Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake is changing studios. According to a Bloomberg report, the hotly-anticipated role-playing game will now be developed by Saber Interactive’s Eastern European studio. Late last month, production on the title was reportedly paused until further notice, leading to two top employees at Aspyr Media getting fired. Embracer Group, which owns both studios, hinted at the transition last week in its financial earnings report. The KOTOR remake had been in development for three years, with plans to launch by end of 2022 on PC and PS5. Now, we may not see it until 2025.
The transition shuts down any hope of Aspyr Media employees continuing development on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake. “One of the Group’s AAA projects has transitioned to another studio within the Group. This was done to ensure the quality bar is where we need it to be for the title. We are not expecting any material delays for the title based on this transition,” Embracer Group’s financial report reads. At the time, the company never mentioned the project’s name or the studios involved. But Bloomberg claims it’s the KOTOR remake that Embracer was referring to.
Previous reports noted that the KOTOR remake went through an internal demo showcase. Titled the “vertical slice,” Aspyr revealed a “finalised” demo to partners Sony and Lucasfilm, who were not satisfied with the results. In response, the companies abruptly fired design director Brad Prince and art director Jason Minor, putting any further development on pause. Aspyr Media was responsible for creating the original 2003 version and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. As per Bloomberg, given the circumstances, a more realistic release target is now 2025.
Also last week, Embracer Group acquired IP rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit literary works by J.R.R. Tolkien. The acquisition of Middle-earth Enterprises would allow the group to work on multiple projects over the long term, and adds to Embracer’s existing catalogue of over 800 owned properties.
Set thousands of years before George Lucas’ films, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is based on an earlier comic book series, deriving gameplay elements from Dungeons & Dragons. The RPG features round-based combat with time constraints, and an alignment system that tracked players’ actions and dialogues throughout the game to determine what side they align on. It’s often deemed as one of the greatest Star Wars games ever made.
While we are still a long way from launch, the official Aspyr Media website — which has not yet been updated — states that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake will drop on PC and PS5.