Saber Interactive Inc Acquires Demiurge Studio

HoundofShadow

I popped by reddit and saw this thread there. 

https://www.gematsu.com/2021/08/embracer-group-acquires-demiurge-studios-fractured-byte-and-smartphone-labs

"Through the transaction, Saber onboards an experienced team of developers and strengthens its footprint in the United States.

Through the acquisition, Saber onboards a talented team that will strengthen Embracer’s work-for-hire capabilities with significant experience of AAA game development. Demiurge further builds on Saber’s footprint in the US and enables direct access to Boston, a city with tremendous talent and a major hub of game development on the East Coast."

This is the second time Demiurge got acquired by a listed company.  Most of Saber Interactive Inc games developed are found on PC, XBox, Playstation and Nintendo Switch. They have only two games on iOS/Android.

Will the dev be busy with other projects?  What's your thought?

Bad

Well, searching in wikipedia d3go d3 publisher is a japanese company adquired by namco bandai since 2009, branches in USA and UK, publishing games for nintendo all consoles, Xbox, PC, playstation 2 to 4.

And demiurge USA was acquired by sega since 2015 and ows this game. Sega heroes, crazy taxi gazillionaire, puzzle and glory are his latest games since this one.
I think once you can figure out how it can work together namco bandai, sega, d3 and demiurge, adding saber to the mix it is just a walk in the park.

ThaRoadWarrior

I just read the embracer press release about this, and I'd love some more information about how they plan to fatten up Demiurge from 68 employees to 350+ employees in the next 5 years. 

https://embracer.com/release/embracer-group-enters-into-agreement-to-acquire-demiurge-studios/

There is a lot of blood in the water for hiring in America right now; a common statistic is that 75% of polled American workers expect to have a new job in the next 18 months, which is pretty wild actually. Maybe they plan to pick up staff from Ubisoft and Activision who are hemmoraging employees right now? Anyway, I hope this is good news for everyone, congrats to the Demi team for brokering what looks to be a really strong partnership here.

TheRiddler

I heard them talking about that on a radio talk show the other day and quoted sources claiming the number looking to change jobs was anywhere between 25-75%. Its all over the board depending on the source. And that the number was often in the 30% range even before the pandemic.

ThaRoadWarrior

In the game industry specifically, everybody needs engineers, particularly specialized ones like networking and rendering. Now that you don't have to move someplace to work on their IP, it is possible for studios in those very expensive talent markets to poach remote employees for a decent amount of salary higher than their local area but way less than the home office. I expect this situation to persist for awhile until the dust settles.

pheregas

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ThaRoadWarrior

An M&A company named Embracer is pretty great; just put the business model right there in the name lol. 

HoundofShadow

Good find there. I didn't know they have 68 employees. And they are 19 years old now.

"During 2021, management expects that Demiurge will generate approx. $15m in revenues. The studio is profitable and has an exciting pipeline to accelerate growth and grow the team past 350+ employees during the next five years."

That's approximately 56 new staffs per year. It's going to be some rapid expansion for them. I guess those two new AAA projects will help them to achieve this. Regardless, it's great for them. 

TheEyeDoctorsWife

Didn’t Dunder Mifflin also try to merge with Saber?

FairyBlades52

TheEyeDoctorsWife said:

Didn’t Dunder Mifflin also try to merge with Saber?

It’s pronounced Sab-ra, so Andy and Erin can welcome that skeleton man!