Embracer Group Acquires Gearbox in Deal Worth Up to $1.3 Billion - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 03 February 2021 / 1,977 Views
Embracer Group announced it will acquire Borderlands developer, The Gearbox Entertainment Company, in a deal worth up to $1.3 billion.
The deal is expected to close within the next three months and once that happens The Gearbox Entertainment Company will be the seventh operating group of Embracer Group. Gearbox founder and CEO Randy Pitchford will continue to lead the developer, and Pitchford and Gearbox employees will become significant shareholders in Embracer Group.
The merger will allow for collaboration within Embracer Group when it comes to development, publishing, IPs, and more. It also opens up for more mergers and acquisitions in North America.
"Gearbox is arguably one of the most creative and valuable independent developers in the world," said Embracer Group founder and CEO Lars Wingefors. "We believe that the resources offered by Embracer will position Gearbox for continued significant growth in the years to come."
Randy Pitchford added, "Lars’ vision of Embracer as an allied partner group committed to fueling and accelerating the ambitions of a series of decentralized, successful entrepreneurial member companies while magnifying the collective value and advantages of diversification across the entire group is the most brilliant strategy and design for short, medium, and long-term success in this industry that I have worked in during 30 years.
"The feeling at Gearbox is that we are just getting started and this transaction is not merely a stimulant for the talent of our employee-owned company, but a propellent for the exciting future we have planned."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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So odd to think that in this global pandemic while the entertainment industry (or should I say music venues and films) are crumbling, gaming is leading to some huge money spending buy outs.
I never liked Gearbox anyways.
Just to clarify, they don't own Borderlands, Duke or Brothers in Arms.
They got some pretty solid IPs, a lot of b-tier stuff in my opinion. I see potential but its been years and they aren't putting out much impressive content.
Okay, doing a little research I was wrong about Duke and Brothers in Arms. However, I am still doubtful they own Borderlands. But I wouldn't be entirely surprised if they do. If so, being sold for over a billion makes sense.
Randy in a tweet stated 2K doesn't own the IP. Now you can be a semantics person and suggest that means Take Two does, but it is doubtful Randy would tweet that if anyone but gearbox owned it.
Metro isn't b-tier for sure. Also I like how you come in here to clarify something that may be not be true. Nothing suggest Take 2 owns the Borderlands IP at all.
I didn't say everything they put out was b-tier. I chose my words carefully because I knew people would find that exception. Hence, I am right.
Wow, had no idea they were that big, I'm looking forward to a kingdom come sequel!
Embracer is the renamed publishing part of Nordic Games: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embracer_Group
