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Saber Interactive / Embracer Group acquire Aspyr Media, Gearbox

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Another day another acquisition with Saber Interactive / Embracer Group acquiring Aspyr Media and so we see the continuing worrying trend of consolidation in the games industry.

For those not aware, Aspyr Media are well known for their porting efforts to both macOS and Linux. For Linux specifically they ported the likes of Borderlands 2, Civilization V, Civilization VI, STAR WARS Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords and more so it's interesting to follow for their history and future.

From the press release:

I have been a fan of Aspyr for longer than I have been in the industry. Michael and Ted are true entrepreneurs that have built a business by identifying and exploiting opportunity where no one else saw it. They are a perfect fit for Embracer and I am proud to now call them partners. Together we will be able to greatly expand our development and publishing activities here in the US. Stay tuned for details on some of the amazing games we have under joint development. Today is a truly amazing day for Saber and the entire Group” says Matthew Karch, CEO Saber Interactive and Director of the Embracer Board.

We are thrilled to join forces with Saber and to become part of the entire Embracer family. We are confident that Embracer is the ideal partner for us as we look to accelerate growth and execute on our exciting pipeline. We have been in the games industry for two and a half decades, but it feels like we are just getting started. We look forward to exploring opportunities to collaborate with other entrepreneurs within the wider Embracer Group to bring celebrated games to our fellow gamers around the worldsays Michael Rogers, Co-founder and CEO Aspyr.

See the full release here.

Additionally, on the same day Embracer also announced a "merger" with Gearbox Software (Borderlands), so Gearbox are also now part of Embracer.

Embracer Group now owns the likes of Coffee Stain, Gearbox Software, Koch Media, Saber Interactive, THQ Nordic and multiple of those also own multiple other studios like Warhorse Studios, Flying Wild Hog, Bugbear Entertainment and quite a lot more.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Whitewolfe80 Feb 6, 2021
Quoting: slaapliedjeI can never understand why in the last few years especially, companies would still make a mac port, but not a Linux port. Even people I know who are diehard mac people buy Windows machines so they can play World of Warcraft.

Mac still a bigger market than linux last count its 8 percent versus our 1.25 percent thats why

One thing i missed in all this really Take2 just let gearbox go surprising.


Last edited by Whitewolfe80 on 6 February 2021 at 11:12 pm UTC
Whitewolfe80 Feb 6, 2021
I just want Duke Nukem Forever... It wasn't a spectacular game - but I thought it wasn't as bad as people made out.[/quote]
But it kind of was I am old enough to of played the og Duke 3d when it was new, way younger that i should of been as it was 18 rated and i think i was about 8/9 but the sequel was kind of trash 2 gun limit wait what the og let me have 11 guns plus a melee weapon Did not have the real version of the ripper, way to many turret sections and the jokes werent edgy so much as worryingly shite.

A Google product? I value my privacy, so I think I'll pass...[/quote]
Really even knowing that your ISP tracks everything you do even when your using a vpn, they sell it same as google will privacy in 2021 means no internet no phone no credit card no debit card and everything paid for in cash and literally nobody does that now.
slaapliedje Feb 7, 2021
Quoting: Whitewolfe80
Quoting: slaapliedjeI can never understand why in the last few years especially, companies would still make a mac port, but not a Linux port. Even people I know who are diehard mac people buy Windows machines so they can play World of Warcraft.

Mac still a bigger market than linux last count its 8 percent versus our 1.25 percent thats why

One thing i missed in all this really Take2 just let gearbox go surprising.
Sure, when you look at supporting mac vs Linux. The problem is when you're looking to a minimal hardware for running your game, a huge amount of that 8% aren't going to have the hardware to even play your game. You're still going to get like ~1%. And most of the users that have the hardware to play games are going to be the 'Pro' people who don't game on their mac.

Not to mention the sometimes subtle hostility Apple has toward gaming and APIs on their non-iOS devices...

Ha, probably something I'll just never get why you'd support Mac, but not also Linux, as that'd give you the 1/2% of mac gamers to 2-3% with mac gamers and Linux gamers.
richip Feb 7, 2021
More rumours that Aspyr Media might be doing the next-gen KOTOR:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4oejItDzXw

Is Aspyr or Embracer Group linux-friendly?
Cyba.Cowboy Feb 7, 2021
Quoting: Whitewolfe80But it kind of was I am old enough to of played the og Duke 3d when it was new, way younger that i should of been as it was 18 rated and i think i was about 8/9 but the sequel was kind of trash 2 gun limit wait what the og let me have 11 guns plus a melee weapon Did not have the real version of the ripper, way to many turret sections and the jokes werent edgy so much as worryingly shite.

