Saber Interactive has reportedly found an exit strategy from the deadly control of its parent company, Embracer Group AB. Bloomberg reported Thursday that “a group of private investors” will buy the studio in a deal valued at approximately $500 million. Saber would then become a private company with about 3,500 employees.
Engadget emailed a Saber spokesperson to confirm the alleged purchase. The studio declined to comment.
The supposed deal would be one of Embracer's biggest cost-cutting measures since the collapse of a $2 billion deal with a group backed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund. Some criticized the imperiled deal as the gambling equivalent of “sportswashing,” using takeovers and popular sports partnerships to boost the global image of beleaguered governments. This followed information from US intelligence. conclusion that the Saudi regime murdered Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi in late 2018.
Other cost-cutting measures at Embracer have included laying off about 900 employees in September, eliminating another 50 or so jobs in Chorus Fishlabs developer and implement more layoffs in Tiny Tina's Wonderland Developer, Lost Boys Interactive, Beamdog, Crystal Dynamics and Saber subsidiary New World Interactive. Embracer also closed saints row studio Volition Games and Campfire Cabal.
According BloombergThe sale of Saber will not affect the studio's role in developing an upcoming Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) Redo. That game has already changed hands once: one of Sabre's Eastern European studios replaced Aspyr Media in the summer of 2022.
Aspyr had reportedly already been working on the game for years before delivering a demo to Lucasfilm and Sony in June 2022; a week later, Aspyr fired its design director and art director. (Reports from the KOTOR The demonstration that cost a disproportionate amount of time and money may indicate a possible reason for the consequences). By the end of that summer, Saber had taken over development of the highly anticipated (and indefinitely delayed) remake.
Embracer bought Saber for $525 million in 2020, while acquiring game studios left and right. It acquired at least 27 companies during that period, integrating some of them (Demiurge Studios and New World Interactive) into Sabre. Bloomberg reports that the deal to sell Saber to private investors includes an option to “bring in several Embracer subsidiaries.”
One studio that is too big to be included in this transaction is Borderlands developer Gearbox Entertainment. However, My city reported On Thursday, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford told staff this week that a decision had been made about the future of the studio. He reportedly said he could share more details with them next month.
Meanwhile, a cloud of uncertainty surrounds Gearbox and the other remaining Embracer studios. “I have personally been looking for positions elsewhere not only because of Embracer layoff fears, but also because of the pay,” an anonymous developer reportedly told My city. “Vazy and in a holding pattern is definitely normal right now and has been for most of 2023.”
