There’s been a flurry of activity around Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic, the spiritual successor to the original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games. After hearing that former BioWare veterans are joining developer Arcanaut Studios, it’s been revealed NetEase’s ex-president of global investments is investing in former Mass Effect director Casey Hudson’s new role-playing game.
Bloomberg reported the news that Simon Zhu, the former president of global investments and partnerships at NetEase, has formed holding company GreaterThan Group, “to invest in and operate studios and video games around the world, including the new Star Wars title”. While Fate of the Old Republic isn’t the only game being backed, it’s the one Zhu was ready to talk about.
GreaterThan Group has already raised $100m, with $40m already in the bank and “funding commitments for roughly $60 million”. When asked about the names of investors, Zhu declined to comment, stating “they’re all very successful individuals – gaming and tech entrepreneurs”.
Casey Hudson said he “really [wanted] to avoid having hundreds and hundreds of people” at Arcanaut, in order to avoid “how large and cumbersome the production staff got during his time at BioWare”. Hudson added the studio will use contractors instead, and it doesn’t sound like he wants to use gen-AI at all. “I just find AI to be creatively soulless,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine where it’s actually helpful in the process. I’m just really unimpressed with it.”
Meanwhile, on the topic of Fate of the Old Republic’s scope and length, Hudson said he wasn’t keen on it being a 200-hour game. “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.”
This approach might help Arcanaut get through development more quickly. “Making games that take five or seven years – none of us want to do that,” Hudson revealed. He has already stated elsewhere that he was aiming to finish Fate of the Old Republic well before 2030.
Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic was one of the biggest surprises at The Game Awards 2025 last December. Plot details are being kept under wraps, and as far as we know, its existence isn’t affecting the ongoing development of Saber Interactive’s KOTOR remake.
