When Aspyr officially revealed the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake, a recreation of the iconic Star Wars BioWare RPG, the gaming community’s excitement was palpable. Not only is the original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic a beloved game in its own right, but it also represents the golden age of BioWare for many gamers—an era that’s typically considered to be long since over.
For the uninitiated, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a 2003 sci-fi RPG made by BioWare after the company cemented itself in the genre space with the Baldur’s Gate games. Knights of the Old Republic was a big step forward for the company, and indeed the entire games industry, adapting the mature character writing BioWare had become known for with more high-fidelity graphics and deeper systems. Taking place thousands of years before the events of the main Star Wars films, KOTOR was also praised for fleshing out the Star Wars mythos, making the famous fictional world considerably more robust than it might have been otherwise.
The Reveal and Limbo State of The KOTOR Remake
Before looking ahead, it’s worth looking at the history of the Knights of the Old Republic remake since, unfortunately, it’s been a pretty bumpy road so far. The following is a brief summary of what’s been revealed about the KOTOR remake over the past few years, which will provide context for the state of affairs today.
Aspyr Reveals Knights of the Old Republic in 2021
Following a number of tantalizing rumors about a Star Wars remake, Aspyr Media finally announced the project in a PlayStation State of Play in 2021, although this wasn’t much of a reveal: it effectively only confirmed the project’s existence. Still, hopes were high, as Aspyr had previously helmed successful ports of a number of high-profile titles, including the original KOTOR for Nintendo Switch and MacOS. With decades of relevant experience under the company’s belt (not to mention the considerable financial support of collaborator Sony and parent company Embracer Group), the future of KOTOR was looking bright.
Having said that, it quickly became clear that this KOTOR reprisal was much more ambitious than Aspyr’s previous ports and remasters. Here’s what one of the game’s producers, Ryan Treadwell, had to say following its September 2021 reveal: “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.” A from-the-ground-up remake a la Resident Evil 4 (2024) or Final Fantasy Remake is a grand undertaking, so general interest was piqued, to say the least.
Saber Interactive Assumes Control of the KOTOR Remake in 2024
Less than a year after its announcement, Jason Schreier of Bloomberg reported that the KOTOR remake lost its art director and design director “abruptly” following a vertical slice demo that underwhelmed Sony and Lucasfilm. As a result, the project was “delayed indefinitely,” with Schreier suggesting that its release date could be pushed back as late as 2025. Obviously, 2025 has come and gone, and there’s still no KOTOR remake.
In the midst of Aspyr’s development issues, Embracer transferred development of the KOTOR remake to Saber Interactive, another studio under its massive umbrella. This was in 2022. In 2024, Embracer made the decision to sell Saber Interactive to Beacon Interactive amidst financial turmoil. Thus, control of Saber reverted to its co-founder Matthew Karch, who would state in Spring 2024 that the studio had retained the rights to the KOTOR remake, and that it was still in development. Saber has been tight-lipped about the project since then, although studio CCO Tim Willits confirmed that it was still in development as of March 2026.
Reports Indicate That the KOTOR Remake Will Be Re-Revealed This Year
In July 2026, long-time Star Wars insider 100% Star Wars made some confident claims about the KOTOR remake getting another reveal in 2026. The insider also said that “development on the game has not only been ramping up, but it’s been going extremely smoothly over the past three years since Saber started from scratch,” referring to the Aspyr-Saber baton pass. It’s always good to take these kinds of claims with a healthy dose of salt, but I should note that 100% Star Wars appears to have a reliable source of information, having previously had his KOTOR remake development claims corroborated by Embracer’s own court documents.
After Everything, Saber Just Needs to Show Proof of Life to Maintain Hype for the KOTOR Remake
With a re-reveal of the KOTOR remake potentially coming this year, Saber is well-positioned to start rewriting the narrative surrounding the project. It’s now common knowledge that the Knights of the Old Republic remake has had a troubled development so far, and a lot of gamers are ready for a fresh start. In other words, audiences want good news, and aren’t exactly expecting to be blown away. Many of those looking forward to the KOTOR remake just want to know that it’s still alive.
With a re-reveal of the KOTOR remake potentially coming this year, Saber is well-positioned to start rewriting the narrative surrounding the project.
We all know what happens to high-profile games that fly under the radar for too long: they become memes, and people begin to look upon them unfavorably. Prominent examples of such games include Beyond Good and Evil 2 and The Elder Scrolls 6, for which audience excitement morphed to skepticism and weariness long ago. When something like The Elder Scrolls 6 shows up again, it will need to impress in order to compensate for mishandled expectations and poor communication.
The KOTOR remake has the luxury of lowered expectations and, depending on who you talk to about it, a degree of sympathy. Again, audiences generally want to see this project come out on top, as it were; no one is rooting for it to fail. In light of this, something as meager as in-engine footage of the KOTOR remake could get the hype engine started again, while there’s still good faith to leverage.
- Released
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July 15, 2003
- ESRB
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T for Teen: Violence
