Fans Launch Petition for 'Knights of the Old Republic' 20th Anniversary

With rumors surfacing even while Electronic Arts (EA) has not made any official announcement, Star Wars fans have launched a petition requesting for a remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for its 20th anniversary. The original video game was released in 2003, so the petition is asking for a 2023 release of a remake. The petition had more than 4000 virtual signatures on September 29, and it now has over 12,000 signatures.

The BioWare-developed RPG game for X-Box and PC became one of the quickest hits and was considered the best of the best as far as most impactful stories in the Expanded Universe of Star Wars. It was sold out everywhere and won numerous awards, including Game Developers Choice Awards’ Best X-Box Game of the Year, Interactive Achievement Awards for Best Console RPG and Best Story, and Best Computer RPG as well as Game of the Year from many sources like IGN, GameSpot, Computer Gaming World, PC Gamer, Xbox Magazine, and many more. The game has also sold more than 3.2 million copies worldwide.

Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic takes place nearly 4,000 years before the films, during the war between the Republic and the Sith Empire. The Sith Lord Darth Malak leads a Sith armada against the Republic. By only using customizable characters, the player can stop Darth Malak. Players can start with one of three mundane classes and become able to unlock their Force abilities and experience the Jedi training. Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic has arguably the biggest story twist in Star Wars video game history and became a groundwork to expand and explore more of a new era of the Star Wars universe, and it is possible that Lucasfilm is looking to these games for inspiration going forward in canon. A year and a half ago, Kathleen Kennedy, when asked about Knights of the Old Republic, said that Lucasfilm were "developing something to look at."

The petition is available to sign on the Change.org page, with the request written as follows:

“Most of you already know of the story of Knights of the Old Republic, so its’ pretty unnecessary to go over it. You are here because you have played it, you know it’s story and would like to see it remade for it’s 20th anniversary. The same story, but built from the ground up using a modern game engine and graphics for the upcoming generation of consoles: Xbox Series X and PS5. And of course PC.

I can’t stress enough, don’t change the story, don’t’ take from the story either. As that will most likely upset and frustrate fans of the original. Please, leave the story as it is. Everything else though, can be built from the ground up. Game engines and graphics have came a long way since the early 2000’s. Knights of the Old Republic’s game engine was the Odyssey engine, since 2013 all games BioWare have developed made on EA DICE’s Frostbite 3 engine. So imagine how a remake might look.”

The petition points out that BioWare is now owned by the current Star Wars video games license holder, Electronic Arts (EA). BioWare, however, still carry Star Wars: The Old Republic, the 2011 MMORPG that set 300 years after Knights of the Old Republic. The 2005 sequel, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, was not as successful as the predecessor and was developed by Obsidian, which is now owned by Microsoft. However, the sequel gained a cult following.

We are not clear yet as to what may happen, as BioWare is preoccupied with their other projects such as Dragon Age 4 and the next Mass Effect game. With all of that on the table, they might not even have the time of day to focus on a remake of Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is now playable on PC and Mac via Steam and EA’s Origin store, as well as an app for Android and iOS devices.

Written By Pat Kusnadi

Syndicated From Culture Slate