Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 “Restored Content” DLC for Nintendo Switch shut down by Disney’s legal team

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, which launched on Nintendo Switch on June 8, 2022, was originally announced with a promised piece of additional content. The reveal trailer stated that the game would also include the Restored Content DLC, noting that it would be available “soon”. However, that DLC was later quietly cancelled for reasons that were, at the time, unknown to the public.

In June 2023, Aspyr confirmed that plans for the DLC’s release had indeed been scrapped, with co-CEO Ted Saloch later explaining: “Aspyr believed it would be able to release the content, but a third party objected and Aspyr was unable to do so.”
The situation sparked major frustration among fans and even led to a lawsuit accusing Aspyr of false advertising.

Now, as reported by Stephen Totilo at Game File, new details have emerged outlining the reasons behind the DLC’s cancellation.

In an extensive breakdown, Game File has published a detailed timeline of what led to the cancellation of the Restored Content DLC for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II on Nintendo Switch, drawing from internal emails and discussions across Slack and Jira between Aspyr, Disney, and members of the original PC mod team.

According to the documents, Disney had previously declined approval for the Restored Content on the 2020 mobile release of KOTOR II. The topic resurfaced in March 2022 as Aspyr worked on the Switch version. In an email, a Disney representative told Aspyr that the company had “no objection to hiring or working with members of the mod community to add the restored content to the Switch version,” provided the studio could “prove and ensure it holds all necessary rights” to use the material — including additional content created by modders to fill gaps and fix bugs.

Aspyr contacted several of the modders, and one of them, known as Zbyl, agreed to sign the required paperwork on behalf of the full group. This authorization allowed Aspyr to move forward, with the understanding that none of the parties would pursue legal action and that the modders would be included in a Special Thanks section in the credits.

Aspyr had already informed players that the Restored Content DLC would launch sometime after the base game. However, just 20 days after release, Disney reached out again. Its legal team requested that the credits list real names only rather than online aliases, and raised further concerns,  including issues involving non-union voice actors featured in the mod.

Because the project involved far more than the four core developers, including two voice actors, over a dozen translators, and others who contributed individual bug fixes, totaling 22 people, Zbyl was unable to contact everyone. Roughly a month later, Lucasfilm told Aspyr it couldn’t approve the DLC unless every contributor was properly credited or their work replaced.

Aspyr then emailed Zbyl with an update, saying: “In our efforts to credit everyone who contributed to the mod, we scared Disney’s legal department and they have now implemented a new blocker.” Although Zbyl attempted to gather signatures from the entire team, it proved impossible, and the plan to release the Restored Content DLC essentially collapsed.

Game File notes that the lawsuit that followed was settled just last month, only two weeks before the case was scheduled to go to a jury trial.

Thanks VGC for the news today.