I think KotOR 2 will be a better game than most, if not all, of the big games of 2004 but it can't compete in sales.
Really high-profile games coming out towards the end of the year.
Halo 2
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Gran Turismo 4
Metal Gear Solid 3
Resident Evil 4
Metroid Prime 2
All of these games are pretty much going to sell over a million copies based off of name recognition alone. Then there is Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 which are both coming out soon and those are going to sell a lot of copies during the holiday season as well.
Analysts call these games "murderer's row" because other games are going to get crushed by them. If KotOR 2 comes out in 1st quarter 2005 it will be competing against a much weaker lineup.