Borderlands studio Gearbox reportedly close to a sale once again
Feb. 29, 2024Gearbox was acquired by Embracer just three years ago
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Gearboxmay be the next to escape Embracer Group as the massive company continues to hemorrhage staff and studios as part of a restructuring effort sparked by a $2 billion deal that fell through last year.
Kotakureports that Gearbox is close to signing a deal with an unspecified buyer, just three years afterEmbracer snapped up the Borderlands studio to the tune of $1.3 billion. CEO Randy Pitchford reportedly told employees that the company could either stay with Embracer, sell to another company, or return to independence; as of a meeting held this week, option two is reportedly approaching the final stages. Its new soon-to-be owner is unclear for the time being.
Not just for its price, but also because of its pedigree, Gearbox was once positioned as a lynchpin for Embracer’s rapidly expanding (and now rapidly contracting) collection of studios. Embracer acquired the house of Borderlands shortly after its release of spinoff looter-shooterTiny Tina’s Wonderlands, which ended up overperformingto the point that Take-Two, the parent of publisher 2K, said itcould become the basis of a new franchise entirely.
Gearbox hasn’t outright confirmed the deal, which is expected to be discussed with employees in more depth next month, but Pitchford did send a winking statement to Kotaku:“I’m delighted that what we might be up to is interesting enough to people that you want to make a story about us for your readers. I’m honored and humbled that our company is a topic of rumor, speculation, and discussion. As always, we will be thrilled to share whenever we have projects to announce or news to share as we work hard towards our mission to entertain the world.”
Embracer appears to be chucking Gearbox out of its sinking hot air balloon so that it can trade it for money to burn as fuel, and this is only the company’s latest cost-cutting measure. Just today, we learned that Embracer-owned Saber Interactive, still at work on the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake, isreportedly being sold off in its own $500 million deal. In total,Embracer has quietly canceled 29 unannounced games and shut seven studioswithin six months last year.
A new Deus Ex game has reportedly been in development for 2 years, but Embracer just canceled it amid more layoffs.
Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
Path of Exile 2’s latest patch is “build-destroying,” and action RPG fans are now stuck with heavy nerfs thanks to astronomical respec costs
Sgt. Rock - The comic history of the classic DC war hero who might be played Daniel Craig in a new film
