Lucasfilm has shut down fan-made KOTOR remake

Apeiron, the fan-made Unreal Engine 4 remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, has been shut down by Lucasfilm.

Revealed in 2015, Apeiron has received a lot of love, time and effort over the past two years. While the biggest draw to the fan-remake was the updated visuals, this version of the game also included significant gameplay changes such as real-time combat options and a first-person perspective.

Writing on Twitter alongside a picture of the cease and desist letter, project leader Taylor Trotter wrote, “I recently received a letter from Lucasfilm instruction Poem [the team developing the UE4 remake] to end production on Apeiron. After a few days, I’ve exhausted my options to keep it afloat; we knew this day was a possibility. I’m sorry and may the Force be with you.”

It's with a great sadness that I'm posting today; I recently received a letter from Lucasfilm instructing Poem to end production on Apeiron. After a few days, I've exhausted my options to keep it afloat; we knew this day was a possibility. I'm sorry and may the force be with you pic.twitter.com/OCRmMIjwGT

— Poem Studios (@PoemStudios) October 11, 2018

“We have discovered Poem Studios’ Apeiron and reviewed the related website, social media pages and public statements regarding Poem Studios’ intent to develop a reboot of the Lucasfilm game Knights of the Old Republic,” the letter reads.

“Poem Studios’ current use of Lucasfilm IP on its website and social media pages is without our authorization and is infringing. Poem Studios must take immediate steps to remove all uses of Lucasfilm’s intellectual property, including, but not linked to, STAR WARS copyrights, trademarks, characters, artwork, images and logos and desist from any further use.”

The terms state that the team must remove, “all Lucasfilm intellectual property from the Apeiron website and social media pages, will cease all development of the Apeiron KOTOR reboot and will destroy all code and materials related to that  project, and will not use any Lucasfilm intellectual property in the development of any future videogames.”

The loss of Apeiron is a devastating one for fans of the original game. With a new physics engine for force powers and customisable lightsaber colours (complete with dynamic lighting), this remake was a dream come true for KOTOR fans.

Hopefully, although extremely unlikely, this means that a return to KOTOR may be in the works somewhere. Much like with Nintendo’s takedown of the Metroid 2 remake AM2R, this could be a dream situation where the IP holders are actually working on their own version of the game. Don’t hold your breath, though.