I want to get off Embracer's wild ride.
Knights of the Old Republic is one of Bioware's most beloved RPGs—a game that capitalised on the promise of the Star Wars extended universe in so many inventive ways that it spawned an entire fandom dedicated to that slice of a galaxy far, far away. So when a remake was announced in—god—2021, we were all pretty excited. Then it was consigned to the inferno of development hell.
In July of 2022 it surfaced that the remake was possibly delayed. No, wait, it was actually shifted to another studio. Then radio silence followed, so much in fact that the CEO of Embracer Group—the giant monolith that had also flubbed a $2 billion deal and would later lay off over a thousand people, kill a Deus Ex sequel, and sell off studios to keep the lights on—outright refused to talk about it. But don't worry, it's totally not dead—Saber Interactive is still working on it, wait, no, Embracer's selling Saber Interactive off now. I want to get off Lars Wingefors' wild ride.
Now you're all caught up to speed and suitably spiritually damaged, here's the latest news: It's not getting canned in the sale, according to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier (thanks, VGC) who confirmed on Twitter: "Yes, that's going with Saber". As pointed out by a commenter, however, Schrier thinks it's likely one of the "retained joint projects … a previously announced AAA game based on a major licence" named in the sale: "It’s the only game that fits," Schrier writes. "Not sure what kind of deal they struck there."
In a conference call yesterday, Embracer's CEO Lars Wingefors was asked about said "AAA game based on a major licence", and whether it was "for the coming 12 months", he replied: "No, I think that kind of game needs some deep love and respect, so. Without giving full colour, I think it's some time left until that game is released."
So there you have it. We're still at least a year out from what should have been a relatively straightforward shot. I wouldn't personally hold out hope for a 2025 release either, just considering how things have panned out so far, but hey. Miracles do happen, maybe we just need to trust in the force.
