Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic PS5 remake is reportedly still alive [Update]

The Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake might still be alive after all.

Following a report from Giant Bomb that the game was no longer in development, Bloomberg‘s reliable Jason Schreier said on X (formerly Twitter) that two people from developer Saber Interactive said they’re still working on it.

Can't say whether the KOTOR Remake will ever actually *come out*, but yes, two people from Saber Interactive tell me they're still on it, despite recent rumors that nobody is working on the game. (Saber took the project from Aspyr last year, as Bloomberg reported then) https://t.co/prNTT6iVAy

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) November 22, 2023

Schreier did note, however, that he “can’t say whether the KOTOR Remake will ever actually come out.”

Original story below:

Development on the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) remake has reportedly ceased.

On his Game Mess Mornings podcast, credible Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb claimed the PS5 exclusive, which is a remake of BioWare Edmonton’s 2003 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic RPG, is “not being worked on in any way, at any studio.”

He notes that the writing has been on the wall for some time with this game. Following a vague CG trailer reveal during the September 2021 PlayStation Showcase, developer Aspyr Media remained quiet on the remake. The following year, Bloomberg reported that development had been paused as parent company Embracer Group moved the project from Aspyr to another subsidiary, Saber Interactive.

In the two years since the reveal, we haven’t gotten any gameplay footage or even screenshots of the remake. Instead, Embracer has simply claimed the game is still being worked on during this time. That said, the company opted not provide any update at all this month during its most recent earnings call. When asked about the status of the remake, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefor simply said “I noticed that anything I say to this becomes a headline. So that is my only comment.”

PlayStation, for its part, has quietly been scrubbing its official posts and videos about the remake from the web. When asked for comment, the company claimed this was due to music licenses expiring. That already seemed fishy, especially considering the trailer only featured a rendition of John Williams’ iconic Star Wars music, and now, Grubb says Sony was doing that to distance itself from the KOTOR remake.

“The only reality of this game getting made is Lucasfilm completely takes it over and does all the work themselves to spin it back up,” concludes Grubb while casting significant doubt on that possibility. “No way this game ever happens.”

There was some hope that we’d get a promising update on the KOTOR remake this year to coincide with the iconic RPG’s 20th anniversary. Unfortunately, it seems like all signs are pointing to the remake never coming out.

It’s worth noting, though, that the original KOTOR is available on most platforms, including Xbox consoles, Nintendo Switch and PC. (Ironically, it’s not on PlayStation despite the exclusivity of the remake.)

For more on KOTOR, check out our massive two-part anniversary retrospective on the Canadian game from earlier this year. We spoke with lead designer James Ohlen, writer Drew Karpyshyn, star Jennifer Hale (Bastila) and more. Part 1 focuses on the development of the game itself, while Part 2 is about the game’s legacy and where the original BioWare Edmonton is now.

Image credit: Embracer

Source: Jeff Grubb (Games Mess Mornings)