Last Updated on Oct 29, 2025 @ 14:43:21 PM.
Saber Interactive is quickly becoming one of the biggest publishers/developers in the gaming industry, with a reported 3,500 employees across tens of studios across the world. Not only are they developing their own IPs, they’re publishing as well, and of course, what most know them for, they’re working with horror icons across the board. From John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando to the newly announced Clive Barker’s Hellraiser game, and many more besides, they’re carving a pretty big niche in the horror world for themselves.
That’s why, during a behind-closed-doors chat at Gamescom 2025 with Saber Chief Creative Officer Tim Willits, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to ask if they’d consider saving John Romero’s recently cancelled game (thanks to more Microsoft cuts). With Romero being somewhat of a progenitor of the Doom franchise, alongside Willits, it seemed like a natural fit for the publisher:
“No, no, no, that would never happen. You know, I wish them all the luck, but never. But Saber actually, we have more; we are working with more licensed IP than any developer in the world. You know, and we have, you know, one of the things about Saber that is really nice is we’re like agnostic to publishers, and everybody is friendly with us. You know, we have a great relationship with Universal, a great relationship with Hasbro, and a great relationship with Focus. We work with Microsoft. We work because we’re friendly to everybody. We work across so many different things. I mean, Sabre has over 3,500 employees.”
Whether this might be a kneejerk reaction to the recent discontent between the two, or something of a business decision (or even something completely unknown to all of us) isn’t clear, but during the few times I’ve spoken to Willits, it’s always abundantly clear he wants what’s best for gamers, so if that included saving the game, that’d be the case.
With the last news we heard about Romero Games being that they were fully shut, but still shopping around for publishers, we’re unsure if something is happening, but for now, it may be best to count it as a lost opportunity for horror fans, and one that we’ll never really know the details of, gameplay-wise.
For more Thumb Wars, check out why Marvel’s Wolverine might be the most important part of Insomniac’s shared universe, and news on Little Nightmares 3’s demo, finally.
Luke Addison is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Thumb Wars. Having previously been a part of multiple outlets over the years, including building an entire gaming team from nothing to something, he thought it best to forge his own path and answer only to himself. As likely to be found playing the latest game as he is in the kitchen relaxing (by cooking), he always brings the same bold and brash attitude to everything he does, with a heavy leaning on sarcasm and dry wit!
