A scrapped DLC pack for the Nintendo Switch version of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, which developer Aspyr promised in 2022, was blocked from release by Disney’s legal team.
The Restored Content pack was originally released by a modding group for the PC version of the game. Following widespread criticism by fans of KOTOR II that the game felt rushed and unfinished, the mod restored lots of unfinished content found in the game’s files, which was not officially implemented in the base game due to a lack of time leading up to the launch date.
According to Game File (via VGC), court documents reveal an email sent from Aspyr to Restored Content modder Zbyl, which said: “In our efforts to credit everyone who contributed to the mod, we have spooked Disney legal and now they have put a new blocker in place.”
Game File put together a comprehensive timeline, spanning years, of files containing communication between Aspyr, Disney, and the original modders. Disney denied Aspyr approval to use the Restored Content in the 2020 mobile version of KOTOR II, and did so again for the Switch version in March 2022.
An email from a Disney official to Aspyr said that it was “comfortable with [it] hiring / working with folks in the modding community to add the restored content to the Switch build,” if Aspyr could “rep and warrant that it has all the necessary rights.”
Zbyl agreed to sign Aspyr’s paperwork on behalf of the whole modding team. However, 20 days after the game’s release, Disney told Aspyr that its legal team wanted the mod’s credits “to be changed to reflect only real names, not gamer aliases.” Disney’s lawyers also had concerns about the Restored Content’s voice acting, which was provided by non-union actors.
Due to the large number of people who worked on the mod – including four modders, two voice actors, bug fixers, and over a dozen translators – Zybl was unable to contact all of the other 21 people involved. A month later, Lucasfilm told Aspyr it could not approve the DLC until everyone was either credited or had their work replaced.
In 2023, fans filed a class-action lawsuit against Aspyr and publisher Saber Interactive for false advertising, arguing that they would not have bought KOTOR II on Switch if it weren’t for the DLC announcement. Game File reported that it was settled in November, two weeks before the jury trial date.
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Written by Reece Heather
A lifelong Nintendo fan and a longtime editor at Zelda Universe, Reece will forever be grateful that he somehow dodged the Naughty List of Christmas 1998, when Santa delivered the life-changing gift of a Nintendo 64 with Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, and Mario Kart 64. When he's not playing games, Reece is usually reading Punisher comics, delving helplessly into the weirdest depths of anime and manga, or spending time with his cocker spaniel Gracie -- the goodest girl ever!
