New KOTOR Remake Rumor May Be Good News for Xbox Fans

05.04.2024 - 12:49 / gamerant.com / Jeff Grubb / Dominik Bo / Saber Interactive

The Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake may end up being a day-one release on Xbox consoles. That possibility has been suggested by a newly emerged rumor from a reputable industry insider who offered some new insights into Sony's current views on the KOTOR reimagining project.

September 9 will mark the third anniversary of the Star Wars: KOTOR remake announcement. Back in 2021, the game was meant to be handled by Aspyr Media, a subsidiary of Saber Interactive, which was itself owned by Embracer Group up until recently. Sony signed on as the publisher, having announced that the KOTOR remake would be a timed PS5 console exclusive. But the project underwent a developer switch a year later, with Saber taking over for Aspyr. Several reports of the project being dead have emerged throughout 2023. Additionally, industry insider Jeff Grubb has repeatedly predicted that the game would never come out.

But now that Embracer has sold Saber, the latter promptly assured fans that the Star Wars: KOTOR remake is still happening, describing it as «alive and well.» Grubb subsequently took to Twitter to clarify that his sources who suggested the opposite were all from the Sony side of things. Elaborating on that point, the insider said he understands «Sony wants nothing to do» with the KOTOR remake any longer, which is why he assumed that the game was already dead.

Grubb's comments hence imply that Sony has dropped out of the project and will not be publishing it, which ostensibly means its timed PlayStation exclusivity is out of the picture as well. This turn of events doesn't necessarily guarantee that the game is now meant to be a day-one multi-platform release, not least because each additional port raises the project's resource requirements. But it does make such a scenario possible, thus potentially being good news for Xbox fans.

While something similar could be said of its potential Switch 2 port, the game's chances of reaching Nintendo's next console will likely depend on the device's overall hardware capabilities. Hogwarts Legacy did prove that modern AAA titles can work on the Switch with some sacrifices, but such ports are still far from the norm, so it remains to be seen whether the next console changes this state of affairs.

In any case, now that the KOTOR remake is confirmed to not be dead, it remains to be seen whether Saber manages to make meaningful progress on it in the near future. Despite the developer's assurances that the game itself is still in the works, the current state of the project remains unclear.

Knights of the Old Republic lets players step into the Star Wars universe and engage in their Sci-Fi adventure. Players can create their own character, choosing from a variety of