Embracer confirms AAA project has switched studios, following report of KOTOR trouble
UPDATE: Report states this is indeed KOTOR.
UPDATE 23/8/22: The AAA game whose development has been shifted to another studio is indeed the struggling Knights of the Old Republic remake, Bloomberg has reported.
Originally begun at Aspyr, the project is now expected to be fully developed by one of Saber Interactive's Eastern European studios.
Aspyr had worked on the remake for around two years, though progress had reportedly not met the expectations of Star Wars owner Disney, or platform holder Sony.
ORIGINAL STORY 18/8/22: Earlier in the year, a report stated the Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic remake was "in serious trouble". So much trouble, in fact, the remake was said to be "delayed indefinitely".
Following on from this, Embracer - parent company of developer Aspyr - has revealed that one of its AAA projects has transitioned to another studio within the group.
While which project this is was not named in the company's Q1 interim report, informed speculation points to this being the troubled KOTOR remake.
Embracer states the reason for its decision to move this undisclosed game to a new studio is to ensure "the quality bar is where we need it to be for the title."
It goes on to state the company is "not expecting any material delays for the title based on this transition," a contrast to the previous report if this game does indeed turn out to be the Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic remake.
Back in May of this year, Embracer's board members announced that Evil Dead: The Game and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 developer Saber Interactive had joined forces with Aspyr to assist with the Star Wars project.
At this time, Embracer stated the game was a "massive product" and one it knew Aspyr would need help with.
"Aspyr has gone full in to make this the best game that they can make. When we acquired Aspyr, we knew from the start that they would require our assistance [and] Saber has tremendous expertise in creating these types of products," Embracer said.
"We're fully confident that the game is going to be fantastic but it's a massive, massive product and massive products require a lot of effort and a lot of time to make good. And especially when you're talking about a game already old - very old - we've basically had to remake that game from scratch," the company continued, before assuring us that we would hear more about the game "in the next several months".
Elsewhere in Embracer's Q1 report, the company stated it has 25 AAA games currently under development, and that are "to be released until the financial year 2025/26".
Many of these we know of already, with the Saints Row reboot being one of the more imminent releases on the company's horizon.
Meanwhile, Embracer has said it will have "multiple" announcements at Gamescom, so we should hear more about some of these projects then.
What we may not hear about here, however, is anything Lord of the Rings based. That being said, thanks to Embracer's recent announcement that it is to buy Middle-earth Enterprises, which will give the Swedish conglomerate the rights to JRR Tolkien's works, more escapades in Middle earth are definitely on the cards.