[STEAM] Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic Developer Teases Game's Length and Development Time

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won't be another bloated single-player game that takes over half a decade to develop, game director Casey Hudson has insisted. Via an

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, we learned a few new details about the highly anticipated Star Wars RPG, which aims to be a spiritual successor to BioWare's much-loved Knights of the Old Republic. Hudson talked a bit about the aspirations for the final product, both for how long it will take to produce and how long it will take players to finish it.

For starters, Hudson isn't backing down on his claims that

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, but doesn't have an exact release date in mind. He noted that he has never spent more than four years on a game and has no desire to spend five to seven years working on one, like some other studios. He also ruled out the use of AI to help speed up development, calling it "creatively soulless" and "unhelpful." The team will bring on contractors to help develop the game, but aims to avoid hiring hundreds of in-house staff to keep costs lean and feasible.

Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic is backed by a new holding company known as GreaterThan Group, which is led by former NetEase executive Simon Zhu. As revealed by Bloomberg, the company has $40 million in the bank and roughly $60 million in funding commitments, meaning there is a lot of money backing the projects under GTG.

As for the game itself, Hudson said he doesn't want to make a game that is hundreds of hours long. "******* isn’t necessarily better,” Hudson said. “If I’m excited about a game and then I find out that it’s 200 hours long — even if I have no ambition to actually finish it — I wonder, if I put 20 hours in, will I even be out of act one? A lot of players just want to play something and finish it.”

However, Hudson promised the game will be replayable thanks to branching storylines that drive players to explore alternative paths. When

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, and it was revealed that the studio behind it, Arcanaut Studios, had been founded only six months earlier, many feared it wouldn't release until the 2030s.

Hudson didn't really detail how they plan to make the game in just a handful of years, but he is a veteran developer with extensive experience working on sci-fi RPGs, including one in the Star Wars universe. If anyone can get this game out the door in a reasonable amount of time, it's him. Still, it's hard not to look around at other Star Wars games that have been in development for ages.

Quantic Dream's Star Wars Eclipse and Saber Interactive's remake of

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. We haven't heard anything notable on how they're progressing since those reveals,

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. Hopefully, Fate of the Old Republic doesn't take quite as long to reveal itself.

Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on

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@Cade_Onder.

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