I'm gonna show my age here, but... I am old enough to remember when Duke Nukem (no, not Duke Nukem 3D - which was actually the third game in the franchise - the original Duke Nukem) was brand new and to be honest, my only complaints with Duke Nukem Forever were that:
  • It felt rushed, particularly once you got about halfway through the game;

  • It looked incredibly dated, but the time it was finally released;

  • Most of the jokes were so old they were no longer relevant, which for me made them less funny and for everyone younger than me, just served to confuse them.


I get that the there's a lot of reasons for these issues and to be honest, I kinda wonder whether they should have released it at all, considering some of these issues were inevitable... But since they did release it, I wish they'd port it to Linux-based operating systems.


Quoting: Whitewolfe80Really even knowing that your ISP tracks everything you do even when your using a vpn, they sell it same as google will privacy in 2021 means no internet no phone no credit card no debit card and everything paid for in cash and literally nobody does that now.

Actually, not all VPNs are created equal and some VPNs make it near-impossible for one's ISP to see their activity, using various methods (such "over-the-top" strong encryption and obfuscution is not without its own issues - but that's another story)... Granted there are plenty of other ways to track someone if you're dedicated enough / have access to the "right" resources, but Google is one of the three biggest data hoarders in the world (the others being Facebook and Amazon) and with the exception of Kindle eBooks (they're the easiest to strip DRM from, in my experience), I don't use any products from those companies, let alone have an account (nor do I have social media accounts).

Does that affect me in the Real World? No, not really - DuckDuckGo has served me well for years now (though I'm currently assessing a couple of other privacy-focused alternatives), and there are countless alternatives to Facebook / Google "things" that are equal, if not superior. Much of my spare time also involves regularly reviewing ways to further increase my privacy (e.g. "Can I replace 'x' with 'y' and gain more privacy?" or "Can I cut-away 'x' entirely and still get by?").

Obviously this doesn't guarantee my privacy - anybody with half-a-brain knows that there are plenty of other ways to track someone in the Modern World (your credit card example being a perfect example here) - but it does minimize how much data "The Big Three" have on me, which is a good thing, considering that between them, they control approximately 3 / 4 of the data on the Internet, in one way or another.


Last edited by Cyba.Cowboy on 7 February 2021 at 1:28 pm UTC
Whitewolfe80 Feb 7, 2021
Quoting: richipMore rumours that Aspyr Media might be doing the next-gen KOTOR:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4oejItDzXw

Is Aspyr or Embracer Group linux-friendly?

They would need the licence from disney and that is unlikely given how much ubisoft Ea pay for the licence fee now
Purple Library Guy Feb 7, 2021
Quoting: Cyba.Cowboy
Quoting: Whitewolfe80But it kind of was I am old enough to of played the og Duke 3d when it was new, way younger that i should of been as it was 18 rated and i think i was about 8/9 but the sequel was kind of trash 2 gun limit wait what the og let me have 11 guns plus a melee weapon Did not have the real version of the ripper, way to many turret sections and the jokes werent edgy so much as worryingly shite.

I'm gonna show my age here, but... I am old enough to remember when Duke Nukem (no, not Duke Nukem 3D - which was actually the third game in the franchise - the original Duke Nukem) was brand new and to be honest, my only complaints with Duke Nukem Forever were that:
  • It felt rushed, particularly once you got about halfway through the game;

  • It looked incredibly dated, but the time it was finally released;

  • Most of the jokes were so old they were no longer relevant, which for me made them less funny and for everyone younger than me, just served to confuse them.


I get that the there's a lot of reasons for these issues and to be honest, I kinda wonder whether they should have released it at all, considering some of these issues were inevitable... But since they did release it, I wish they'd port it to Linux-based operating systems.


Quoting: Whitewolfe80Really even knowing that your ISP tracks everything you do even when your using a vpn, they sell it same as google will privacy in 2021 means no internet no phone no credit card no debit card and everything paid for in cash and literally nobody does that now.

Actually, not all VPNs are created equal and some VPNs make it near-impossible for one's ISP to see their activity, using various methods (such "over-the-top" strong encryption and obfuscution is not without its own issues - but that's another story)... Granted there are plenty of other ways to track someone if you're dedicated enough / have access to the "right" resources, but Google is one of the three biggest data hoarders in the world (the others being Facebook and Amazon) and with the exception of Kindle eBooks (they're the easiest to strip DRM from, in my experience), I don't use any products from those companies, let alone have an account (nor do I have social media accounts).

