{"id":1816078,"date":"2026-03-09T15:49:03","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T12:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1816078"},"modified":"2026-03-09T15:49:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T12:49:03","slug":"john-wick-and-space-marine-2-developer-saber-interactive-had-to-reject-the-coolest-ip-ever-twice-says-chief-creative-officer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1816078","title":{"rendered":"John Wick and Space Marine 2 developer Saber Interactive had to reject &#8220;the coolest IP ever&#8221; twice, says chief creative officer"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/warhammer-40000-space-marine-2\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Warhammer 40.000: Space Marine 2<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">John Wick and Space Marine 2 developer Saber Interactive had to reject &#8220;the coolest IP ever&#8221; twice, says chief creative officer<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Overburdened.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Space-Marine-2_Blood-Angels-Champion.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Space Marine 2 - Blood Angels Champion\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"Space-Marine-2_Blood-Angels-Champion.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Focus Entertainment<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/fran-j-ruiz-author.png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"fran-j-ruiz-author.png\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/fran-ruiz\">Fran Ruiz<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-03-09T15:49:03+00:00\">March 9, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"f4fca94a-c926-4ba7-bb2c-a98be4cfb3de\" data-name=\"Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Warhammer 40.000: Space Marine 2\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Warhammer 40.000: Space Marine 2\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Warhammer 40.000: Space Marine 2\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Warhammer 40.000: Space Marine 2\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Warhammer 40.000: Space Marine 2\" title=\"Follow Warhammer 40.000: Space Marine 2\"><br \/>\n  Follow Warhammer 40.000: Space Marine 2<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>How many big IP games are too many big IP games? I don&#8217;t know for sure, but it seems <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/warhammer-40000-space-marine-2\">Space Marine 2<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/john-wick\">John Wick<\/a> developer <a href=\"https:\/\/saber.games\/\">Saber Interactive<\/a> has found out already.<\/p>\n<p>During a recent interview for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/it-would-shock-the-world-john-wick-and-space-marine-2-dev-teases-coolest-ip-ever-its-had-to-turn-down-twice\">IGN<\/a>, Tim Willits, chief creative officer at Saber, revealed the company (which controls 13 studios across the world) is predictably getting lots of offers from rights holders to turn movie (and TV) licenses into high-profile video games after the success of the aforementioned WH40K game and mid-sized winners like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/world-war-z\">World War Z<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/evil-dead-the-game\">Evil Dead: The Game<\/a>. &#8220;Now they come to us&#8230; We&#8217;ve had so much success with our past IPs and our license collaborations that big studios are coming to us,&#8221; he said after briefly teasing a partnership that hasn&#8217;t come together&#8230; yet.<\/p>\n<p>It might sound unreal in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/netease-pulls-funding-of-yakuza-creators-nagoshi-studio-putting-development-of-gang-of-dragon-at-risk\">today&#8217;s games industry climate<\/a>, but some companies are suffering from success, and in this case, that&#8217;s limiting the amount of projects Saber can take on: &#8220;I can&#8217;t say it, but there&#8217;s a game that they came to me twice, and so it&#8217;s my &#8216;like someday in the future, I will brag about it&#8217;&#8230; I can&#8217;t say it now because I&#8217;ll get in trouble, but it\u2019s the coolest IP ever, and I can&#8217;t make the game because we just have too much going on.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This is where we start theorising about what that &#8220;coolest IP ever&#8221; could be. Instantly, we think about stuff like Star Wars, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/saber-pops-up-to-once-again-remind-us-that-star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-remake-is-still-in-development\">Saber is technically still doing the KOTOR remake<\/a>, so that <em>shouldn&#8217;t <\/em>be an option. Looking at the company&#8217;s recent output and what&#8217;s currently in the works, I also think it wouldn&#8217;t be far-fetched to see a Saber dev team taking on Alien or Predator, but are those IPs worthy of <em>that much<\/em> hype? It depends on who you ask, I&#8217;d say.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Personally, I&#8217;m thinking about The Lord of the Rings. Years after <a href=\"https:\/\/embracer.com\/releases\/embracer-group-enters-into-agreement-to-acquire-ip-rights-to-the-lord-of-the-rings-and-the-hobbit-literary-works-by-j-r-r-tolkien\/\">Embracer Group took over the rights to LOTR and The Hobbit<\/a>, we still haven&#8217;t heard about any big-budget project that&#8217;s in active development, and putting myself in Embracer&#8217;s shoes, I&#8217;d <em>at least <\/em>want to hear from Saber. That&#8217;s just me making a wild guess, but that IP is due a proper comeback in gaming.