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Somehow, the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake still lives. That's according to a new interview with Tim Willits, chief creative officer of publisher Saber Interactive. This is the first official news we've gotten about the remake of BioWare's beloved RPG since it was first unveiled nearly five years ago.
"Yes, it is still in development," Wilits told IGN. "That's all I can say." And, indeed, that's all he did say, choosing not to address the long-percolating rumors – and courtroom testimony – about the KOTOR remake's troubled development.
The KOTOR remake was announced way back in 2021. Developer Aspyr is primarily known for ports and remasters and has built generally well-regarded versions of both KOTOR games for mobile and Switch. But a remake would effectively be an all-new game, something the studio has little experience in.
In 2022, a Bloomberg report suggested that development of the KOTOR remake was in some trouble at Aspyr, and so had shifted to another unnamed studio at Saber Interactive, which, at the time, owned Aspyr.
A few years later, when Aspyr was sued over missing DLC for its KOTOR 2 port, Lucasfilm Games VP Douglas Reilly revealed in a deposition that the KOTOR remake was now being handled by Mad Head Games, which is also developing Hellraiser: Revival. If legal testimony from a Lucasfilm executive isn't enough for you, Mad Head's official site also proudly proclaims that the studio is working on an "unannounced AAA game based on a famous and beloved IP."
Reilly also revealed that a KOTOR 2 remake was still in the planning stages featuring "modern art" and "modern gameplay." The plan was to "keep the story and the characters and [...] the general content of KOTOR II, but remake it for modern hardware and modern machines with updated graphics and all those kind of things." Presumably, the KOTOR 1 remake – whenever it finally releases – will feature similar upgrades.
This is all separate from Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic, which was revealed at The Game Awards last year. That's a brand-new game that serves as a "spiritual successor" to the KOTOR games, and is being led by OG BioWare director Casey Hudson.
KOTOR still tops our list of the best Star Wars games.