Does that affect me in the Real World? No, not really - DuckDuckGo has served me well for years now (though I'm currently assessing a couple of other privacy-focused alternatives), and there are countless alternatives to Facebook / Google "things" that are equal, if not superior. Much of my spare time also involves regularly reviewing ways to further increase my privacy (e.g. "Can I replace 'x' with 'y' and gain more privacy?" or "Can I cut-away 'x' entirely and still get by?").

Obviously this doesn't guarantee my privacy - anybody with half-a-brain knows that there are plenty of other ways to track someone in the Modern World (your credit card example being a perfect example here) - but it does minimize how much data "The Big Three" have on me, which is a good thing, considering that between them, they control approximately 3 / 4 of the data on the Internet, in one way or another.
I can imagine a downside to that kind of effort to retain your privacy: Somewhere in an NSA database, your record has a flag saying "One of THOSE people who want privacy--keep an eye on".
Cyba.Cowboy Feb 7, 2021
Quoting: Purple Library GuyI can imagine a downside to that kind of effort to retain your privacy: Somewhere in an NSA database, your record has a flag saying "One of THOSE people who want privacy--keep an eye on".

That's pretty funny, and I'll pay that...

All joking aside, I find that certain ISPs / telcos have restricted performance for or actively block VPN connections (or at least what they think are VPN connections)... Though depending on which particular access point I happen to be using, this doesn't always work.

Then there's the geo-blocking thing... Some online stores and payment systems actively block certain IP addresses (which occasionally includes that of my VPN), a small number of websites are not available unless I'm using an Australian access point, etc.

Content which is available online seems to vary slightly depending on what VPN access point I'm actively using, too - and no, I'm not just talking about "that" stuff (though "that" stuff is probably the best example here!)... Sometimes stuff that you or I would consider fairly innocent will be seemingly blocked in a certain country - I've seen this on occasion recently, whilst using certain access points in Europe to look-up content as innocent as news articles.

Aside from using "that" stuff as an example here, content relating to privacy and / or freedom-of-speech is one of the best examples on different content being available via different VPN connections... Quite often, the differences between two countries can be "like night and day" (I'm not just talking about the obvious countries, such as Russia, either).

The upside is that most of these issues can be easily worked around, usually by doing something as simple as changing the access point to something else (e.g. I usually change my access point to one in Australia when I want to make a purchase online).


Last edited by Cyba.Cowboy on 7 February 2021 at 9:28 pm UTC
slaapliedje Feb 8, 2021
Quoting: Cyba.Cowboy
Quoting: Purple Library GuyI can imagine a downside to that kind of effort to retain your privacy: Somewhere in an NSA database, your record has a flag saying "One of THOSE people who want privacy--keep an eye on".

That's pretty funny, and I'll pay that...

All joking aside, I find that certain ISPs / telcos have restricted performance for or actively block VPN connections (or at least what they think are VPN connections)... Though depending on which particular access point I happen to be using, this doesn't always work.

Then there's the geo-blocking thing... Some online stores and payment systems actively block certain IP addresses (which occasionally includes that of my VPN), a small number of websites are not available unless I'm using an Australian access point, etc.

Content which is available online seems to vary slightly depending on what VPN access point I'm actively using, too - and no, I'm not just talking about "that" stuff (though "that" stuff is probably the best example here!)... Sometimes stuff that you or I would consider fairly innocent will be seemingly blocked in a certain country - I've seen this on occasion recently, whilst using certain access points in Europe to look-up content as innocent as news articles.

Aside from using "that" stuff as an example here, content relating to privacy and / or freedom-of-speech is one of the best examples on different content being available via different VPN connections... Quite often, the differences between two countries can be "like night and day" (I'm not just talking about the obvious countries, such as Russia, either).

The upside is that most of these issues can be easily worked around, usually by doing something as simple as changing the access point to something else (e.g. I usually change my access point to one in Australia when I want to make a purchase online).
The thing is, ISPs generally can track where you're going, but not what data you're passing to them (unless they use SSL decrypting proxies, which if they are they should die in a fire). On the other hand every freaking site you go to wants to install cookies on your computer. Google won't even remove theirs in Incognito mode in Chrome...
They're the ones who'll continually sell your data. Pretty sure Amazon just wants to hoard it for themselves, and Facebook definitely shares it. I used to have a phone number on my account 'for recovery only' yet android caller ID apps would display my Facebook name and not my name when I'd call people even that had my phone number in their contacts...
Privacy is definitely something that should have started to be addressed back in '95 when the web first started gaining traction. Us old people remember using aliases on Bulletin Board Systems, and I still can't fathom why or when really that changed. One would think that would have always been the case, some form of anonymity should be allowed in a place with all sorts of predators (The Internet can be a scary place).
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