Following
weeks
of
rumours
the
beleaguered
Embracer
Group
has
announced
the
sale
of
Gearbox,
the
developer
best
known
for
the
Borderlands
series,
to
Take-Two
Interactive.

The
deal
is
for
$460m
and
is
expected
to
close
by
the
end
of
June
this
year,
whereupon
Tale-Two
interactive
will
acquire
ownership
of
Gearbox
and
several
key
IP
such
as
Borderlands,

Tiny
Tina’s
Wonderlands,
Homeworld,
Band
of
Brothers
and
Duke
Nukem.
I
mention
Band
of
Brothers
mostly
in
the
vague
hope
that
Gearbox
will
remember
they
own
the
IP
and
actually
do
something
with
it.

Embracer
brought
Gearbox
into
its
blob-like
mass
in
2021
when
it
paid
$363m
in
cash
for
the
company.
However,
the
deal
included
up
to
$1-billion
more
if
Gearbox
could
hit
financial
goals.

“Today’s
announcement
marks
the
result
of
the
final
structured
divestment
process
and
is
an
important
step
in
transforming
Embracer
into
the
future
with
notably
lower
net
debt
and
improved
free
cash
flow,”
said
Embracer
CEO
Lars
Wingefors,
attempting
to
politely
describe
his
company’s
continued
nosedive
into
the
Sun.

Not
all
of
Gearbox
will
be
moving
over
to
a
new
owner
though.
While
Gearbox
Software,
Gearbox
Montreal
and
Gearbox
Studio
Quebec
have
all
been
sold
to
Take-Two,
Gearbox
Publishing
San
Francisco
will
be
staying
with
Embracer
and
will
be
renamed.

Take-Two
Interactive
is
obviously
a
massive
name
in
the
industry.
They
own
Rockstar
Games,
a
small
little
company
nobody
has
heard
of
that’s
due
to
publishing
a
new
entry
in
a
completely
unknown
franchise
called
Grand
Theft
Auto
next
year,
which
I’m
sure
nobody
will
care
about.
Take-wo
also
owns
2K
Games
which
is
important
because
2K
previously
partnered
with
Gearbox
to
publish
Borderlands
3
and
Tiny
Tina’s
Wonderlands.
In
fact,
Take-Two
has
certain
long-term
publishing
rights
when
it
comes
to
the
Borderlands
series,

though
exactly
what
those
rights
are
was
never
clarified.

In
a
quote
provided
to
Business
Wire
it
was
also
confirmed
that
alongside
the
new
Homeworld
game,
Gearbox
is
developing
another
entry
in
the
Borderlands
series.
It
was
not
specifically
referenced
as
Borderlands
4,
but
that
would
be
the
likely
bet.

As
for
Embracer,
this
is
yet
another
step
in
their
crusade
to
save
themselves
from
self-destruction.
The
company
spent
years
gobbling
up
everything
in
its
path,
its
initial
plan
of
becoming
the
number
one
creator
and
publisher
of
double-A
and
budget
titles
falling
by
the
wayside
when
it
began
to
buy
bigger
and
bigger
companies
such
as
Gearbox.
Now.
Embracer
finds
itself
in
heavy
debt
and
is
selling
off
companies
in
a
bid
to
reduce
the
money
it
owes.
To
day,
Embracer
has

sold
off
the
likes
of
Saber
Interactive
and
shut
down

Eidos
Montreal.