Companies Embracer Group and Take-Two Interactive they agreed. The owner of Grand Theft Auto, Mafia, Civilization or BioShock buys the creator Borderlands for $460 million. The plan was previously discussed in light of Embracer's financial problems and the fact that Take-Two has published individual parts of the Borderlands comic series through its 2K Games division.
The development part goes under 2K Games. That means Gearbox Entertainment with Gearbox Software, Gearbox Montréal and Gearbox Studio Quebec along with the rights to the Borderlands, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, Homeworld, Risk of Rain, Brothers in Arms and Duke Nukem brands. The Gearbox founder will continue to be at the helm Randy Pitchford.
Embracer retains Gearbox Publisher and Cryptic Studios and Lost Boys Interactive, creators of Neverwinter Online and Star Trek Online. The publishing division will soon be renamed and the developers of the two aforementioned teams will be incorporated into Embracer.
Gearbox is currently working on six projects, including five sequels. Among them are new parts of the series Borderlands and Homeworld (most likely Homeworld 3). According to earlier information, they should focus on Borderlands 4 and Tiny Tina's Wonderlands 2. It was already confirmed in 2021 the return of Brothers in Arms.
Swedish video game and media holding company Embracer Group bought Gearbox in 2021 for $1.3 billion. $363 million was paid up front, split equally between cash and Embracer stock. Roughly a billion was tied to meeting several goals over six years. It is unclear whether these milestones were met by Gearbox.
The sale of Gearbox is part of a major restructuring of Embracer. Financial difficulties began in 2023 after a $2 billion deal collapsed. She should have invested in the company Savvy Games Group, which is owned by the Saudi government. Since then, extensive restructuring has been underway, including the elimination of at least 29 projects and 1,387 jobs (8% of the workforce), including the new Deus Ex.
Embracer aims to reduce debt, reduce business risk and improve profitability. She recently separated from the troubled company a division of Saber Interactive. The sale of Gearbox is supposed to be the final part of the restructuring.