What is the current status of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR)? Dead or alive ? Opinions are divided, and the recent statement further adds to the confusion. Let’s see the details.
In a recent newsletter published by Axios, Sean Shoptaw, Senior Vice President of Gaming at Disney, discussed several hot topics surrounding Disney games, including the status of Disney’s partnerships, acquisition rumors and the situation of the Star Wars remake Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR)…
Star Wars Kotor, what happens to the project?
Regarding the highly anticipated remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Shoptaw couldn’t say much other than that he still believes there is demand for this game. Conflicting reports from Jason Schrier and Jeff Grubb, video game specialists, have been circulating on the progress of development. However, Shoptaw’s comments seem to suggest that Disney is interested in eventually releasing the KOTOR remake. He states exactly:
I can’t say much about it for reasons that I hope are obvious, but Star Wars KOTOR is obviously an incredibly popular game, one that we’re extremely proud of and we think there’s still a high demand for this one. I’ll leave it there.
For the rest, it is mainly a question of statements on Disney’s policy regarding video games. Shoptaw indirectly responded to rumors that Disney might buy a major game publisher like EA. A Bloomberg report suggested that Disney CEO Bob Iger was being pushed to buy a gaming company like EA to have a bigger presence in video gaming. Shoptaw did not directly address this rumor, but said: “There are a lot of conversations around what ‘Disney should do,’ and a lot of it relates to big acquisitions… We’re very happy with our current strategic position and the work we’re doing.“
Projects
Shoptaw said Disney is “just at the beginning” of its strategy of outsourcing game development to other publishers and developers. This approach has already produced many acclaimed products, such as Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars Jedi series. However, not all projects have enjoyed critical and commercial success, which does not seem to discourage Shoptaw. He highlighted the difficulty of developing video games and added that it is not easy for Disney to develop these games in-house.
Disney has several upcoming games, including Star Wars: Outlaws, planned for next year. Aside from Star Wars, there is also the Indiana Jones game developed by Machine Games, and the recently announced Blade game in development by Arkane Lyon.