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Saber Interactive has reportedly found a strategy to escape parent company Embracer Group AB’s death grip. bloomberg report On Thursday, a “group of private investors” planned to buy the studio in a deal worth about $500 million. Saber will then become a privately held company with approximately 3,500 employees.
Engadget asked a Saber spokesperson via email to confirm the acquisition allegations. The studio declined to comment.
The purported agreement would be one of Embracer’s most significant cost-cutting measures since a $2 billion deal with a group backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund collapsed. Some critics said the dangerous deal amounted to a game of “sportswashing” that used acquisitions and partnerships in popular sports to boost the embattled government’s global image.It was according to information from US intelligence agencies. conclusion the saudi regime killed washington post Reporter Jamal Khashoggi at the end of 2018.
Embracer’s other cost-cutting measures include laying off about 900 employees in September and cutting an additional 50 or so jobs. chorus Developer Fishlabs cuts more jobs Tiny Tina’s Wonderland Developer Lost Boys Interactive, Beamdog, Crystal Dynamics and New World Interactive, a subsidiary of Saber.Embracer is also closed. saints row Studios Volition Games and Campfire Cabal.
according to bloombergThe sale of Saber does not affect the studio’s role in the development of future titles. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Kotor) remake. The game has already changed hands once, with one of his Eastern European studios, Saber, taking over from Aspyr Media in the summer of 2022.
Aspyr had reportedly already been working on the game for years before providing a demo to Lucasfilm and Sony in June 2022. A week later, Aspyr fired its design director and art director. (report Kotor The disproportionate amount of time and money spent on demonstrations may be a possible explanation for the poor performance. ) By the end of that summer, Saber had taken over development of the long-awaited and indefinitely delayed remake.
Embracer acquired left and right game studios in 2020, acquiring Saber for $525 million. During this period, he acquired at least 27 companies, several of which he integrated into Saber (Demiurge Studios and New World Interactive). bloomberg The deal to sell Saber to private investors includes an option to “bring multiple Embracer subsidiaries on board,” the report said.
One studio too big to include in this deal is Borderlands developer Gearbox Entertainment. but, Kotaku report On Thursday, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford told staff this week that a decision had been made about the studio’s future. He said he could share details next month.
Meanwhile, a cloud of uncertainty surrounds Gearbox and Embracer’s other remaining studios. “I was personally looking for a role elsewhere due to salary concerns as well as concerns about layoffs from Embracer,” the anonymous developer said. Kotaku. “A vague holding pattern is definitely par for the course at this point, and has been for most of 2023.”