After being in development for three years, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake has been reportedly delayed indefinitely do to discontentment at the current state of the game. The original 2003 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was considered to be one of the best Star Wars video games of all time, and its remake was widely anticipated. This unfortunate development had many employees within Aspyr surprised and has left the future of this remake up in the air.
According to Bloomberg, execs from Lucasfilm and Sony were less than pleased at the state of the vertical slice (demo) that Aspyr had presented on June 30th, 2022. After viewing the vertical slice, development paused. Soon after, the project’s art director Brad Prince and design director Jason Minor were fired. Later, Aspyr’s studio heads elaborated to its shocked employees that the vertical slice “wasn’t where they wanted it to be” and that the development would be paused. While the reasoning for this decision isn’t clear, one of the reasons is due to the current course of the project not being sustainable, according to Bloomberg.
NEWS: The Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic remake is indefinitely delayed, Bloomberg has learned. Developer Aspyr abruptly fired two directors this month and told staff that the project is on pause as it tries to figure out what comes next. https://t.co/3NUlKkenR6
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) July 26, 2022
With the fate of the remake in the air, Bloomberg reported that the targeting date for the remake will be pushed into 2025, a much more realistic goal from its initial late 2022 release date. Following lackluster reception of its vertical slice, employees within Aspyr are calling the development studio’s future involvement with the project into question. Many employees within Aspyr believe that Saber Interactive may take over the project after its parent company, Embracer Group, announced would that the florid-based game developer would assist on the project in back May 2022.