The Star Wars: KOTOR remake might be alive and well, but it may not be convincing publishers and hardware makers of its merit.
As you might have seen yesterday, CEO of Saber Interactive Matthew Karch insisted the project was still in active development despite numerous rumours of its demise after six years in development hell. The project has changed hands; it was originally in development at Aspyr. The KOTOR remake was handed off to Saber in 2022 after then-parent company Embracer Group determined the game wasn’t hitting a quality-level that would ensure a strong return on investment.
And I’m sure Karch went to bed last night thinking he’d staved off the rumours for at least a little while yet. That was before Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb replied to a tweet asking for his take on the situation. When he did, it was to issue a fairly dire revelation. “My understanding is that Sony wants nothing to do with it [the KOTOR remake] anymore, which is why I thought it was dead,” reads Grubb’s tweet. “Obviously though, Saber still seems very determined. And I have a lot of trust in Saber.”
Grubb is known for being well-liked and well-connected within the games development community in the US. His comments track, in as much as Sony was the first to reveal the KOTOR remake back in 2021 during a PlayStation Showcase broadcast. Since then, it hasn’t really had anything to say about the remake.
With all the tumult behind the scenes, it is absolutely conceivable that PlayStation has cooled on the game in the intervening years. What it wanted, I’m sure, was a big-budget remake of a beloved RPG it could whack a timed-exclusivity clause on. Nothing of the sort has emerged just yet, and if what Grubb says is true, Saber may find it difficult to bring Sony around unless it can smash this remake out of the park.
Kotaku Australia has reached out to PlayStation for comment.
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