Casey Hudson Details Fate of the Old Republic's KOTOR Roots

Casey Hudson has shared new details about Fate of the Old Republic, and if you have waited years for a true follow-up to Knights of the Old Republic, they are worth your attention. His hour-long interview covered team size, pace, and the project's origins.

Start with the team. Hudson says about 60 people are working on the game, which he calls a big indie company rather than a AAA operation. You are not looking at hundreds of staff. People wear multiple hats, so a tech director might also write if they want to. He compared development to raising a kid or a pet, since the game grows its own personality.

Even so, you should expect Fate of the Old Republic to look close to AAA.

This fits a wider shift at Lucasfilm Games, whose head recently said a great Star Wars game does not need a top publisher. Small teams of genre veterans are proving it, as Star Wars: Galactic Racer shows. Hiring Hudson to lead a spiritual successor to KOTOR fits that approach, and a team this size leaves room for Fate of the Old Republic to become a series.

The project has an unusual backstory. Hudson's previous studio, Humanoid Origin, was building another sci-fi RPG when funding was pulled, and the project was canceled. The head of Disney Games then pitched him on putting a dent in the universe by creating a spiritual successor to KOTOR.

Asked about the pressure, Hudson said it would be strange to make Fate of the Old Republic without having made the original first. His team includes people from Mass Effect and Knights of the Old Republic, and they are studying their old work instead of filling someone else's shoes.

Player agency is another focus. Hudson described the goal as keeping things personal at a galactic scale, much like the original, where a small crew on the Ebon Hawk carried everything from Star Maps and Malak's ambitions to the quiet bond between Bastila and her mother.

Light-side and dark-side choices were central to that, so Fate of the Old Republic may well include something similar.

It is billed as an action RPG, but the balance is unclear. It could resemble Jedi: Fallen Order with RPG elements, or Final Fantasy VII Remake with its pause-and-tactical combat. Hudson also said the team starts with the setting, which suits an RPG where dialogue is the gameplay. He asked what longtime fans get out of it, hinting at familiar places, characters, or descendants.

The lead in the cinematic trailer looks Bastila-like, so a Shan descendant is one guess, and a character creator would be welcome. Knights of the Old Republic 2 left threads open, so Revan, Bastila and the Jedi Council feel like natural topics. He also stressed balancing that with newcomers, so Fate of the Old Republic should read as a fresh start for a new generation, with callbacks handled tastefully.

On progress, Hudson said the first half of 2025 went to signing contracts, and the second half to building a prototype and assembling the team. Fate of the Old Republic has no public date, but the team is moving briskly, hitting a major milestone every six months and looking back each time at how much has changed. Casey Hudson said last year it would launch before 2030.

Casey Hudson also teased exciting news early next year, with announcements rolling out gradually. Star Wars Celebration returns alongside a big anniversary, so it looks like a fitting stage for Fate of the Old Republic updates, and possibly a re-reveal of the Knights of the Old Republic remake. A Game Awards trailer for Fate of the Old Republic seems unlikely.