In game.  Or if not exact the approximate year?

0-1 ABY. Right after the Battle of Yavin.

I've seen lots of requests for the time period. The answers are correct, but I personally think it is whatever year you wish to make it. My campaign, when it gets launched, is going to be a year or so before the Battle of Yavin. There is nothing missing in Beta that will prevent me from doing that. So for me, a better answer is, anywhere around the time of the classic trilogy. Creating a campaign during the Clone Wars or the New Republic would cause you to create several things yourself (ships, classes, etc), but this game could start several years before Episode IV to a little after Episode VI.

The Beginner Box uses "not that long after the Battle of Yavin" as it's launch point, seeing as how they mention the destruction of Alderaan and the Death Star.

That said, I'd say the applicable time frame for a lot of EotE campaigns could be anywhere from 10 years before the Battle of Yavin (roughly halfway through the "Dark Times" peroid and by which point the Empire has established a pretty firm grip on the galaxy) to maybe a year after the Battle of Yavin (after which the Rebel Alliance has truly proven themselves a force to reckon with).  The Rebellion doesn't really "take off" until after the Death Star's destruction; it's out there, but nobody really takes it all that seriously except perhaps Vader and a few other high-ranking Imperial officers (even Palpatine seems content to use it as tool and means to further consolidate his authority and power over the galaxy).

Really, it coud be anywhere between 10 BBY and 4 ABY… 4 ABY is when the Emperor is killed. I never felt comfortable with the events being a mere 4 years apart - before the timeline got fixed in C-Canon, I used Battle of Endor as abotu 10ABY…

Truth be told, for the Outer Rim, the New Republic doesn't change much of anything, other than who's face is on the coins.