This is called an emotional lift. After fueling for months the rumor of the return of Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR), the journalist Jason Schreier brings a last ladle of water to his mill. the remake BioWare's cult game does exist, but it would be developed by Aspyr.
In an interview with the MinnMax podcast, the Bloomberg journalist is now able to confirm previous rumors in favor of a remake of the 2003 title.
Read also:
Ubisoft says more about its Star Wars game, still in an early stage of development
Aspyr, great customary portages
If the most enthusiastic players were already imagining a revisit of KOTOR cooked in-house by BioWare, or - why not - at Obsidian, the news of support by Aspyr Media caused some embarrassed smiles. Why these concerns? After all, the Texas studio has already worked on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (we owe him its port on macOS).
It is precisely this status of "carrying studio" that raises questions about its real ability to carry out the complete facelift of a material as adored as KOTOR. Indeed, the studio based in Austin and employing around 140 people has never before had such an ambitious project in its hands.
So you have to ask yourself what it is reasonable to expect from Aspyr Media. If everyone begins to dream of a facelift worthy of Demon's Souls (Bluepoint Games) or, at the very least, of a second youth like the future Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, the pedigree of the studio does not give any time not the necessary guarantees.
Read also:
Embracer acquires Gearbox, Aspyr and Easybrain studios for more than 2 billion dollars
A budget of around 70 million dollars?
However, Aspyr could benefit from a comfortable financial base, in particular thanks to its recent acquisition by the Swedish ogre Embracer Group. When we first heard the news in early February, there was talk of a triple-A game currently in development in Austin, with a budget of around $70 million. By crossing with the information reported by Jason Schreier, everything leads to believe that this is the famous remake of Star Wars: KOTOR.
Is the envelope allocated to the studio sufficient to allow it to develop a real technical upgrade, up to the aura of legend that surrounds the original title? It is very possible. For example, and bearing in mind that the budgets granted to the studio to develop a game are often imprecise and shrouded in secrecy, the first Watch_Dogs would have cost Ubisoft the same amount. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt would have cost $81 million to develop.
Charge to Aspyr Media to make good use of it.
