During Sony's PlayStation Showcase on Thursday, a remake of the classic Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic RPG was announced for PC and PlayStation 5. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the announcement wasn't the game itself, but rather the developer. The Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake does not involve BioWare, the original game's developer. That didn't stop BioWare from sharing a statement online of full support for the remake, however.
In a post shared on Twitter via the official BioWare account, the team shares that they're very proud of the work they did on the original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. That said, they also "genuinely cannot wait" to play the remake from the new development team, Aspyr. BioWare does also take a moment to mention that it's currently actively working on Star Wars: The Old Republic, too, not missing an opportunity for some promotion. Lastly, BioWare appropriately says, "May the force be with you."
Aspyr, for those unfamiliar, is quite a surprising choice for a project as high profile as a remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Aspyr is known as a post-focused development studio. It partners with other studios to bring their projects to PC, Mac, Linux, or consoles. Since 2019, however, Aspyr's worked on ports for four different Star Wars projects, which could have helped get the team's foot in the door with Lucasfilm Games.
Just because Aspyr is a port-focused studio doesn't mean that it isn't prepared for a project the size and scale of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, however. It was recently acquired by Embracer Group, giving the studio a foundation of funding for the project. Aspyr even claims that it has some developers who were part of the team behind the original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic working on the new game.
In some ways, it's disappointing that BioWare isn't going to be able to bring its beloved Star Wars RPG to modern audiences itself. But BioWare has its slate full with its own projects, like Mass Effect and Dragon Age. And Star Wars has always been a universe that's shared across many creators. Fans are likely to share BioWare's excitement over what Aspyr will put together.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is still early in development, so it may be some time yet before Aspyr is able to share more information about the project. It isn't clear if it's an authentic remake like Bluepoint's Shadow of the Colossus, or a remake with more creative freedom like Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Either way, fans will be watching attentively, BioWare among them.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is in development for PC and PS5.