Saber Interactive has confirmed they are still working on the next Painkiller game, but with one big change.
The project was announced in 2021 by Koch Media, who was publishing the game under its premiere label, Prime Matter. In the years after that announcement, Koch Media and Saber would be acquired by Embracer Group. Koch Media would itself also change its name to Plaion.
Saber CEO Matthew Karch revealed in a new interview with IGN that they are still making the upcoming Painkiller game. However, they will now be the title’s publisher, removing its ties from Plaion and Embracer, and in that way, the IP’s origins.
The original Painkiller, published in 2004 to PC, was published by DreamCatcher Interactive and produced by People Can Fly. DreamCatcher presumably owned the IP, but in the following years the company went into administration, with its assets sold to Nordic Games.
And so, in 2012, Nordic published Painkiller: Hell and Damnation. This title served as both a sequel and remake, and came to PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC on Steam. Painkiller: Hell and Damnation was made by The Farm 51, a studio made of some people from People Can Fly.
And then in 2018, Koch Media was acquired by THQ Nordic AB, the holding company of THQ Nordic Gmbh that would later be renamed as Embracer Group. Under this deal, Koch Media and the game publisher named THQ Nordic Gmbh were now both under Embracer.
In the last step to this title’s convoluted history, THQ Nordic Gmbh swapped game franchises with Koch Media, and that was how Koch Media got ownership for the Painkiller franchise.
All of these things came together to move Painkiller from its native Poland, to Saber Interactive, a Florida based video game company. As for the games themselves, Painkiller became popularly known as a next step forward for the kind of games Doom, Quake, and Serious Sam were, decades before this game design has been reclassified as the boomer shooter.
We don’t really know that much about this upcoming Painkiller title at all, which means Saber could very well have made changes to the project without the public’s knowledge. Depending on what Saber wanted to do, this new title could have been a definitive sequel, a remake, or a reboot, which may be the best way to go about this project.
In any case, Saber has a reputation as a steady hand, so it would be OK to be hopeful about this title in the near future. Hopefully we won’t have to wait that long for an official announcement, especially with June coming up.
