"This game is not being worked on in any way, at any studio.” Jeff Grubb confirms what we already suspected; that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake is dead in the water

What you need to know 

• Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic is one of the most popular and critically acclaimaed Star Wars media franchises, with a remake of the original game being announced at the Playstation Showcase in 2021.
• A rumor is currently circulating that the remake has been cancelled, and Reddit users have gathered compelling evidence including the trailer being delisted from Youtube, and posts being deleted mentioning the game from Playstation's X page.
• Suggestions have been made that as Saber Interactive are a subsidariary of Embracer group who are going through turmoil right now, that the game has been shelved. 
• UPDATE: On Sept 30 in response to the circulating news, a Sony representative stated that the removal of the KOTOR Remake trailer was purely down to music licensing issues, but fans were not convinced.
• UPDATE: Today Nov 17 on Jeff Grubb's podcast, he confirmed that nobody is working on Knights of the Old Republic Remake  “I just want to clear it up, this game is not being worked on right now."

UPDATE (NOV. 17, 2023)

Since Sony attempted to put the rumors to bed around the Knights of The Old Republic Remake by blaming music licensing issues for it's removal from Youtube and Twitter, the fans haven't been convinced. After all, how do you lose licensing to Star Wars music for an in development Star Wars game?

Today the rumor mill is grinding once again as Jeff Grubb, video game journalist and industry insider who's been reliable on many other 'leaks' has confirmed on his podcast Game Mess Mornings that KOTOR Remake isn't happening. “I just want to clear it up, this game is not being worked on right now,” Grubb said “Just full stop. This game is not being worked on in any way, at any studio.” He made the comments around 30 minutes into the show in response to a question from an audience member about his thoughts on the recent news that an Embracer representative refused to comment on the status of the KOTOR remake in Embracer Group’s financial presentation, as reported earlier this week by IGN.

UPDATE (SEPT. 30, 2023)

A Sony representative has made a statement following the coverage surrounding KOTOR Remake and gave this quote to Kotaku, "As part of normal business, we delist assets with licensed music when the licenses expire."

Far from settling the matter though, many have pointed out that the only music used in the trailer is the official Star Wars theme, which is still available to hear on the main Playstation Showcase video from 2021. The license for this 'running out' on an in-development Star Wars game seems a little odd, and Stephen Totilo who approached Sony for the quote has also added "I shared what I asked, what they told me and what I asked after that. In my follow-up I also flat-out asked if the game was still in development or not. No response."

ORIGINAL ARTICLE (SEPT. 29, 2023)

The Playstation Showcase in 2021 opened with a mic drop of an announcement, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) was coming back as a remake, and would be available on Playstation and PC. Developed by Aspyr and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) the announcement was met with joy from fans who were hungry for the return of this legendary franchise. 

However, since then, the project has faced several setbacks and challenges, leading to rumors and speculation that it might be canceled. The latest evidence of this comes from the removal of the reveal trailer from YouTube and the deletion of any mention of the remake from PlayStation’s social media accounts. Could this mean that the KOTOR remake is no more?

Development troubles

As reported by Jason Schreier at Bloomberg in July 2022, KOTOR's development was already 'put on hold indefinitely' with Aspyr, over a disgreement between Aspyr and Sony/Lucasfilm over the quality and timeline of the game. The developers reported the game wouldn't be expected until at least 2025 but it was ultimately put on hold. The report also cited unnamed sources who said that the remake was plagued by technical issues, creative differences, and mismanagement. KOTOR Remake was ultimately moved to Saber Interactive, in August 2022. Since then, all has been quiet. 

All mentions of the game deleted?

Fast forward to present day, it seems that following a spout of silence from the developers on KOTOR, any mention of the expected remake is being scrubbed from official channels. These actions suggest that PlayStation and Embracer are trying to erase any trace of the KOTOR remake from the internet, possibly in preparation for an official cancellation announcement.

Star Wars KOTOR Remake Cancelled? from r/GamingLeaksAndRumours

The thread started on Reddit yesterday discusses the removal of the reveal trailer from the Playstation Youtube channel. Twitter user @Crusader3456 investigated further and found that while the trailer is still visible in the full PlayStation Showcase 2021 video, the individual trailer has been delisted.

In addition to this odd move, other commenters found that the official Playstation account on X also had deleted any mentions of the KOTOR Remake from it's posts. The only one remaining on the account currently mentions updates on other games. But as well all know, nothing put out on the internet is ever truly gone. Using the power of the Wayback Machine Crusader dug out the now deleted tweet of the trailer on the official page. 

Further evidence of the removed video is shown on this Playstation Blog post from September 2021, as the embedded video link is now broken. 

More bad news from Embracer Group?

This latest speculation comes as no surprise really, considering the parent company Embracer Group's initial spending spree on studios has come back to bite them recently. Only in the past few months have we also had the news from Embracer that they lost a $2 billion deal resulting in a share price dive. Following this, Saint's Row developer Volition has been closed down, layoffs have been made at Crystal Dynamics only a year after its acquisition, and Embracer appears to be weighing up its options with a sale of Gearbox.

Whilst we await official word on if Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic remake has indeed been canceled, many fans appear to be blaming Embracer Group already for the ill-fated development woes of the game. Time will tell if we get an official announcement in the days to come.