According to Jason Schreier of Bloomberg, the development of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake has shifted from Aspyr Media, a Texas-based studio, to one of Saber Interactive's Eastern European developers. Originally, the game was announced back in September 2021 to much fanfare and hope that the remake would capture the essence that made the original 2003 title a classic. We then heard essentially nothing until the end of July 2022, when the game was indefinitely delayed.
Why was the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake delayed?
Back in June 2022, the game's former art director, Jason Minor, and Brad Prince, the former design design director, were both fired from Aspyr Media. This subsequently led to the indefinite delay announcement at the end of July 2022. Back then, it was reported that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was put on pause, with Aspyr Media described as needing "new contracts and development opportunities" to presumably funnel into the KotOR remake. That dream is now apparently dead after two years of development, with the hopes and dreams of KotOR fans placed in the hands of Saber Interactive.
It's important to note that Embracer Group, which owns both Aspyr and Saber Interactive, moved the project from one developer to another under its umbrella. Embracer owns a lot of companies, so it makes sense that they were able to find another developer that they deemed suitable for the project in just under a month.
Last Thursday, Embracer mentioned in a financial report that "one of the Group’s AAA projects has transitioned to another studio within the Group." This was due to Embracer not being happy with the overall quality of the title, with Embracer stating that the "quality bar" wasn't where they wanted it to be. Interestingly, there are no "material delays" expected, although with no announced release date that doesn't really mean anything to gamers. While the group doesn't clarify that it means Knights of the Old Republic, it's likely that's the game in question given Schreier's reporting and what we know about the remake's current status.
As for what Saber Interactive has developed, they've had their fingers in many pies. They've developed off-road driving sim SnowRunner, popular co-op zombie shooter World War Z, and WWE 2K Battlegrounds, just to name a few. Nothing in there screams AAA RPG, but nothing really did for Aspyr Media either, so we'll have to see. Still, it's worth noting that Aspyr has presided over ports and re-releases of both Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel, so it does have some past form in this area. It'll be interesting to see what Saber Interactive does with the property, if Bloomberg's reporting is correct.
For more information on the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars in general, stay tuned to TechRaptor.
