Don’t worry, at least two people are reportedly still working on that KOTOR remake

22.11.2023 - 17:53 / rockpapershotgun.com / Jeff Grubb / Lars Wingefors / Ios / Kotor Remake

The saga of the Knights of the Old Republic remake is beginning to look increasingly like Star Wars’ own increasingly convoluted expanded universe, as two developers have reportedly now insisted that, yes, they are still working on it - despite recent reports to the contrary.

To catch you up on the will-they-won’t-they (ever actually release KOTOR) drama so far, the question marks surrounding the game stem from a report last year that the classic BioWare RPG had been indefinitely delayed, following a poor reception to an internal demo that led to both its art and design directors being dropped from the project.

Shortly afterwards, the project changed hands from original developers Aspyr Media (owned by Embracer) to Saber Interactive (also owned by Embracer). Embracer, for their part, have refused to say anything official about the KOTOR remake since it was first announced back in 2021. Most recently, CEO Lars Wingefors took a break from laying off hundreds of staff and shuttering beloved studios to refuse to comment on the remake’s status, saying: “I notice anything I say to this becomes a headline, so that is my only comment.”

That not-comment followed the sudden disappearance of posts and a trailer hosted by the official PlayStation YouTube channel, with Sony later claiming that the vanishing act was down to nothing more suspicious than routine clearing up due to expired music licences. Which in itself is fairly suspicious, given that plenty of other Star Wars trailers remain live years after being uploaded - and the KOTOR remake video only featured the series’ main theme as its soundtrack.

Adding to the growing sense of Having a Bad Feeling About This was a fresh report from noted industry insider Jeff Grubb, who recently claimed he could “100% confirm” that the new Knights of the Old Republic “is not being worked on in any way, by any studio”.

Now, things have taken yet another turn - albeit this time offering a small glimmer of hope for those holding out for the game’s eventual appearance.

Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier has claimed that two sources from current KOTOR devs Saber Interactive have denied Grubb’s report that the project had been put on carbonite, stating that the two developers “tell me they're still on it, despite recent rumors that nobody is working on the game”.

As Schreier noted, whether that means the game will ever come out is a very different question - but, at least by this latest report, at least two people are still working on it. For the time being, that is.