Since the KOTOR Remake was revealed at The Games Awards 2021, it has been a firm fixture on the most wanted lists of PlayStation and PC gamers. However, according to a Bloomberg report from Jason Schreier, development on the project has been delayed “indefinitely”.
In a nutshell, two senior staff – design director Brad Prince, and art director Jason Minor – were fired from the Austin-based Aspyr Media. This was after the studio presented a vertical slice demo of the KOTOR Remake to Sony and Lucasfilm, Aspyr’s lead developers informing staff that the project “wasn’t where they wanted it to be”. As a result, it’s alleged that the game’s production is now on hold, despite Aspyr originally targeting a release date for the end of 2022.
It’s reported by Schreier that Embracer Group – the Swedish media company that acquired Aspyr in 2021 – is bringing in reinforcements. It’s been previously confirmed that Emrbacer-owned developer, Saber Interactive (World War Z, Snowrunner, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2) is helping on the KOTOR Remake, though the Bloomberg report suggests they’ll be taking the reins and leading future development on the title.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is perpetually put forward as one of the best video games to use the storied sci-fi license, right up there with Super Bombad Racing. The original game was created by BioWare and launched almost 20 years ago for the PC and Xbox, praised for its excellent storytelling, characters, and RPG combat.
If this KOTOR Remake is still happening, it will be interesting to see how those core elements are modernised for a new audience. It has been reported that the remake will sport more of an action RPG design, likened to games such as God of War, instead of the D&D inspired system found in the original.
Aspyr Media has credits on a number of recent Star Wars remasters on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. These include Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, Jedi Knight III: Jedi Academy, and Stars Wars Republic Commando. A full-on, AAA remake of a bigger Star Wars game may have been too ambitious for the studio – we’ll hopefully uncover the full story behind its development one day.
This isn’t the only Star Wars that has reportedly run into issues. Star Wars Eclipse – from Heavy Rain and Detroit devs, Quantic Dream – was said to be struggling amid staffing issues earlier this year.
Source: Bloomberg
