Saber Interactive confirms work on Toxic Commando and Jurassic Park projects
The COO of Saber Interactive, Tim Willits, confirmed the identities of a few development projects the company has retained ownership of in the wake of its amicable divorce from Embracer. The executive named Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, Jon Carpenter’s Toxic Commando, and Jurassic Park: Survival as games Saber is continuing to work on.
Saber was acquired by Beacon Interactive for a sum of $247 million USD from Embracer Group, leaving the Swedish entertainment company behind. Beacon is led by Saber co-founder Matthew Karch and was able to take a bunch of Saber’s subsidiaries with it in this move. However, some former companies under the studio’s umbrella will remain with Embracer, among them Aspyr – the developer currently under fire for the disastrous launch of the Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection.
As a result of the deal, Saber took 38 ongoing development projects with it to independence. 14 projects remain with Embracer, among them Killing Floor 3 and Teardown.
With Space Marine 2, Toxic Commando, and Jurassic Park confirmed to be part of the share in Saber’s hands, this clears up the fate of most of the big and already announced titles. It would have been especially strange had Space Marine 2 not remained with Saber, as the shooter will be released later this year and has been in development at the studio for many years – further delays due to legal issues would have been very unfortunate.
Under the agreement between Beacon and Embracer, IGIC, Fractured Byte, Mad Head Games, New World Interactive, Nimble Giant Entertainment, Sandbox Strategies, Slipgate Ironworks, and 3D Realms stay with Saber Interactive as its subsidiaries.
34BigThings, 4A Games, Aspyr, Beamdog, Demiurge Studios, Shiver, Snapshot Games, Tripwire Interactive, Tuxedo Labs, and Zen Studios, which were all affiliated with Saber, continue on under Embracer’s umbrella, though Saber has a time-limited contract clause enabling it to take 4A Games and Zen Studios back, should it decide on this move. This could further alter the amount of active development projects each side will have custody of.