Gearbox, the studio behind Borderlands, will move to Take-Two

Take-Two, the company that owns Rockstar Games and 2K Games, will acquire Gearbox Entertainment and the studio behind the franchise. Border areas.

For weeks, there has been renewed speculation that Embracer Group was in the process of selling Gearbox, which it acquired for US$363 million in 2021 alone, as part of Embracer's measures to stay afloat after last year's failure to secure a US$2 billion investment deal.

Which has led the Swedish conglomerate into a marathon of studio sales and closures – ironically the same studios it has been buying up in recent years in a marathon of acquisitions, which began when it acquired the THQ brand and its properties in the middle of the last decade. . . The Embracer have grown so much in a short time, it's clear they can't support themselves.

As for the gearbox, anyway Border areas It's a monster of a thing and a movie will be released in August 2024. It's specifically Take-Two via 2K Games that owns the copyright and part of the intellectual rights to the franchise – both Take-Two and Gearbox have always been elusive in saying who really owns Border areas – hence the benefits to be embraced Border areas They were definitely little or nothing. It's not hard to believe that the people at Embracer thought they would control it Border areas Or they could negotiate it with Take-Two, but were unsuccessful – which detracts from the value of the investment.

Take two Remains With Gearbox Software, Gearbox Montreal and Gearbox Quebec studios, as well as franchises Border areas, The lands of little words in Tina, Home world, Danger of rain, Brothers in arms, Duke Nukem And everything they find has not yet evolved. Among them is the new delivery of Border areas And based on Home world.

Embracer will receive $460 million for the studios, a profit from the $363 million it paid for Gearbox three years ago. Even more so, given that Embracer will remain with Gearbox Publishing San Francisco – a division they've renamed that includes Cryptic Studios and its online titles Neverfronter Online And Star Trek Online. They will also retain the interactive and captured dimensions of the Lost Boys.

In fact, what's surprising is that Take-Two didn't acquire Gearbox sooner, given that Border areas It is one of the stellar franchises published alongside grand theft auto.

Randy Pitchford, founder and CEO of Gerabox, will remain in his role Mentionsed And that this change will not affect the projects being developed. “This agreement will ensure that the development experiences we have at Gearbox will be as good as possible.”

Take-Two and Embracer expect to close the deal in June, at the end of their first fiscal quarter, so we'll have to see if this doesn't lead to more layoffs within the industry — compared to last year's 2023. They showed up At about 9,000 layoffs – a trend that continues in 2024, led by Embracer.