Development of the upcoming Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake for the PS5 and PC is on pause, according to Bloomberg. The game’s art director and design director were also fired earlier this month after the development team showed a demo of the game to Lucasfilm and Sony.
The Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) remake was first announced at Sony’s big fall showcase last September, but developer Aspyr Media, which is owned by Embracer Group, hasn’t yet shared a release timeframe for the title. The remake has been in development for three years, and while the original plan was to release the game by the end of 2022, a more “realistic target” is now 2025, Bloomberg reports.
Saber Interactive, another Embracer Group studio, is also helping with development, and Bloomberg says that “some at Aspyr believe” that Saber could take over. Aspyr, Embracer Group, and Sony didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
While the original KOTOR was released in 2003 and was developed by BioWare, Aspyr is quite familiar with the game and its sequel, as it worked on ports of both. Some of the original KOTOR team is also on board for the remake, Aspyr’s Ryan Treadwell wrote in a PlayStation blog post. The game will be a console exclusive for PS5 when it launches.
The KOTOR remake is just one of many big Star Wars games in development right now. EA’s Respawn is working on a sequel to Jedi: Fallen Order, Quantic Dream is making a game called Star Wars: Eclipse, while Amy Hennig’s new studio is developing an “original story in the legendary Star Wars galaxy.”