Embracer Group Seemingly Confirms Developer Change for ‘Knights of the Old Republic’ Remake
A few weeks ago we heard of trouble brewing with the upcoming Knights of the Old Republic remake. Now, video game and media giant Embracer Group may have inadvertently confirmed the aforementioned studio shakeup.
On Thursday, alongside a massive announcement of several big-name acquisitions by Embracer, the holding company mentioned “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. We are not expecting any material delays for the title based on this transition.”
Embracer Group is now the top owner of way too many big video game companies to list here, so there’s a slim possibility of this “problematic” project being a different one. That being said, there aren’t many AAA projects with reported trouble currently cooking under Embracer’s huge umbrella, and last month’s whispers already mentioned a swift change had occurred to ensure this big collaboration with Lucasfilm Games didn’t die out like many other promising Star Wars video games.
More specifically, the rumors said Embracer-held Saber Interactive — direct owner of Aspyr Media — was taking over the project with one of its own development teams. As good as Aspyr’s remastering and porting efforts have been over the years, there was a cloud of doubt hanging over the Knights of the Old Republic remake, a massive AAA undertaking with lots of pressure on it, ever since it was first announced. Despite some big gets with the hiring of BioWare veterans from the original KOTOR and The Old Republic, maybe the lead studio’s aggregated experience for such a project simply wasn’t there.
If we look at Saber Interactive’s recent output (aside from their frequent collaborations with large AAA studios), they’ve found big success with IP titles such as World War Z and Evil Dead: The Game. The Knights of the Old Republic remake could still be in a pretty good position if the transition has been smooth and some of that veteran BioWare talent is sticking around. Don’t expect official news or a first proper look at the game any time soon though.
Francisco J. Ruiz is that guy who has watched Jurassic Park a thousand times and loves Star Wars. His hunger for movies is only matched by his love for video games. He graduated in English Studies from the University of Malaga, in Spain. As he keeps writing about what he enjoys (and doesn’t) for websites all over, he’s continuing his studies.
