The KOTOR remake is under new management. Here’s what that means.
A New Hope? The Return of the KOTOR Remake
Written by Ollie Bradley at 08/23/2022, 06:10 AM
Not long after a 'vertical slice' seemed to ruin everything for the anticipated upcoming KOTOR remake, some leaked news has reinvigorated the fanbase into arguing on the internet over whether remakes are worth the time or not. Well according to Embracer Group AB, yes they absolutely are.
The last we heard of the upcoming KOTOR remake, Aspyr put the project on indefinite pause swiftly following what must have been a pretty awkward demo of the work-in-progress to bigwigs at Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC and Sony Group Corp. But now Aspyr owner Embracer Group has resumed the project after handing the reins to their other subsidiary developer, Saber Interactive.
According to a report from Bloomberg - who seemingly has a pretty talkative anonymous source - the KOTOR remake will now be developed by one of Saber's Eastern European branches for the foreseeable future. This does, of course, mean that we are still in for a longer wait than we initially thought. But at least the ball is rolling once more.
Rumours of the change of hands began swirling after a financial report from Embracer on Thursday stated that "One of the Group's AAA projects has transitioned to another studio within the Group...to ensure the quality bar is where we need it to be for the title." It wasn't hard to connect the dots, but the title in question seems to be all but confirmed thanks to Bloomberg's little birdie.
This certainly isn't unwelcome news, as Saber Interactive's credentials include Halo's later iterations and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, as well as remasters of the Crysis series. Embracer, meanwhile, has recently been subjected to a torrent of negative reviews for its recent Saints Row reboot. So it's uncertain how this upcoming KOTOR remake will fare under both companies.
Either way, we still have a long time to go yet. So far all we have of the title is a CGI teaser, and we can expect to add at least another two years to the development process now that the project has changed hands.