<\/p>\n<p>In any case, Saber has a lot lined up when it comes to tie-in games (and most of them look enticing). We know of (at least) John Wick, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/warhammer-40000-space-marine-3\">Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 3<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/jurassic-park-survival\">Jurassic Park: Survival<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/clive-barkers-hellraiser-revival\">Hellraiser: Revival<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic\">Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic<\/a>, and even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/new-avatar-the-last-airbender-rpg-will-be-the-biggest-video-game-in-franchise-history\">an open-world RPG based on Avatar: The Last Airbender<\/a>. That&#8217;s just the stuff that we know about, and doesn&#8217;t include original projects.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>How many big IP games are too many big IP games? I don&#8217;t know for sure, but it seems <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/warhammer-40000-space-marine-2\">Space Marine 2<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/john-wick\">John Wick<\/a> developer <a href=\"https:\/\/saber.games\/\">Saber Interactive<\/a> has found out already.<\/p>\n<p>During a recent interview for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/it-would-shock-the-world-john-wick-and-space-marine-2-dev-teases-coolest-ip-ever-its-had-to-turn-down-twice\">IGN<\/a>, Tim Willits, chief creative officer at Saber, revealed the company (which controls 13 studios across the world) is predictably getting lots of offers from rights holders to turn movie (and TV) licenses into high-profile video games after the success of the aforementioned WH40K game and mid-sized winners like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/world-war-z\">World War Z<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/evil-dead-the-game\">Evil Dead: The Game<\/a>. &#8220;Now they come to us&#8230; We&#8217;ve had so much success with our past IPs and our license collaborations that big studios are coming to us,&#8221; he said after briefly teasing a partnership that hasn&#8217;t come together&#8230; yet.<\/p>\n<p>It might sound unreal in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/netease-pulls-funding-of-yakuza-creators-nagoshi-studio-putting-development-of-gang-of-dragon-at-risk\">today&#8217;s games industry climate<\/a>, but some companies are suffering from success, and in this case, that&#8217;s limiting the amount of projects Saber can take on: &#8220;I can&#8217;t say it, but there&#8217;s a game that they came to me twice, and so it&#8217;s my &#8216;like someday in the future, I will brag about it&#8217;&#8230; I can&#8217;t say it now because I&#8217;ll get in trouble, but it\u2019s the coolest IP ever, and I can&#8217;t make the game because we just have too much going on.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This is where we start theorising about what that &#8220;coolest IP ever&#8221; could be. Instantly, we think about stuff like Star Wars, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/saber-pops-up-to-once-again-remind-us-that-star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-remake-is-still-in-development\">Saber is technically still doing the KOTOR remake<\/a>, so that <em>shouldn&#8217;t <\/em>be an option. Looking at the company&#8217;s recent output and what&#8217;s currently in the works, I also think it wouldn&#8217;t be far-fetched to see a Saber dev team taking on Alien or Predator, but are those IPs worthy of <em>that much<\/em> hype? It depends on who you ask, I&#8217;d say.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Personally, I&#8217;m thinking about The Lord of the Rings. Years after <a href=\"https:\/\/embracer.com\/releases\/embracer-group-enters-into-agreement-to-acquire-ip-rights-to-the-lord-of-the-rings-and-the-hobbit-literary-works-by-j-r-r-tolkien\/\">Embracer Group took over the rights to LOTR and The Hobbit<\/a>, we still haven&#8217;t heard about any big-budget project that&#8217;s in active development, and putting myself in Embracer&#8217;s shoes, I&#8217;d <em>at least <\/em>want to hear from Saber. That&#8217;s just me making a wild guess, but that IP is due a proper comeback in gaming.<\/p>\n<p>In any case, Saber has a lot lined up when it comes to tie-in games (and most of them look enticing). We know of (at least) John Wick, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/warhammer-40000-space-marine-3\">Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 3<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/jurassic-park-survival\">Jurassic Park: Survival<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/clive-barkers-hellraiser-revival\">Hellraiser: Revival<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic\">Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic<\/a>, and even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/new-avatar-the-last-airbender-rpg-will-be-the-biggest-video-game-in-franchise-history\">an open-world RPG based on Avatar: The Last Airbender<\/a>. That&#8217;s just the stuff that we know about, and doesn&#8217;t include original projects.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Warhammer 40.000: Space Marine 2 John Wick and Space Marine 2 developer Saber Interactive had to reject &#8220;the coolest IP ever&#8221; twice, says chief creative officer Overburdened. Image credit: Focus Entertainment News by Fran Ruiz Contributor Published on March 9, 2026 Follow Warhammer 40.000: Space Marine 2 How many big IP games are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1816078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1816078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1816078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1816078\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1816078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1816078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1816078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}