Rockstar owner acquires Gearbox, home of Borderlands, for US$460 million

Many cuts have been made at video game companies in recent months. Embracer Group, for example, continues with its “restructuring” plan, established in June last year — and has so far reduced around 8% of its global operations. This, of course, also implies the sale of some of its main studios.

Gearbox, one of the in-house developers, has just been sold to Take-Two Interactive, the company that owns Rockstar Games (GTA VI), for US$460 million. Now, the studio, which already had a long-lasting relationship with the publisher due to the franchise Borderlandswill be fully owned by the company.

“As a significant long-term shareholder of Embracer Group, I believe in the company’s strategy going forward and am completely convinced that this transaction is a best-case scenario and positive deal for Embracer Group, Take-Two and, of course, , for Gearbox Entertainment,” said Randy Pitchford, founder and CEO of Gearbox.

Take-Two acquired Gearbox, home of the Borderlands franchise, for US$460 million.Fonte:  Take-Two

“My main interest is always Gearbox, especially our talents and our customers. I want to personally assure fans of our games that this agreement will ensure that the experiences we currently have in development will be the best possible”, concluded the executive in the purchase statement .

In addition to Borderlands, Take-Two will also add other franchises to its catalog

Take-Two’s acquisition of Gearbox will yield not only the franchise Borderlands e Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands in the publisher’s catalog, but also other properties of the house.

Some of them include Homeworld, Risk of Rain, Brothers in Arms and the classic Duke Nukem. In addition, the agreement will also bring all of Gearbox’s studios under Take-Two’s umbrella — such as Gearbox Software, Gearbox Montreal and Gearbox Studio Quebec.

Rumors about the sale of Gearbox began in September last year, when the Reuters had suggested that the company would be talking about the terms of sale with banks Goldman Sachs and Aram & Co.

Tiny Tina’s franchise was also included in the Take-Two catalog.Fonte:  Gearbox

It is worth remembering that the studio was purchased by Embracer Group in 2021 for US$1.4 billion, and since then the team has worked on titles such as Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands e Remnant 2. By the end of 2022, it had approximately 1,300 employees. With the cuts at Embracer Group, potentially some of them ended up being fired from the company.

“After evaluating several options for Gearbox, I am pleased that we have reached a solution that is in the best interests of all stakeholders,” concludes Lars Wingefors, co-founder and CEO of Embracer Group.

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