Troubled gaming company Embracer announced Thursday that it has agreed to sell Gearbox Entertainment, the studio behind the Borderlands games, to Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two for $460 million.
The deal makes a lot of sense – Take-Two had been the publisher of Borderlands through its 2K Games label long before Embracer acquired Gearbox in 2021. In his press releaseAccording to 2K, the next Borderlands game is in active development at Gearbox.
As part of the deal, Take-Two will acquire the Borderlands franchise and its spin-off series Tiny Tina’s Wonderlandas well as the series Homeworld, Risk of Rain, Brothers in Arms and Duke Nukem. The studios acquired by Take-Two are the mothership Gearbox Software in Frisco, Texas, as well as Gearbox Montréal and Gearbox Studio Quebec.
Embracer holds on to some parts of the Gearbox empire: Gearbox Publishing San Francisco (to be renamed in the future), including publishing rights to the Remnant games and Hyper Light Breaker; Cryptic Studios, the massively multiplayer specialist, with its games Neverwinter Online and Star Trek Online; and support the studios Lost Boys Interactive and Captured Dimensions.
“As a significant long-term shareholder of Embracer Group, I believe in the future strategy of Embracer Group and am fully convinced that this transaction represents the best possible scenario and an obviously positive net agreement for Embracer Group, for Take-Two and of course for Gearbox Entertainment,” said Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford. “My main interest is always Gearbox, including our talent and our customers. I want to personally reassure fans of our games that this agreement ensures that the development experience we have at Gearbox is the best it can be.”
For Embracer, the sale of Gearbox – one of its most valuable assets – is the next step in a deep cost-cutting and restructuring process that the company began last year after a reported $2 billion deal fell through. As part of its restructuring, Embracer laid off at least 900 employees. Before its financial troubles, the Swedish conglomerate, originally founded as Nordic Games, was on a wild acquisition spree that included buying board game giant Asmodee, Square Enix’s western studios and franchises, including Tomb Raider, and media rights for The Lord of the rings.
Embracer also announced that it has completed the sale of another of its largest studio groups, Saber Interactive, which it acquired in 2020. Saber’s founder Matthew Karch bought back Saber Interactive’s main studio and several subsidiaries for $247 million, while Embracer retained Metro developer 4A Games, Aspyr and others. Saber has the right to acquire 4A and pinball specialist Zen Studios within a certain period of time, but publishing rights for the Metro games will remain with Embracer’s subsidiary Plaion. Saber is allegedly I’m still working with Embracer on the troubled remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
