Is Aspyr Media making Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 3?
Is Darth Revan's return imminent?
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 3 is rumored to be in development at a studio that is "not a household name most people are aware of." While the game has yet to be officially unveiled and confirmed, Inverse heavily suspects that one developer that was just acquired by Embracer Group's Saber Interactive could be the team behind the KOTOR 3.
The developer in question is Aspyr Media, a Texas-based team that's based known for creating Mac ports of games like Sid Meier's Civilization VI as well as mobile and console ports of classic Star Wars games like Knights of the Old Republic, Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, and Episode I: Racer.
It seems that the developer is getting an upgrade from simply porting Star Wars games and is now making one of its own. This follows the announcement on Tuesday that Embracer Group subsidiary Saber Interactive acquired Aspyr Media.
Aspyr Media brought Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II to iOS and Android in December 2020.
"Aspyr has an exciting pipeline and is looking to build on its vast catalog during the next few years as well as to bring out new content based on multiple licensed IP’s," the press release announcing the acquisition teases. "Aspyr currently has several games under development including one major ongoing game development project with an approximate budget of USD 70 million." No release window was given.
While Embracer Group doesn't directly say that this game is KOTOR 3, it is heavily implied. Elsewhere in the press release, Embracer says that this acquisition "builds on Saber’s portfolio of development projects based on licensed external IPs," and that Aspyr Media's upcoming game is "expected to become important for the entire group."
If Embracer Group is that proud and excited for Aspyr Media's upcoming project, it would make a lot of sense if this turned out to be Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 3. This series of critically acclaimed Star Wars RPGs was started by BioWare in 2001, with Obsidian Entertainment making a sequel in 2004 and BioWare returning to it with the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) The Old Republic in 2011.
Fans have waited for a sequel for almost two decades and were excited when rumors of a sequel emerged. EA no longer has exclusive rights to Star Wars as Lucasfilm Games is partnering with lots of studios on new projects, so now would be the perfect time to make a new KOTOR.
Still, when those rumors gained traction, insiders and journalists that knew about the project said that it would be extremely hard to guess who's developing it as they're not a popular household name. That description certainly applies to Aspyr, who's mainly been a porting studio thus far.
Embracer Group is the parent company of developers and publishers like THQ Nordic, Saber Interactive, Deep Silver, Gearbox Software, and more!
Bloomberg's Jason Schreier also seemed to subtly confirm that Aspyr Media is indeed working on KOTOR 3. He responded "Hmm!" to a ResetEra thread speculating as such. He later wrote, "I don't think a single person in that thread guessed this." in response to someone bringing up his claim that no one would guess it.
While Aspyr Media, Saber Interactive, and Embracer Group at large have yet to announce Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 3 or whatever Aspyr's secret expensive project turns out to be, KOTOR's prospects have never looked better.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 3 is reportedly in development.
