UPD: THQ Nordic parent company acquires World War Z makers. THQ Nordic to set up new studio to work on Gothic remake
Saber Interactive will now become part of Embracer Group. It will be the fifth operating company of the group previously known as THQ Nordic AB.
The news of the deal came from a press release. The Group will pay $150 million (including $50 million’s worth of shares) on closing the deal. Saber might receive an additional $375 if the company hits certain agreed targets.
The studio will continue to function independently, with Saber’s owners Andrey Iones and Matthew Karch jointly becoming Embracer Group’s second largest shareholder.
Saber has been on our radar for a very long time because of their deep history of consistently high-quality work. Their ambitious moves towards self-funding projects in recent years have been particularly impressive, especially with World War Z, which sold more than three million units. While Saber will remain a standalone company within Embracer Group, we look forward to collaborating with them to elevate their ability to create and market premier titles.
Lars Wingefors, Founder and CEO of Embracer Group
Saber Interactive has been around for almost 20 years as an independent developer and publisher of games for PC, consoles and mobile. It’s headquartered in Maplewood, New Jersey, and employs 590 developers across its studios in Russia, Spain, Portugal, Belarus, and Sweden.
The studio has also ported the Witcher 3 to the Nintendo Switch.
In 2019, Embracer Group and THQ Nordic also acquired Warhorse, the studio behind Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Gunfire Games, makers of Darksiders III, and Tarsier, developers of Little Nightmares. In January 2020, Embracer Group launched two new studios: River End Games in Sweden and C77 Entertainment in Seattle.
UPD: THQ Nordic announced it would set up a new studio in Barcelona to work on the remake of Gothic, which was originally released in 2001. The decision was made following the survey THQ Nordic took. It covered 43.111 participants and showed the community’s overwhelming interest in the remake. The remake’s playable teaser came out in December 2019 and has since been played by over 180.000 players.
