UPDATED: Conflicting Comments From Game Insiders on ‘Knights of the Old Republic’ Remake Being Still Alive
Editor’s note: If you’ve already read the original story, scroll down to find the updated part of the piece. We’ve kept the article structured following the order of events for those of our readers who may have missed the story when it was first posted. Since Embracer has still not said anything on the record about it, we don’t really know what is going on with Knights of the Old Republic Remake.
On the Game Mess Mornings podcast, Jeff Grubb of Giant Bomb said that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake is “not being worked on right now.” This follows multiple reports of Embracer Group’s CEO Lars Wingefors remaining tight-lipped about the project, not providing any update when asked about how development was going.
The project was originally announced in September 2021 after months of rumors, with a CGI trailer of Darth Revan (which has since also been pulled, allegedly due to expired music licenses). Since then, no additional trailers, gameplay, or official updates have been given.
Jeff Grubb sat down with Tamoor Hussain on the Game Mess Mornings podcast (linked below) to discuss recent remarks regarding Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) Remake. Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors has not been sharing any details regarding the status of the game whenever asked. Grubb then went further and shared what he’s heard about the game, which is less than positive:
“I just want to clear it up. This game is not being worked on right now. Full stop. This game is not being worked on in any way at any studio.”
Embracer did not respond to a request for comment.
Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors’ recent comments haven’t been encouraging either. When asked on May 24 of this year about the KOTOR remake, Wingefors simply said, “Favorite question. I have no further comments.” Then, on November 16, Wingefors was asked again about the KOTOR Remake but said, “I notice that anything I say to this becomes a headline, so this is my only comment.”
This follows many recent reports of holdings company Embracer Group facing many financial issues over the past few months. Just recently, the company announced it has laid off 904 staff members. This all comes in the wake of a reported business deal with a possible Saudi entertainment company, valued at over 2 billion dollars, that suddenly fell through at the last minute. Embracer Group currently presides over many prominent video game studios, including Gearbox, Crystal Dynamics, and Eidos Montreal.
Knights of the Old Republic celebrated its 20th anniversary in July. Check out our deep-dive editorial on KOTOR written by Eric Lentz as it goes through the game and its impact on Star Wars and video games as a whole.
UPDATE:
A few days after the story was posted, while the users of Resetera discussed Grubb’s comments above, someone tagged Bloomberg video game journalist Jason Schreier to ask for his input on the troubled development cycle, and whether or not the game was dead. He responded with the following message:
“Is it alive?” and “Will it ever actually come out?” are two very different questions. A third is “If it does ever come out, what will it actually look like?” That said, I’ve talked to two people at Saber who both say they’re still currently working on it, so I don’t believe that the comment that it isn’t being worked on “in any way” right now is true.
Overall, this isn’t necessarily the most reassuring news, given the lack of transparency about the state of the project, but at least one insider has stated that the game may see life yet. Embracer Group is currently facing financial difficulties and is pursuing a buyer, so perhaps the project should be seen as dormant but moving forward instead of completely dead.
With any luck, the Force may still be with the remake of Knights of the Old Republic.
Born and raised in Hawaii, Jay Goodearl runs the YouTube Gaming channel “Good Games, Dude” His channel aims to open up video games to beginners and immediate players and help them understand what makes games the art form that it is.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
