The original 2003 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is one of the most beloved Western RPGs of all time, and it's only natural that fans would want a remake. A few years ago, after over a decade of pleading for one, a Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake was finally announced for PlayStation 5 and PC, and while no official release date was given, fans were told that it was fully in development over at Aspyr.
But disaster soon struck for the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake, as it was reported in the Summer of last year that the game was being delayed indefinitely. Its developer Aspyr was allegedly being replaced, swapped out for Saber Interactive, another developer under the Embracer Group banner. But with the recent announcement of John Carpenter's Toxic Commando, the fate of the Knights of the Old Republic remake is a little unclear.
Toxic Commando Shows That KOTOR Isn't Saber Interactive's Sole Priority
Back in May 2022, as part of Embracer Group's end-of-year financial report, it confirmed that Saber Interactive was working alongside Aspyr Media to develop the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake. Just a few months later, in July 2022, a Bloomberg report by Jason Schreier alleged that the KOTOR remake had been delayed indefinitely following an incredibly poor reception of an in-house vertical slice demo, which also seemingly resulted in the firing of the game's art director and design director. A month later, in August 2022, Embracer announced that one of its big AAA projects had "transitioned to another studio." The general consensus at the time was that this mysterious AAA project was in fact the KOTOR remake, and the other studio was Saber Interactive.
While Embracer still hasn't officially confirmed or denied this, even almost a whole year later, there have been several reports since from industry insiders that claim they know that Saber Interactive has taken over lead development on the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake. With Saber having 20 years of experience under its belt, many fans remained hopeful that the KOTOR remake wouldn't be just another gaming pipe dream, but with the announcement of John Carpenter's Toxic Commandos, that might not be the case anymore.
Announced at Summer Game Fest, John Carpenter's Toxic Commandos is a 4-player co-op zombie shooter that seems to take the best parts of both Left 4 Dead and World War Z and mash them together. But while Toxic Commandos looks like it could be a lot of fun, it's being developed by Saber Interactive, the studio allegedly now leading the KOTOR remake's development. Some fans might see this announcement as bad news for the KOTOR remake, inferring that KOTOR isn't Saber's only priority right now.
Saber Interactive is a big developer, with 20 studios dotted across the world and over 2500 employees, so it can handle developing multiple games at once. But many fans would've thought that getting the Knights of the Old Republic remake out of the door would have been Saber's first and biggest priority. Adding fuel to this fire is the fact that John Carpenter's Toxic Commandos looks a tad generic, and is releasing at a time when players are completely burnt out on 4-player co-op horde games following the disastrous recent launch of Redfall. Put simply, many gamers would rather be playing Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake in 2024 over Toxic Commando, and the former's radio silence amidst this new announcement doesn't bode well.
The Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake is in development.