Summary
Sony has explained why theStar Wars: Knight of the Old Republicremake trailer was recently made private, saying that it was because of expired licenses. However, given that theKOTORremake announcement tweet from PlayStation was simultaneously deleted, it is unlikely to provide much solace.
With theElectronic Arts exclusivity contract coming to an endthis year, theKOTORremake was poised to be one of the firstStar Warstitles (excludingLego Star Wars) not overseen by the publisher in over a decade. Aspyr was best known for bringing games to different platforms, including the originalKOTORand its sequel, before the opportunity to remake the beloved RPG. Unfortunately, it was reported last year that several directors were fired following the presentation of a vertical slice, and development was subsequently paused. Despite the lack of updates regarding the remake itself, Aspyr’s owner, Embracer Group, stated earlier this year that the company would be restructured after a $2 billion deal failed to materialize. Considering these corporate and development struggles, theKOTORremake trailer being hidden understandably made a cancelation seem imminent.
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Stephen Totilo, a video game reporter at Axios, took to Twitter to state that after questioningboth Disney and Sony about the delistedKOTORremake trailer, Sony claimed that assets with licensed music are taken down when such licenses expire. The natural follow-up to that, which Totilo noted in the same tweet, is to question why a music license would expire for an upcoming game. There have been no further updates regarding this situation at the time of writing.
Although the remake may not yet be dead, fans should not expect it for some time. Shortly after several directors were fired,Saber Interactive took over the project entirely from Aspyr. Given that Aspyr had only gotten so far as a vertical slice, it is unlikely that theKOTORremake will see the light of day for several years, if ever. At least for now, stakeholders seem interested in keeping the project alive.
TheKOTORremake is not the onlyStar Warsvideo game project known to be in the works, with Quantic Dream and Ubisoft developingStar Wars EclipseandStar Wars Outlawsrespectively.Eclipseis understood to be similar to previous David Cage titles, a predominantly narrative adventure with branching paths that is not expected until 2027.Outlawsis seemingly much further alongand was revealed in the summer during the Ubisoft Forward presentation.
TheStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republicremake is currently in development for PC and PS5.
