LogInAs well as shares some plans for the future.
Image credit: Saber, World War Z
Following Saber Interactive's departure from Embracer and gaining its independence back, the company's CEO, Matthew Karch, spoke to IGN and shared more details on the processes and relationships the companies keep with each other.
Speaking of Embracer, the holding acquired Saber in 2020 to support the studio's growth. However, due to a failed deal and financial challenges stemming from market conditions, the company had to lay off many employees and cancel several projects.
During the interview, Karch admits that Embracer made some missteps but says that he still maintains a positive relationship with CEO Lars Wingefors and defends the company's dedication to quality.
"I was walking around GDC getting congratulated by people and having people telling me that Embracer is the evil empire", Karch shares with IGN. "Embracer is as small-town and homegrown of a large organization as you're ever going to see. It's not a company which wants to spit out a thousand Lord of the Rings games regardless of whether or not those Lord of the Rings games are going to hurt the license. That's not the way Embracer operates," Karch continued. "It's not the way Lars operates. He loves IP. He loves games. He loves game developers. He got to start in comics. God knows how long ago, and he's just a good human being, and he cares about his people."
Karch also touched on Saber's upcoming strategy, highlighting a focus on a "middle-market" publishing approach. Saber aims to develop high-quality games without the hefty budgets of typical AAA titles. This strategy is positioned as a solution to counter the expected shortage of game content in the future due to industry layoffs and project cancellations.
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