{
  "id": 6729071,
  "title": "Saber Interactive has \"no real development in North America any more\"",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/saber-interactive-has-no-real-development-in-north-america-any-more",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-11T08:27:29.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "GamesIndustry",
    "slug": "gamesindustry",
    "url": "https://www.gamesindustry.biz/saber-interactive-has-no-real-development-in-north-america-any-more"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Saber Interactive's chief creative officer, Tim Willits, has revealed that the company no longer conducts any real game development in North America. While Saber retains its headquarters in the United States and maintains a publishing team in the country, game development is now carried out at 15 studios scattered across various global locations, including Serbia, Armenia, Georgia, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Argentina, and Australia.\n\nBefore the company's independence from Embracer in 2024, Saber Interactive owned several studios in the United States, such as Aspyr in Texas, Demiurge Studios in Boston, Tripwire Interactive in Georgia, and Shiver Entertainment in Florida. However, Aspyr, Demiurge, and Tripwire joined Embracer following the split, and Shiver was sold to Nintendo in May 2024. Additionally, Canadian studio Beamdog remained with Embracer.\n\nDespite the relocation of development, Saber still owns New World Interactive, which operates out of offices in Denver and Calgary. New World was responsible for the 2018 shooter Insurgency: Sandstorm, which underwent a significant update in May 2024. Willits spoke with GamesIndustry.biz and emphasized the importance of smart decision-making regarding game development locations. He stated that Saber is open to establishing studios worldwide and that talent exists everywhere, regardless of the specific territory.\n\nWillits criticized wasteful spending on large-scale games, noting that the development cost of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 was only a third of what was spent on a similarly successful recent game from a major North American studio. Despite generating 11 million more copies, the earlier game sold for less overall. He pointed out that big North American development studios incur a monthly burn rate of $2 million or more, making it challenging to produce a billion-dollar game without substantial financial investment. For instance, SnowRunner, a successful title, costs $6 million to develop, equivalent to three months of work in California. Willits calculated that five years of development for a big studio would require $120 million just in salaries, not accounting for marketing and publishing costs, which can further inflate the total to $150 million. He concluded that the profitability of each game, typically returning around $25 in profit, makes it difficult for such ventures to be financially viable.",
  "summary": "Saber Interactive's chief creative officer, Tim Willits, has said that the company has \"no real development in North America any more.\" Read more",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}