The breaks have been put on the planned remake for the classic game, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. According to a new report by Bloomberg, it looks like a studio shakeup has put the project on hold until a new targeted release period of 2025.
Aspyr Media and Lucasfilm Games first announced the Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic Reboot back in September 2021, with a CG cinematic featuring Darth Revan, along with a voice-over by Bastila Shan by actor Jennifer Hale, who previously voiced the character in the original game release. The KOTOR remake was announced as a ground-up remake of the original title, which was first released back in 2023.
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STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC REMAKE PUT ON INDEFINITE HOLD
According to a report by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, the planned remake has been indefinitely delayed, and the project appears to be in jeopardy. Aspyr Media reportedly fired the game’s art director and design director earlier this month. Additionally, sources close to the project informed Bloomberg that Aspyr’s top executives told employees that the game is now on hold, as Aspyr is now looking for new contracts and development opportunities.
Aspyr Media had already been developing the KOTOR remake for almost three years before the issues began. Bloomberg reports that Apsyr finalized a vertical slice demo on June 30. The demo was created to showcase the vertical gameplay slice to production partners at Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC and Sony Group Corp. A source who is familiar with the project said to Bloomberg that developers were “excited” about the demo and believed it was on track.
A week later, Aspyr fired the game’s design director Brad Prince, along with its art director Jason Minor. Minor later issued a post on social media indicating that he was not expecting a termination from the project. Aspyr and parent company Embracer Group AB didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment by Bloomberg by the time the article was published.
Based on two people who were in a meeting with Aspyr’s studio heads, the executives told their staff that the vertical slice demo did not meet their expectations, and the project has been put on pause. A source for Bloomberg who is said to be familiar with the internal discussions reportedly suggested that since a large amount of time and money went into the demo, the current course of the KOTOR remake was no longer sustainable.
Another possible issue was the release timeline. Two people who are familiar with the project said to Bloomberg that Aspyr Media had informed its staff and partners that the studio was targeting a late 2022 release of the game. Now, it appears that 2025 is a more realistic release window for the game.
Earlier this year, Embracer Group had announced that Saber Interactive would also work with Aspyr on the remake project. According to Bloomberg’s report, some staff members at Aspyr believe Saber Interactive may now completely take over the project. Saber had beforehand been mainly focusing on outsourcing work for the KOTOR remake.
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According to Aspyr’s official website, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was planned for a PlayStation 5 and Windows PC release, with Sony Interactive Entertainment releasing the PS5 version, and Aspyr handling the PC release. The game does not have an official release date or window as of yet.
As noted by Bloomberg, the remake was going to be one of the first major Star Wars console games released outside of Lucasfilm’s current publishing deal with Electronic Arts Inc. EA’s exclusive licensing deal is set to expire next year in 2023. This would allow for the release of new Star Wars video games from different game publishers. However, EA is still working on multiple new Star Wars game titles, including Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, a sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
The Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake does not yet have an official release date. SIE will publish the game for PS5. Meanwhile, the PC version will be published by Aspyr. Fans can still sign up for updates at Aspyr’s official website.
What do you think of the news? Is this a bad omen for the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic? What do you think led to this current setback? Do you think the game will still get released? Let us know what you think about the issue in the comments or on our Twitter page. Make sure to follow us if you want more Star Wars content like this, we’re always watching.
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SOURCE: Bloomberg
