In the midst of layoffs and studio closures, one large developer and some of its subsidiaries may be able to escape Embracer's clutches, and it's Saber Interactive.
According to a report by Bloomberg, citing one person familiar with the situation, alleges that Saber Interactive will be sold to a group of private investors for $500 million.
As a result, Saber will become a privately owned company independent from Embracer, counting roughly 3,500 employees. According to the report, the deal includes an option that would allow Saber to bring with it multiple subsidiaries, saving them from Embracer as well.
At the moment, the number and identity of those subsidiaries isn't known, but Saber's umbrella currently covers 3D Realms, 34BigThings, 4A Games, Aspyr, Beamdog, Bytex Games, Demiurge, Digic Pictures, Fractured Byte, Mad Head Games, New World Interactive, Nimble Giant Entertainment, Sandbox Strategies, Slipgate Ironworks, Shiver, SPL, Snapshot Games, Tripwire Interactive, Tuxedo Labs, and Zen Studios.
Some of them like 3D Realms and Slipgate Ironworks already suffered from layoffs under Embracer's heel as part of a massive cost-cutting initiative that has been going on for several months and resulted in a 8% reduction of the company's personnel.
Saber Interactive has multiple interesting games in the works, including Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 and a Knights of the Old Republic remake. The report mentions that the company intends to continue developing the latter, albeit under which term isn't clear at the moment.
We also don't know which, if any, of the IPs it has been working on will follow it in its departure from Embracer.
We have reached out to Saber Interactive to ask for confirmation of this report, but we have not received a reply at the moment of this writing. We will update this article if we receive anything worth mentioning going forward, or if the deal is officially announced.
Update: Saber got back to us, but declined to comment on the accuracy of the report.
