Aspyr assigns KotOR remake development tasks to Saber Interactive
The development of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake is now the responsibility of Saber Interactive. That’s according to a Bloomberg report. Saber and the original developer Aspyr are both owned by Embracer Group.
Bloomberg quotes ‘a person familiar with the change’, who wishes to remain anonymous. The development tasks will go from Aspyr in Texas to ‘one of Saber’s Eastern European studios’. That would be Saber’s office in Western Russia or Belarus. Bloomberg further writes: “Executives at Embracer, Sony and Walt Disney […] Were not happy with the progress at Aspyr, which ultimately led to the transition.” Saber already assisted in the development of the remake.
The switch should ‘not cause a significant delay in the development process’. The game doesn’t have a release date yet, so it can’t be officially pushed back. However, Bloomberg is somewhat skeptical of that statement: “It is rare for a game to change companies in the middle of development. This almost always leads to major delays. The new developer has to learn to deal with unfamiliar code and in most cases they have to improve or reverse decisions made in the past.” Bloomberg sources state that the game will need at least two more years before it is finished.
The original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic dates from 2003 and is a product of game studio BioWare, but Aspyr helped with the macOS port of the game. That is also the specialty of Aspyr. Anyone looking at their Wikipedia page will see a long list of games from other studios that Aspyr has brought to additional platforms.
The original KotOR is a role-playing video game in which players take on the role of a Jedi in the Star Wars universe, 4,000 years before the formation of the empire known from the movies. The republic is threatened by a Sith armada and the player must face them. An important feature of the game is that players are free to join both the light side and the dark side of the Force.
Sony doesn’t mention it, but the game will also be released for PCs in addition to the PS5.