Knights of the Old Republic can learn an important lesson from FF7 Remake
A major disturbance in the Force.
Dank farrik! The Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake has been delayed indefinitely, according to a recent Bloomberg report. In May 2022, developer Aspyr’s parent company Embracer Group brought Saber Interactive onto the project to assist with production. All of this is reminiscent of Final Fantasy VII Remake’s rocky development history, which started out in the hands of Cyberconnect2 before moving in-house to Square Enix. The willingness to delay FF7 Remake and start fresh resulted in a final product that was critically acclaimed. The brains behind the Knights of the Old Republic remake would be well advised to take a similar approach.
Aspyr has a deep history with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and ported it to many platforms including iOS.
The original Knights of the Old Republic was developed by BioWare and launched in 2003. It’s widely regarded as one of the best Star Wars RPGs ever made. Aspyr has been working on the remake since around 2018, and the plan was for the title to be exclusive to PlayStation 5 and PC.
The Bloomberg report states it has been a resource-intensive project, with sources claiming that its current trajectory isn’t sustainable. After Aspyr showed a demo to Lucasfilm and Sony, the game’s art director and design director were fired, causing development to go on hold indefinitely.
Aspyr has worked on a lengthy list of Star Wars ports in the past, but it seems to have bitten off more than it can chew with the Knights of the Old Republic remake. Given the game’s formidable legacy, releasing a mediocre product is simply not an option. More experienced teams need to kick off the production of important projects like these.
Saber Interactive has a rich pedigree, credited with porting The Witcher 3 to Nintendo Switch.
With KotOR’s fate up in the air, some Aspyr developers told Bloomberg they don’t expect the game to launch until 2025 — several years after its 2022 target. Some suspect the project will be handed over to Saber Interactive entirely. Saber is also known for developing ports and remakes, but has more complex projects under its belt compared to Aspyr. The Switch version of The Witcher 3, all three Crysis remasters, and several Halo remasters were all developed (at least in part) by Saber Interactive.
Aspyr was likely chosen to work on the remake since it has a history of porting the original game to other platforms. But shifting the project over to Saber could be a safer bet in the long run. Whatever happens, don’t expect to play the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake for a very long time — if ever.
