Embracer Group’s restructuring is far from over and continues to cause a major shakeup in the gaming industry. According to a Bloomberg report, the Group has put Saber Interactive up for sale for about $500 million.
If the deal pulls through, Saber Interactive will become a privately owned company with about 3,500 employees scattered across its global studios including Portugal, Russia, and the United States. However, the sale will not affect the development of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, indicating that the IP rights may be sold along with the deal.
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In June 2023, Embracer Group embarked on a restructuring drive to reduce its debt profile. The restructuring was triggered after a $2 billion Saudi funding fell through and has led to studio closures including Saints Row maker Volition and TimeSplitters’ Free Radical Design.
Also, the restructuring has led to mass layoffs across the different studios owned by the Group. By the end of December 2023, Embracer Group had reduced its global workforce by 8% or 1,387 employees. The breakdown shows that 871 game developers, 252 non-developers, and 264 external developers were impacted.
Earlier this month, Embracer also confirmed that it canceled 29 unannounced games. The $500 million deal would allow Saber Interactive to break out with some of Embracer’s subsidiaries, according to sources familiar with the matter. However, no details were given on which subsidiaries will leave with Saber.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake was originally supposed to be a collaborative effort between Aspyr Media, Lucasfilm Games, and Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was announced as a timed PS5 console exclusive during a PlayStation Showcase back in September 2021.
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Although the remake has faced mounting problems since its announcement, reports suggested that its development was still underway back in November.
Embracer Group is closer to selling Gearbox than ever
Since the announcement of Embracer Group’s restructuring, Gearbox, the studio behind Borderlands, was put up for sale. According to a Kotaku report, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford held a town hall meeting with employees this week where he told them a decision has been made about the future of the studio, saying more information will be shared in March.
The sources said Pitchford told employees that Gearbox had one of three options namely, to either stay with Embracer, become the property of a new owner, or buy itself out and become independent. However, Kotaku claims that a decision has been made to sell Gearbox and that the deal is being finalized.
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When contacted for comments, Pitchford did not confirm or dispute the report but said, “I’m delighted that what we might be up to is interesting enough to people that you want to make a story about us for your readers”.
“As always, we will be thrilled to share whenever we have projects to announce or news to share as we work hard towards our mission to entertain the world.”
After the report that Embracer Group was considering putting Gearbox up for sale went public back in September last year, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick refused to be drawn into the idea of acquiring Gearbox based on their long-term publishing deal for the Borderlands franchise.
“We’ve had a long-term relationship with Gearbox of which we’re very proud,” Zelnick said at the time. “They’re a wonderful company, they’ve delivered for us – not just Borderlands, but also Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands and other titles – and I’ve no doubt they’ll continue to be successful in the future.”
“We’re thrilled that we have a long-term publishing relationship on these titles. That publishing relationship exists without regard to the ultimate owner of Gearbox. But with regard to our potential interest, we don’t tend to speculate on potential transactions.”
