Presumably, the remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic can’t hold up a newspaper with today’s date to prove that it is actually doing okay and hasn’t been quietly disposed of in a tax report somewhere, Warner Bros-style. As such, it falls to the head of current developers Saber Interactive to promise that the long-in-the-works Star Wars game is still “alive and well”.
You’d be forgiven for worrying somewhat about the health of the KOTOR remake after the last year or so. First of all there were reports that it had been delayed indefinitely after an internal demo tanked so badly it led to the firing of the game’s then-design and art directors. Then came fears that it had been cancelled entirely, as Sony were rumoured to be wiping any trace of its existence from the internet – something the PlayStation makers later said was due to expired music licences. Shortly after that, it was claimed that no studio at all was working on the remake – only for the relief (?) of a conflicting report that at least two people (2, count ‘em!) were still working on the project.
To cap off a tumultuous time for the much-discussed return for the classic BioWare RPG, current developers Saber Interactive were sold off by axe-swinging owners Embracer to Beacon Interactive last month, adding a fresh question mark to the grammar-laden future of the KOTOR remake.
The game apparently went with Saber to their new owners – at least dodging an increasingly common fate of Death by Embracer – where it will reportedly be a joint project between Saber and Embracer. Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors appeared to gesture at a release date no sooner than the next 12 months, which won’t be much of a surprise to anyone who’s caught any amount of KOTOR Remake’s troubled tale so far.
Despite all that, though, Saber have now insisted that there’s no need to worry about the state of the Knights of the Old Republic remake. Speaking to IGN post-sale, CEO Matthew Karch stated plainly that the game is still in active development and is “alive and well”.
“It’s clear and it’s obvious that we’re working on this,” Karch said. “It’s been in the press numerous times. What I will say is that the game is alive and well, and we’re dedicated to making sure we exceed consumer expectations.”
With those expectations arguably being as low as the KOTOR remake releasing at all sometime in our lifetimes, it’s very probable that the remade RPG will indeed surpass all hope if it simply makes it onto screens in the next decade. Given that we’ve seen so little of the beloved title’s remake since it was announced four years ago, just knowing it still exists somewhere is as much as we can ask for at the moment, I suppose.
