As it turns out, these are more than just rumors now. While there’s no doubting the credibility of video game journalist, Jason Schreier, who was one of the first to confirm the existence of the project, this latest information all but confirms it. Embracer Group, Swedish video game holding company, recently acquired Aspyr Media for $100m, with the Texas-based studio being a standalone entity under Saber Interactive. In addition, it has been reported that the studio has “several games in development”, including a project that has an approximate budget of $70 million. With such a huge budget dedicated to just a single title, it’s only fair to assume that it’s a large undertaking, similar to the KOTOR remake. Further giving credence to these rumors is how Aspyr Media, a company known mostly for porting games, recently went on a hiring spree that included numerous ex-Bioware employees.
Who Is Aspyr Media?
Aspyr Media was founded back in 1996 by Michael Rogers and Ted Staloch, both of which will continue to lead the studio following the acquisition. The studio has since worked closely with numerous studios in porting their games, most notably 2K Games. Understandably, fans are expressing concern that such an “inexperienced” studio was tabbed to work on such an iconic franchise. Then again, this isn’t the first time that this has happened. For example, Bluepoint Games mostly only worked on remasters and ports like that of God of War, Metal Gear Solid, and Uncharted, before they worked on the full-on remake of Demon Souls for the PlayStation 5, and we all know how that turned out. Another example of a studio that worked mostly on ports and localization projects was CD Projekt before releasing the video game adaption of The Witcher back in 2007. Ultimately, all we can do right now is hope that the remake remains faithful to the original without necessarily failing to innovate and add new things.
