The parent company of the video game studio Saber Interactive leaves the Russian Federation

The parent company of the video game studio Saber Interactive is leaving the Russian Federation. Embracer Group is selling Saber itself to its co-founder Matthew Karch, Russian assets have been transferred to local management and will work only with the buyer of the studio. Experts call the “removal of toxic” assets one of the goals of the deal. But Embracer itself has high debts, which the group is trying to restructure.

Swedish video game holding company Embracer Group announced the sale of Saber Interactive and part of its subsidiary studios for $247 million (2.52 billion Swedish kronor). The deal, according to the company, will mean the termination of Embracer’s work in the Russian Federation. The buyer will be Beacon Interactive, controlled by Saber co-founder and Embracer shareholder Matthew Karch. The asset is paid for with promissory notes maturing before the end of the year; the closing date is not specified.

Saber Interactive has branches in St. Petersburg, Belarus, Spain, Sweden, Portugal, and from 2022 – in Armenia. In addition to them, Beacon Interactive will receive Ukrainian Fractured Byte (ports video games) and seven more gaming and animation assets in other countries. Embracer will retain ten companies, but the buyer will have an option on two of them – the Ukrainian 4A Games (known for the Metro series games) and the American Aspyr (developing a remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic).

Saber’s Russian employees have been transferred to “structures that are fully owned by local management and which work exclusively with the buyer,” Embracer said, and legal entities in the country will be liquidated.

Russian assets of Saber were developing video games on behalf of the parent structure, without having the rights to the projects (for example, Game Insight worked according to a similar scheme). Among the high-budget games that the studio was developing was the AAA project Warhammer 40000: Space Marine 2. The revenue of Saber Interactive SGS LLC for 2022 amounted to 1.8 billion rubles, net profit – 265 million rubles, about 700 people worked there ( no data for 2023). The company has not yet been formally liquidated. Embracer did not specify the name of the new structure, but, according to Kommersant, we can talk about Fairvater LLC, which is headed by the general director of Saber Interactive SGS LLC Vladimir Chernysh. Saber Interactive SGS did not answer Kommersant.

In total, during the main transaction, 2.9 thousand employees, or 21% of Embracer’s staff, are transferred to the new owner. The buyer will also receive 38 video game development projects, rights to associated development tools and game engines. Embracer has 14 projects remaining, including two on which the holding will work together with Beacon Interactive.

Embracer’s message does not mention Bytex (Baytex LLC, engaged in software testing), which the parent holding bought in 2021. Then it was reported that Bytex would become part of Saber Interactive. A Kommersant source on the market clarified that there was no legal connection between the companies, but Bytex tested Saber projects. General Director of Baytex LLC Alexander Torgovkin heads Baytex LLC, established in August 2023. “Baytex” and “Baytex” did not answer “Kommersant”.

During the presentation, Mr. Wingefors explained that, in addition to “geopolitical risks,” the sale of Saber assets will reduce “capital investments, operating expenses and business risks.” According to the head of the Organization for the Development of the Video Game Industry, Vasily Ovchinnikov, Embracer first of all wants to “remove toxic assets from itself, as My.Games and Wargaming did.”

Yuri Litvinenko, Nikita Korolev