Saber Interactive Advises Studios to Diversify and Go Global

Saber Interactive's chief creative officer has a blunt message for struggling North American studios: change your business model or keep burning money. Tim Willits says the traditional approach of housing 200 highly-paid developers in expensive regions like Texas or California, long before a game is ready for full production, is a fundamental error.

Willits spoke to Rock Paper Shotgun about industry sustainability. He outlined a strategy of financial diversification and global collaboration as an antidote to widespread layoffs and economic pressures.

The High Cost of the Traditional Model

Willits breaks down the math. A studio with 200 developers, each costing an estimated $15,000 per month, burns over two million dollars monthly. This expenditure often happens years before a game's full release and creates a crisis after launch. The studio must immediately find another massive project for its entire expensive team. This cycle, Willits argues, is unsustainable and leads to the pre- or post-launch layoffs seen across the industry.

He suggests a different path. If you are a studio that has made mega hits, but it takes you five years to make a mega hit, it is totally okay if you do some work for hire, Willits says. He sees no shame in studios taking on reliable contract work to fund their original ambitions. Saber itself continues to perform remaster work, like updating the original Hitman, alongside developing major titles.

Start Small, Partner Globally

For original projects, Saber's method is to start very small. Teams of around five people work on a concept until a vertical slice is proven. Only then does the company consider full production. When expansion is needed, Saber often seeks a publishing partner to share the investment burden.

Willits also advocates for studios to create small, inexpensive games. He points to the success of titles like the original Spintires, created by one person, which Saber later built into the Snowrunner franchise. He believes large studios could task small internal teams with making several low-cost games, predicting some would become hits and generate revenue.

Overcoming Geographic Fear

The most pointed advice is for studios to look beyond their own borders. Willits criticizes a persistent insularity. "Traditional North American and even British publishers are afraid of certain parts of the world. They're afraid of South America," he states. He urges studios to "get over that and stop that fear."

His solution is genuine co-development, not only outsourcing. He suggests that teams of laid-off developers with key skills should form a core, then seek to buy or integrate an entire development team from another region, like South America, to work as a unified unit. This leverages global talent pools and can significantly reduce costs while fostering collaboration. The model requires overcoming language and cultural barriers that, in Willits's view, many publishers have wrongly used as an excuse.

Saber Interactive operates on these principles, working across multiple countries and project scales. While not every studio may follow this path, Willits presents it as a route to greater security in a volatile industry. The company's ongoing remaster work and globally distributed teams serve as its own case study.