After a report from Bloomberg late last month made the rounds about a possible sale of Saber Interactive from Embracer Group, it has now been confirmed that parts of the video game developer and publisher has been sold to private investment group Beacon Interactive for $247 million, though not all of its studios will follow. Embracer will retain TripWire, Beamdog, Tuxedo Labs, Demiurge, Shiver, Aspyr, Snapshot Games and 34BigThings.
Despite 4A Games and Zen Studios being listed as retained assets, Bloomberg reports they will also be acquired, which bumps the total sale up to $500 million. The purchase comes as Embracer Group has been seeking to recover funds through lay-offs, studio closures and the cancellation of 29 unannounced games after a $2 billion partnership fell through last May.
The deal looked all but confirmed already, as Wednesday saw the removal of all references to Embracer Group pulled from their website’s ‘About’ page as well as their studio logo. Saber Interactive are well known in the gaming space for their vast amount of subsidiaries, such as Aspyr, the previous developers of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake and porter of many games to macOS, Tripwire Interactive, known for the Killing Floor franchise, 4A Games who develop the Metro series, and many more.
Saber Interactive might not be the only huge studio separating from Embracer Group, as a report from Kotaku also suggested that Gearbox Entertainment is set to sell itself away from its former Embracer owners. The report includes sources from within a Gearbox meeting, who shared that CEO Randy Pitchford told employees that an announcement around the companies future could be expected sometime this month. Gearbox are known for their Borderlands franchise, with a movie adaptation scheduled for an August release.
What do you think of Saber Interactive’s $247 million sale? What do you think is next for Embracer Group, and how would you like Saber to go forwards after this separation? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and stay tuned to GameLuster for more breaking gaming news.
