Draft:Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (upcoming video game)

 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is an upcoming role-playing video game developed by Saber Interactive. It is a remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003), originally developed by BioWare. As with the original game, it is set in the retroactively established "Legends" canon within the Star Wars universe, taking place almost 4,000 years before the formation of the Galactic Empire. The narrative involves Darth Malak, a Dark Lord of the Sith, unleashing a Sith armada against the Galactic Republic. The player character, as a Jedi, must venture to different planets in the galaxy to defeat Malak.

A remake of Knights of the Old Republic had been the subject of intense speculation and rumors for months before it was officially announced in September 2021 as a co-production between developer Aspyr and Sony Interactive Entertainment under license from Lucasfilm Games. By then, Aspyr had already assembled a development team comprising their current staff and veterans associated with the original game's production, including key voice cast members being slated to reprise their roles for the remake. Production temporarily stalled in June 2022 following negative reception to a vertical slice demo presented to Lucasfilm and SIE, which resulted in Saber Interactive taking over development duties that August.

The game will be released for PlayStation 5 and Windows.

Premise
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic tells a Star Wars story 4,000 years before the Skywalker sage. Dark Malak leads dark warriors in a war against the Galatic Republic. Players will fight against him, discover their own past, and lead a team of beings that will take on Darth Malak.

Production
In September 2021, Knights of the Old Republic, a graphically-updated remake of the original game, was announced as in development by Aspyr in collaboration with Sony Interactive Entertainment, for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 5. It will be a timed console exclusive for PlayStation 5 before releasing on other platforms. On the remake's development, lead producer Ryan Treadwell wrote: "We’re rebuilding it from the ground up with the latest tech to match the groundbreaking standard of innovation established by the original, all while staying true to its revered story". Several individuals who worked on the original game are returning for the remake, such as former BioWare developers and Jennifer Hale (reprising her role of Bastila). However, Tom Kane will not be returning due to his retirement for medical reasons. John Cygan and Ed Asner will also not return due to their deaths in 2017 and 2021 respectively.

Kotaku reported that "news of the project began leaking out earlier this year on social media and was later confirmed by former Kotaku news editor Jason Schreier [...]. There has been speculation that the remake will actually include parts of both KOTOR 1 and 2, and also establish some of the lore from those games in the official Star Wars canon, something Disney seems keen on as it spins Star Wars off into new books, TV shows, movies, and games". Little information is otherwise revealed about the project. On February 14, 2022, Sam Maggs, one of the game's writers, announced publicly that she had exited the game's development after being involved with the project for 9 months.

By June 30, 2022, Aspyr had finalized an internal demo of the game shown to production partners at Lucasfilm Games and Sony Interactive Entertainment. The following week, the company fired design director Brad Prince and art director Jason Minor. Aspyr’s studio heads told staff that the vertical slice wasn’t where they wanted it to be and that the project would be delayed indefinitely. In August 2022, Saber Interactive's European studios officially took over as leading the development of the game from Aspyr. In May 2023, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors, when asked about the status of the remake, said in an interview with Push Square "[My] favorite question. I have no further comments." The game was reaffirmed as in development by Embracer Group during an investors' report later that month. In September 2023, the announcement trailer was privated on official YouTube channels and any mention of the remake was deleted from the official social media pages, which has led some to speculate the game might be cancelled. In response to that, a Sony spokesperson stated the reason why it was removed was due to the use of licensed music expiring. By February 2024, Saber Interactive's parent company Embracer Group planned to sell off the developer in a $500 million USD deal. Saber is anticipated to continue developing Knights of the Old Republic - Remake as a privately-owned firm.

Release
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - Remake is scheduled to release for Windows and PlayStation 5 as a timed console exclusive. The PS5 version of the game will be published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, while developer Saber Interactive is expected to self-publish the title on PC following their dissociation from parent Embracer Group in February 2024.