According to reports, development on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has been transferred to a different studio (and continent)
The last we heard of the attempt to remake Bioware’s classic Star Wars RPG Knights Of The Old Republic, two of the game’s lead developers had been fired, and a game that had been slated for a 2022 release date had been pushed back to 2025. A new report paints an even more bleak picture.
According to Bloomberg, development on the game, which had already been paused, has now been transferred entirely away from Austin-based Aspyr and to “one of Saber Interactive’s Eastern European studios” (The Embracer Group owns both Aspyr and the Saber studio in question).
The Embracer Group announced in a financial report released last week:
One of the Group’s AAA projects has been transferred to another studio. This was done to ensure that the quality bar was set correctly for the title. We do not anticipate any significant delays for the title as a result of this transition.
It was speculated at the time that this project could have been KOTOR, and Bloomberg’s report—which also states that Sony and Disney, “both of whom have financial interests in the game, were dissatisfied with progress under Aspyr”—certainly lends credence to this theory.
Saber had already been involved in the project in a supporting role, with CEO Mathew Karch telling investors earlier this year:
We’re confident that the game will be fantastic, but it’s a massive, massive product, and massive products take a lot of effort and time to make well. And when you’re talking about a game that’s already old—very old—we’ve basically had to remake it from the ground up.
While this does not bode well for the game, or at least its chances of being released anytime soon, keep in mind that the original was released in 2003. We don’t have to wait another year or two for a remake.
