the game.

"It's a great indicator in the interest level in the franchise," he told attendees at the event. "We're not that concerned about generating initial demand. For us it's about creating the right experience for expanding from tier 1 and the tier 2 users to getting people who have never played an MMO before, but are interested in Star Wars, to engage and give it a try."

Star Wars: The Old Republic will adopt a standard monthly subscription model, but the finer details are yet to be decided, including whether to include microtransactions. At the event Brown said: "The key (question) is, what do you include in a base monthly fee versus what do you charge extra for? That requires some careful decision making, (but) for now we're focused on the standard monthly subscription model."

A release date, or a beta phase for Star Wars: The Old Republic has yet to be announced.