Back in 2021, Sony hosted an event called the 'PlayStation Showcase.' It was a live event that announced and gave further news about anticipated games coming to the PS5. This livestream was when we got the first official trailers of Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Marvel's Wolverine and God of War: Ragnarök. However, the first trailer of the showcase was arguably the most unexpected and one that made a huge community of gamers cheer in harmony. The announcement of a ground-up remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was such a delight. Sadly, there has been no more footage, gameplay or trailers for this remake since September 2021. Rumours have been circling for a long time about the game coming vapourware, but a recent statement from Saber Interactive has reassured fans that the remake is still in development.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic first came out in 2003. BioWare was the developer, and LucasArts published it. The game itself is an action RPG set 4,000 years before the rise of the Galactic Empire, which we see in Revenge of the Sith. The game was a commercial success, and critics often cite it as one of the greatest video games ever made. A sequel, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, came out a year later. Obsidian Entertainment made the sequel, and they went on to earn even more critical acclaim with Fallout: New Vegas and South Park: The Stick of Truth.
Knights of the Old Republic Remake's first development cycle began in 2018 after Aspyr, the developers at the time, acquired the license to develop the game. The game entered pre-production in 2019, but Aspyr made little progress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2021, Embracer Group acquired Aspyr and invested money into the project so the game could enter full development. Later that same year, we got the official announcement trailer at Sony's Showcase.
Sadly, this is where the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake starts to get rocky. In August 2022, Embracer announced that Aspyr was no longer working on the game, leading people to believe that the game was no longer in development. There has been no official reason as to why Aspyr left the project. One of the most shared theories comes from Sony being disappointed with an early build of the game, and Embracer took action based on their decision. Embracer did not cancel the game. The company gave production to Saber Interactive, which is known for its work on Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
Since the transition from one developer to another, there has been radio silence about the game. Saber Interactive has released several games since, including Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 and A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead. Space Marine 2 was a critical and financial success for the company, so much so that Saber revealed that Space Marine 3 is in development.
In addition to this announcement, Saber Interactive's Chief Creative Officer, Tim Willits, shared a tweet stating:
"Saber Interactive is one of the largest independent developers in the world. We are working on numerous games across many different genres. Everything that we have talked about is still in development. We will share information on upcoming games when we have something cool to share."
Willits' statement is just the news that any KOTOR fan wants to hear. Saber has inadvertently confirmed that every game they are developing is still being created, including Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake. It is unlikely that we will hear any news about the game in the upcoming months, but it is so exciting to know that the game is still on its way.
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