A remake for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) has been in the works for some time now and most of the things we’ve heard about the game’s development have been less than ideal (including an indefinite delay). Now, the KOTOR Remake trailer and related tweets have been quietly pulled from the internet by Sony themselves.
Twitter user @Crusader3456 took it upon themselves to launch an investigation into why evidence of the game’s announcement is slowly disappearing:
Playstation has officially hidden the 2021 reveal trailer for Star War: Knights of the Old Republic on YouTube. You can see the Trailer is clearly in the full 2021 Showcase Playstation Showcase but the individual Trailer has been hidden.https://t.co/2WPn4ib2C8
— Crusader II Elessar (@Crusader3456) September 28, 2023
In their thread, they noticed that tweets regarding the game’s trailer have also since been deleted. The PlayStation Blog post about the game is still up, but the trailer is no longer accessible via that page either.
Stephen Totilo, a game journalist for Axios, was able to reach out to Sony and received this response from them regarding the trailer’s removal:
Asked Disney what was up and they sent me to Sony.
Asked Sony what was up and they said: "As part of normal business, we delist assets with licensed music when the licenses expire."
Of course, now I'm asking why the music license would expire for an upcoming game https://t.co/m9xjQQpWSc
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) September 29, 2023
It’s unclear how licensed Star Wars music might expire when its specifically being used for a Star Wars game. We’re no licensing experts here, but it doesn’t add up. Especially when the trailer still remains music intact in the 2021 PlayStation Showcase, where the trailer was first revealed. Presumably, the music would’ve had to have been cut out of that video too if it was a licensing issue.
Given that the game’s current developer Saber Interactive is owned by Embracer Group, and Embracer’s been cutting down studios and projects left and right following a failed deal, it’s quite likely that this game could be cancelled in the coming months. Embracer recently made cuts to Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics and shut down Volition. Hopefully, Saber Interactive isn’t next on the chopping block, but it’s anyone’s guess as to what might be coming down the pipeline for them.
Are you still looking forward to the KOTOR remake? Do you think it’ll end up coming out? Let us know down in the comments. Otherwise, we’ll keep you posted on this story as we learn more.