New Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic Game Reportedly In The Works
The Force is strong in the latest Star Wars rumours, as fresh leaks claim a new Knights of the Old Republic game is finally in the works. Following the buzz that Lucasfilm Games has been given a new lease of life, the Star Wars announcements have been coming thick and fast with the news Ubisoft is working on a giant open world game and EA Games' promise to continue making titles set in the galaxy far, away. We've come a long way from the Xbox 360's Kinect Star Wars, while the idea that we'll finally get a third KOTOR could be the most exciting yet.
Back in 2003, BioWare released Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on the Xbox and kick-started one of the best-loved Star Wars spin-offs we can remember. Long before we were charting the adventures of Iden Version in Star Wars: Battlefront II or Cal Kestis in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, we were getting to grips with Darth Revan. Alongside the original KOTOR being considered one of the greatest video games ever made, the release of the sequel in 2004 helped take the series to new heights. There have been rumours of a third game ever since, and now, it sounds like we're closer than ever.
Is there a new Knights of the Old Republic game on the way?
Away from the tried and tested formula of the Skywalker Saga, KOTR taps into a whole new era of Star Wars - set some 4,000 years before The Phantom Menace. Just like the recent release of the Star Wars: The High Republic franchise finding a new fanbase before Luke and Leia were swinging their lightsabers, a long-awaited continuation of the Knights of the Old Republic story is an almost guaranteed hit.
If you think you'd be able to predict what happens next, you'd be wrong. According to Star Wars insider Bespin Bulletin (via B.O.B. The Podcast), "We’ll ‘never guess’ who the studio is that’s making this game". Instead of EA Games heading up the project as most would assume, the development will instead be handed to someone else. Speaking during the episode, the insider explained, "Amongst my digging, I heard there is a Knights of the Old Republic project in development somewhere. I talked to a couple of people, and I also found out that Jason Schreier said that it’s not with EA, and we’ll ‘never guess’ who the studio is that’s making this game".
Discussing what's being worked on (or not) at the moment, Bespin Bulletin added, "I don’t know if the bounty hunter game is with them or if it’s with Ubisoft. But yeah, EA is working on stuff and there’s another unannounced [Star Wars] game at EA, which I have no idea what it is. I don’t think it’s Battlefront 3".
Previous reports claimed EA would carry on from its successful Fallen Order with a Knights of the Old Republic remake. The idea is that EA would take elements from both the OG Knights of the Old Republic and Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords while adapting the story to fit current Star Wars canon. We don't know whether that potential project is still in the works or this latest development has overtaken that as a wholly new story from a different studio.
New Knights of the Old Republic game: What's going on?
The 2008 book Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts explained how a third Knights of the Old Republic game had been in the works at LucasArts, but was cancelled when the company hit a troubled period. Apart from a female character called Naresha and some artwork of her, nothing else was released about the story of how it would've played. Considering Disney has become expert at bringing back axed bits of Star Wars lore, this sounds like the perfect opportunity to bring back some ghosts of the past.
The internet (unsurprisingly) went into overdrive with a whole Death Star of possibilities. Interestingly, Wushu Studios' Nate Najda posted on ResetERA and said, "It's not as mysterious as you think. It's just not a household name most people are aware of". Last year, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier posted on Twitter and said that we'd be revisiting KOTOR, but not with EA. The latest leak suggests he was right on the money.
Of course, Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy also teased work on something set in this timeline at 2019's Star Wars Celebration. It's unclear whether that's in the form of video games or the long-rumoured movie adaptation, but either way, it's clear the dark side of the Force is bubbling away beneath the surface of this ever-expanding galaxy. Lucasfilm Games coming back from the dead may have brought EA's exclusivity to an end, but it's also ushering in a new era that could finally bring Knights of the Old Republic back into our lives in a big way.
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