According to Casey Hudson, the new Star Wars game will be released in less time than 2030.

The biggest surprise at The Game Awards was the announcement of Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic, despite rumors that Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR) Remake would be unveiled at the event. Instead, we saw a brand new project led by Hudson, who was the original director and producer of Knights of the Old Republic, as well as the director of the Mass Effect trilogy. Hudson founded Arcanaut Studios, a new company based in Edmonton, Alberta, with additional offices in Kelowna, British Columbia. The studio was established relatively recently, in July. This makes sense, as Hudson was previously busy with another studio, Humanoid Origin, which he founded years ago but had to close at the end of 2024 due to a lack of funding.

This realization dampened the excitement surrounding Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic, as players realized they would have to wait a long time to play it. The situation wasn’t helped by the fact that other major Star Wars game projects, such as the Knights of the Old Republic remake and Star Wars: Eclipse from Quantic Dream, suffered a similar fate, they were announced too early. Jason Schreier, an editor at Bloomberg, further fueled these fears on Bluesky when he said that, according to Lucasfilm, the studio was formed this year. This means that a 2030 release date is optimistic and the game may be for the PlayStation 7. However, Hudson later weighed in on the release date debate, telling fans to forget the 2030 rumors because the game will be released before then.

Don’t worry about the “not till 2030” rumors. Game will be out before then. I’m not getting any younger! https://t.co/YKYQFgXOGR

— Casey Hudson (@CaseyDHudson) December 13, 2025

Details are scarce at this point, other than the fact that the project is the spiritual successor to Knights of the Old Republic rather than a direct sequel. However, Arcanaut and Lucasfilm have explicitly stated that it will be a narrative-driven action RPG. This suggests a focused experience with a strong narrative that won’t feature huge, open worlds with tons of side content and activities. Don’t expect to explore Tatooine, Coruscant, Hoth, or other vast regions while solving insignificant citizens’ problems. As Hudson noted in an interview on the official Star Wars website, instead, the developers will focus on delivering a powerful, cinematic adventure driven by player actions, narrative depth, and immersive world-building.

This is similar to the original Knights of the Old Republic, which was relatively linear and included only about 7.5 hours of side content. Keeping this in mind, it’s possible that Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic could be released in 2029. Another possible accelerating factor is the use of AI during development. If used effectively, it could certainly shorten development time. However, this may not be to the liking of some fans.

Source: WCCFTech, Bsky, Star Wars, HowLongToBeat