Take-Two has announced plans to acquire Gearbox Entertainment from the embattled Embracer Group, in a deal reported to be worth $460 million. The buyout makes logical sense, as Gearbox Entertainment will operate under the framework of 2K Games, which has long been the publisher of the popular Borderlands series. It’ll be led by founder Randy Pitchford.
Gearbox Entertainment says it currently has six projects in the works, including five sequels, two of which belong to the Borderlands and Homeworld franchise. The developer will retain intellectual property ownership of the two previously mentioned franchises, as well as Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, Risk of Rain, Brothers in Arms, and Duke Nukem.
To add complication, however, Embracer Group will continue to control Gearbox Publishing San Francisco, which will be renamed and will hold on to the publishing rights for titles like Hyper Light Drifter.
“Joining forces with Take-Two Interactive and 2K will help Gearbox ascend to our next level,” said a presumably minted Randy Pitchford. “Take-Two and 2K have demonstrated repeatedly their commitment to our engine of generating creativity, happiness, and profit. We set the bar for interactive entertainment and achieved remarkable results with ground-breaking, record-setting games when we worked together at arm’s length as partners. I’m incredibly excited about what we can accomplish now that we’re fully aligned as one.”
[source businesswire.com]
Comments 35
Who retains the ownership of the Medieval Times USB Drive?
More job losses incoming
rumours were true then...I hope Gearbox will be successful also in the future, it's really good studio
Pitchford remains in a senior role?? Founder or not - i think we can all agree his behaviour as of late has been pretty embarrassing to say the least 🙂
And hopefully get rid of Randy Pitchford. That man is such a train wreck 😂
Edit - oh, guess not 🤦♀️
@BrettAwesome couldn’t agree more. He said Duke Nukem Forever would deliver and it did… a 💩💩
Zelnick and Pitchford together at last. It's like watching an Ariana Grande wedding but more nauseating.
At least they haven't been shutted.
Did Pitchford pee in the punch? He seems a little unpopular reading these comments
It makes sense that they wouldn't bring along Gearbox's publishing arm since T2 already has a few setup anyway. Hopefully no job loss comes from the deal.
@Sequel
Watch basically anything with him, you'll understand why. He's got an intensely cringey creepy vipe to him. Being a creep and awkward and self-righteous all at the same time, just makes it difficult to be particularly likeable 🤷♀️
Can we please just get Borderlands with some form of decent writing again?
@ironcrow86
Agreed, although not just of late, he's been very creepy and dishonest for a long time. Really put me off anything he's involved in.
@Luigia Duke nukem wasn't even that good back in the day, especially up against doom, Qauke, Unreal tournament etc, it was seen as.a "good" game due to its pre adolescent humour and excessive bad language, unfortunately the world grew up, Duke Nukem Forever was set up to fail in so many areas. And it did that in top form 👌 but then again maybe there will be a new 1, that's good, I mean it survived like 30 games? so...who knows, I hope so
@Haruki_NLI Quite possibly the best comment I've ever read on Push Square, nice one.
@Uromastryx
Fair comment, the games you mention are a lot more impressive in their design. Can't say I'd miss DN at all if they never made another one.
I don't know if I like this or not, but it is better than shutting down. Maybe they will do a quick tiny tina patch for new game plus... lol
Wait....so Embracer bought them from 2k. Then they bought themselves out from Embracer. To sell themselves back to 2k? Is that the rough timeline?
I wasn't expecting this, yet I'm also not surprised.
@Xbox_Dashboard Gearbox was independent prior to getting bought by Embracer. 2K only published the Borderlands games up until now.
@HotGoomba Gotcha. I couldn't recall the details of their 2k relationship prior to Embracer. Much oblige.
@Sequel His butchering and lies around the development of Aliens : Colonial Marines is reason enough for me to never buy anything this lying snake is involved in.
I didn't like it when Embracer bought Gearbox. It was one of those insanely expensive and bad purchases that put them in the position they are in now. They chew on more than they could swallow on more than one occasion, but Gearbox is a real has-been studio that cost them alot of money.
This acquisition truly does make sense as Gearbox and 2K have had a very long and fruitful partnership. With the exception of Bungie*, which was probably a knee-jerk reaction to all the destruction Microsoft was causing, this is how PlayStation has always done its acquisitions because it's just generally a good idea to build a relationship and cultivate talent over years before making the purchase.
So Borderlands 4 will finally be funded by Take2 and not another publisher again? xD
N.i.c.e. thats where the borderlands games belongs.word up son
So how much did Embracer take off Gearbox's asking price so they'd take Randy too?!🙄😅
@Sequel Still remember in my gaming retail former life Mr Pitchford personally visiting us at a manager's conference to demo the Alien Colonial Marines trailers & extoll the amazing work Gearbox had done....& well remember the number of collectors editions i had sitting out back in cancelled or transferred preorders after the reviews came out!! Warned my regulars as I still wanted them as regulars afterwards! The nonsensical excuses of Pitchford denying Gearbox's direct involvement & blaming everyone else when I was literally sitting a short distance from him spouting his lies months earlier made it hard to ever take him seriously in any interview!🙄
Aliens: Colonial Marines. Never forget.
@Sequel Everyone already summed it up but yeah, a creepy unlikable guy who literally stole Sega money for Aliens, only to use the money on borderlands and outsource aliens to the lowest bidder that was so bad it was cancelled while lying to everyone the whole time bought infamy.
And then there's the USB drive referenced in post 1. Google it. On second thought, definitely don't Google it.
As long as they bring back brothers in arms I’m happy
@BrettAwesome I mean let’s be real , you can dislike him but still enjoy the games. It’s not his job to be likeable it’s his job to make games people want to play
Yay, another acquistion sigh. I guess it's better than Embracer shutting them down.
@twitchtvpat
What am I not being real about? Yes. I dislike him. And no, he didn't make the games. What's your point? You can't dislike anyone who has a job?
Then Sony paid 3.2 billions two years ago for that.... sigh 😕
@NEStalgia As a long time fan of Alien, I'm still bitter...an Aliens game should practically make itself, and would do really well if it had any effort put into. What annoyed me mostly was that he got away with it I think, Sega should have ruined him for stealing the funds and using them for Borderlands 3, but nothing came of it in the end, unless something was settled behind the scenes. Either way, Pitchford can sod off! lol
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