The Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic Remake Is Still A Mess

A while back, it was reported that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - Remake had undergone major issues during development and the original developer tapped to complete it, Aspyr Media, Inc., was unlikely to complete it before its proposed release date of this year. The most startelling part of these reports involved how the game was estimated to have a realistic release date of 2025, but Aspyr's management was convinced the game could still make its original release date of 2022.

This week, Embracer confirmed that one of their AAA projects has switched studios and all signs point to Aspyr no longer being the studio in charge of the KOTOR Remake. It is worth noting, Embracer's report to shareholders did not specifically name names, but the KOTOR Remake is the most likely game they are talking about because it is the only AAA title that fits the bill of being a major release that has experienced recurring developmental and production issues.

Connected to this news, but there have been conflicting reports if the KOTOR Remake is in a state to where it could reasonably release in 2023 or 2024. PCGamer reported that evidence from Embracer's report to shareholders suggests the game may be able to make a release of some sort soon-ish with a new team operating under a salvage operation mandate. Jason Schreier took to Twitter to scoff at this notion and publicly stated he would be bet $10,000 the game does not come out in 2022, and that even a 2024 release would be "wishful thinking" unless the scope of the game was edited or pared down.

Only way I imagine this comes out in any brevity of time if it's only a visual remaster and the game itself remains the same underneath.

Not knowing the scope of the remake and progress so far surly makes it impossible to judge when the game will release.

Bluepoint's Demon Souls remake took two years, as we've only seen a CGI trailer for KOTOR I wouldn't have expected any game existed at all at that point, with the release being 1/2 years away anyway.

Also have the consider that the Demon Souls remake was more a graphics overhaul with the gameplay being identical. No way KOTOR is gonna be like that, it will probably be something more like FF7R was.

@panfoot: I'm not so sure its that ambitious Aspyr only has ~150 employees and the proposed release date was this year after 3 years already in development.

Given its likely they'll changed the combat to more action oriented which would require more work I doubt it'll even look as good as Demon Souls.

@thepanzini: Don't forget, this would have been Aspyr's first full game too, their entire 20+ year history is all port work, so a long development cycle doesn't seem so out there given what (we think) they are working with on this one.

I'm not shedding any tears. I think a complete remake is unnecessary, and the most I would want is a visual upgrade with quality of life improvements. Leave old games alone. Make new shit.

Whelp, the early report that his game was shifting to a new studio is now confirmed:

@lab392: More power to you folks who like CRPG mechanics.

I'd be down for some rebalancing as well (having replayed both KOTOR's in the last year), but yeah I'm with you. Star Wars is a big place; if they want an action game in this setting, make a new story.

Maybe it's naïve of me but it still surprises me when huge IPs keep cheaping out on talent. That sounds hurtful to Aspyr and I'm not saying port work is all they are capable of but it's such a weird choice for such a big name (Star Wars) and a big game from that brand (KOTOR). It being moved to yet another cheapo studio is... fucking weird? An Eastern European Saber Interactive team?

I suppose Spiders will probably end up working on the KOTOR II remake?

@hayt: KOTOR only sold 1m copies, if you look at Greedfall from Spiders it sold about the same without the expensive licence.

Then considering the follow up game from Bioware Dragon Age Origins sold 3.2m, the Star Wars IP probably only has real pull with casual players and not for an RPG like KOTOR.

@thepanzini: Knights of the Old Republic was an OG Xbox game that also received a PC release at a time when console games didn't do so well on PC. It was on a platform that didn't sell great, and is the 7th best selling game on the platform (6th if you don't include the super budget Sneak King game.)

It did very very well.

Dragon Age Origins was released on PS3 and Xbox 360 (two platforms that ended up selling more than 3x as many as OG Xbox EACH) as well as PC at a time when that was a better market for that type of game. You can't really compare the two of them.

The ACTUAL Follow up to KOTOR was Jade Empire, which reviewed very well but sold less than half the numbers of KOTOR. So your comparison isn't very fair.

@hayt: One of the ways that smaller studios become bigger studios is by taking on ambitious projects. A remake is an ambitious project that already has a proven formula, so can be a really good one to start that process with. Meanwhile the truly big studios don't want to do remakes, especially of other studios games.

@bigsocrates: Although not a true 1 to 1 comparison but it does illustrate the point that for niche genres the Star Wars IP hasn't always done a lot, its then understandable why you wouldn't spend a lot on a remake.

More platforms doesn't always mean more sales, Jade Empire was also a very different game where as DA Origins is basically the same combat and structure.

Or, I dunno, give us the KOTOR3 we never got that The Old Republic was supposed to be? It's incredible to me that they just never did a proper 3rd game.

@undeadpool: Hey, you can get more of Revan's story in SWTOR! You just have to play...a LOT of SWTOR to get there.

@thepanzini: Comparing a game's sales today to a game that came out almost two decades ago doesn't really work. The scale is very different. A million-seller in 2003 was a pretty big deal.

@bladeofcreation: Just gotta get 25 bantha hides to not-Greedo, you've SOLD me! ;)

Honestly, I do think about trying to jump into that game when I've got that urge to play a simple, grindy game. Avengers actually filled that gap nicely, but it was clear the devs weren't being supported and the studio was just...throwing shit at the wall to see what stuck.

Nothing exemplifies that better than She-Hulk's show premiering this week, meaning she's at the tip of everyone's tongue and being talked about, the character having been leaked for the game, including a voice actor, and so, of course, this week the game debuted The Winter Soldier...

Brilliant.

@bladeofcreation: CRPG's are not super popular sales wise even now particularly on console, both Pillars of Eternity & Divinity Original Sin being recent examples.

DA Origins is literally the best case scenario, I don't see how its such a wild statement that given Star Wars is often an expensive licence and with the lower popularity of the genre you wouldn't spend a lot on the remake.