The parent company of THQ Nordic has bought Saber Interactive, the studio behind the recent The Witcher 3 Nintendo Switch port and World War Z in a deal worth up to $525m.
Embracer Group bought Saber for an initial $150m, with a maximum earnout of $375m, depending on certain milestones. Saber has more than 600 employees across six offices.
Saber Interactive will become Embracer Group’s fifth operating group and Saber Interactive’s co-founders and owners, Matthew Karch and Andrey Iones, will jointly become Embracer Group’s second largest shareholder. Karch and Iones have committed to remaining employed within the company for at least six years.
“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 3m 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,” said Embracer boss Lars Wingefors.