adminSaber Interactive’s approach to game development combines cautious experimentation with generative AI, international studio teams and a varied portfolio of projects. In a Gamescom interview, chief creative officer Tim Willits discussed how the company balances budgets, develops familiar franchises and gives teams room to explore new ideas.
Saber Interactive and generative AI
Willits said Saber has not replaced writers with AI and does not use generative AI in production pipelines for tasks such as code, environments or textures. The company is, however, testing possible applications of the technology. In Rideshare Stimulator, for example, its Free Ride mode includes AI-generated passenger missions, while the game’s other missions were written by people.
He sees AI as a tool that may help developers communicate visual ideas, especially when they cannot draw them easily themselves. For now, Saber is treating these experiments as a way to learn where the technology might be useful and how players respond. For studios considering similar tools, a practical first step is to test them in clearly defined, limited features rather than assume they belong throughout a production pipeline.
Rideshare Stimulator’s Free Ride mode includes AI-generated passenger missions. Image credit: Unigine/Saber Interactive.
A global development model
After separating from Embracer in 2024, Saber remained a large company, with around 3,500 employees across 15 studios. Willits listed teams in Serbia, Armenia, Georgia, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Argentina and Australia. The company retains its headquarters in Florida and a US-based publishing team, but Willits said it no longer has significant game development operations in North America.
For Saber, building teams in different regions is a way to find skilled developers beyond traditional industry hubs. Willits described his role as helping teams get the resources they need, keeping priorities clear and preventing projects from growing beyond their intended scope. A distributed structure can offer flexibility, but it also makes clear communication and shared production goals especially important.
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival is a first-person action horror survival game. Image credit: Saber Interactive.
Multiple projects, balanced budgets
Rather than rely on a single major release, Saber spreads its work across different kinds of games. Willits described a mix of high-profile projects, dependable remasters and smaller-budget experiments. The interview cited Stuntman: Hollywood, John Wick, Turok: Origins and Jurassic Park: Survival among the larger projects, alongside the original Hitman trilogy remaster and smaller titles such as Docked, Bus Bound and Rideshare Stimulator.
This portfolio approach lets teams and resources shift between projects as priorities change. Willits also said Saber was exploring partnerships with small external groups, including teams of 18 to 20 developers in the US. In that model, a compact team would lead the creative vision while Saber could provide additional production capacity when needed.
Jurassic Park: Survival takes place the day after the events of the 1993 film. Image credit: Saber Interactive.
Why Saber backs AA games
Willits argued that mid-sized productions can spread financial risk across more projects than a strategy built around a few exceptionally expensive games. He noted that the label “AA” is not always straightforward: World War Z, for instance, had reached 32 million players, although its category might still be judged by its development budget.
Keeping scope under control is central to this model. Willits said the development cost of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 was one-third of that of a major game from a large North American studio released a few months earlier, and that it sold 11 million more copies. He also put the cost of making SnowRunner at $6 million. These figures were presented as examples of Saber’s cost structure, not as a guarantee that every smaller-budget game will achieve similar results.
Willits contrasted those costs with a large studio burn rate of more than $2 million per month. Over five years, or 60 months, that would amount to $120 million in salaries alone, before marketing and publishing expenses. His practical point for developers: identify what matters most to the player, keep production plans realistic and review costs regularly.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 was a major success for Saber Interactive in 2024. Image credit: Saber Interactive/Focus Entertainment.
Recognisable franchises and fan expectations
Saber works with established entertainment companies and rights holders, including Universal, Paramount, Lionsgate and Disney. Willits said the company looks for properties its teams genuinely value, then investigates what their audiences expect from a game. That can mean turning down an idea if its proposed setting or format seems mismatched with what fans want.
For Stuntman: Hollywood, Saber is working with Universal and drawing on films including Back to the Future, Fast and Furious and Jurassic World. Familiar properties can appeal both to existing fans and to people who may not usually follow video games. The planned John Wick game followed Saber’s work with Lionsgate on Evil Dead: The Game, which helped establish a working relationship with the rights holder.
Saber also collaborates with game creators. Its work with IO Interactive on Hitman Classic Trilogy Remastered is intended to preserve the originals while making improvements where appropriate. Willits similarly described the Tomb Raider remasters as involving selective changes guided by the games and their audiences.
Stuntman: Hollywood features sequences inspired by Back to the Future. Image credit: Saber Interactive.
Small ideas can grow into lasting series
Alongside licensed projects, Saber continues to develop its own properties. Willits pointed to MudRunner as an idea that grew into SnowRunner, followed by Expeditions and RoadCraft. He said the company is open to small teams and prototypes, noting that a project does not need a large workforce to be worth pursuing if the concept is compelling.
The wider strategy is built around flexibility: teams can contribute to different games, budgets should match a project’s goals, and creative ideas can come from employees across the company. For Saber Interactive, balancing that flexibility with careful scope management is central to making games across a broad range of sizes and genres.
Saber Interactive worked with IO Interactive on remasters of the first three Hitman games. Image credit: Saber Interactive/IO Interactive.
Conclusion
Saber Interactive’s model brings together international development, selective AI experimentation, established franchises and projects at different budget levels. Willits’s comments underline a practical lesson for game makers: invest where it serves the experience, listen to the audience and keep production scope manageable.
