The Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake could have been developed by a BioWare co-founder's new studio.
Trent Oster - who set up BioWare alongside Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, Brent Oster, Marcel Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip - took to Twitter to pass on his congratulations to the team at Aspyr Media, who are developing Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake, before revealing: "we finally know who beat us to it".
Huge congratulations to our friends at @AspyrMedia on announcing #KOTORRemake Now we finally know who beat us to it. https://t.co/3ipiRzjbDMSeptember 9, 2021
Oster would have been part of the original team who worked on Knights of the Old Republic, but he left the company in 2009 and eventually set up a new studio, Beamdog. While it's a shame to not see what his team's vision of the remade classic Star Wars RPG would look like, he did at least show off the pitch document.
- BioWare co-founder dreamt of taking over EA "from the inside" if Star Wars: The Old Republic was, "like, $2 billion a year successful"
- Dragon Age 2 director acknowledges "really fast rush" behind the RPG's development as the team tried to "jump on the grenade that was being placed in front of BioWare"
There are a few things we can glean from this. The title of "The Reforged Collection" suggests that his company was pitching to remake both Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel, while the slideshow preview hints at what "HD Improvements" it was hoping to bring to the project. That's about as much as we can see and, fair warning, it's very hard to make out the writing on those smaller slides...
Here's a peek at our failed pitch: (The Reforged Collection). I always find it sad to look at failed pitches after the fact and think about the hard work that went into building them. pic.twitter.com/nqg12m2NAwSeptember 10, 2021
While it's always fascinating to get a bigger look behind the curtain of games development, this shouldn't damper your enthusiasm for Knights of the Old Republic's return. Aspyr Media has been hiring former BioWare devs over the past few years, and with the PS5 console exclusive yet to get a firm release date, it's likely we have plenty more to learn about this remake.
Can't wait to find out who's behind that Sith mask in the trailer? Why not check out the best Star Wars games to help keep you busy in the meantime!
Former Skyrim dev says "a lot of the great stuff" in the RPG came from the devs having "quite a bit of freedom" to create what they wanted, even if it wasn't "on schedule"
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
