Embracer Group has announced plans to divest Gearbox Studios in a sale to Take-Two Interactive valued at $460 million to be made up entirely of newly issued Take-Two shares. Take-Two has confirmed that Gearbox is working on a new Borderlands game.
According to a press release from the video game holding company, it is divesting Gearbox Software, Gearbox Montreal, Gearbox Studio Quebec, and the franchises Borderlands, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, Homeworld, Risk of Rain, Brothers in Arms, and Duke Nukem.
The divested properties will join Take-Two’s 2K division, which has long been a publishing partner of Gearbox. They have published the successful Borderlands games franchise since the first one in 2009. Gearbox will continue to be led by its founder and CEO Randy Pitchford.
The sale does not include studios that were purchased by Embracer through Gearbox, including Cryptic Studios, Lost Boys Interactive, and Captured Dimensions. It also does not include Gearbox Publishing in San Francisco, publishers of Remnant 2, and owners of the publishing rights of several upcoming titles, including Hyper Light Breaker.
The end of Embracer’s restructuring?
This divestment marks the apparent end of a planned restructuring which resulted in over 1300 layoffs at Embracer-owned companies.
“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. Through the transaction, we lower business risk and improve profitability as we transition to becoming a leaner and more focused company,” says Lars Wingefors, co-founder and CEO of Embracer.
Randy Pitchford said that despite being a long-term shareholder in Embracer Group, he believed that this was the most positive outcome for Embracer, Take-Two, and Gearbox. “My primary interest is always Gearbox, especially our talent and our customers. I want to personally assure fans of our games that this arrangement will ensure that the experiences we have in development at Gearbox will be the best they can possibly be,” he said.
