Take-Two Buys Borderlands Dev Gearbox For $460M, New Game Incoming

embracer sells gearbox hero
The Embracer group continues to shed development studios, this time selling Gearbox Entertainment to Take-Two Interactive. Embracer Group originally acquired Gearbox Entertainment for $363 million with the possibility of the purchase being worth as much as $1.015 billion if Gearbox hit certain milestones. The current deal is valued at $460 million and will be finalized by the end of June.

As part of this acquisition, Take-Two Interactive will be receiving the rights to several popular gaming franchises. Some of which include Brothers in Arms, Borderlands, Homeworld, and Tiny Tina’s Wonderland. Moreover, Gearbox Montreal, Gearbox Quebec and Gearbox Software are all headed to be part of Take-Two Interactive. These studios will all fall under the 2K division and continue to be led by founder and CEO Randy Pitchford.

David Ismailer, President of 2K believes it’s a solid partnership, saying “with nearly 20 years of history working together, Gearbox has played an integral role in our success, given their unique ability to create interactive entertainment experiences that feature beloved characters, exciting new worlds, and humorous storytelling.”

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As part of the acquisition announcement, it was revealed that Gearbox is working on six new games, five of which are sequels. This includes work on a new Borderlands game as well as a new entry in the Homeworld franchise. Take-Two Interactive fully expects to all these titles to be completed and released.

However, Embracer isn’t divesting everything concerning Gearbox. The publisher will be hanging on to Gearbox Publishing San Francisco, which will be renamed in the future. This includes rights to titles such as Hyper Light Breaker, Remnant and several unannounced games. It will also be holding on to Captured Dimensions, Cryptic Studios and Lost Boys Interactive.

Embracer has had a roller coaster ride as a game publisher, from acquiring game studios at a breakneck speed to now dumping them as quickly as it can. This probably won’t be the last in the divestment spree Embracer is working through, either.