One of the largest game development studios in Texas, Borderlands developer Gearbox Entertainment, is now an official subsidiary of the Embracer Group. The previously announced sale, valued at $ 1.3 billion, has been officially closed, the two companies said in a news release on Tuesday.
Gearbox is just the latest, sincere studio that Embracer has acquired in recent years, and joins, among others, Valheim publisher Coffee Stain and Saints Row studio Deep Silver. Embracer also owns THQ Nordic. In total, Embracer reports that it has 63 in-house game development studios with more than 7,000 employees worldwide in 40 countries.
In the news release, Embracer said Gearbox is now better prepared for ‘rapid growth’ in its game development division and its publishing division.
“Our team is incredibly excited about the opportunity we have now,” said Randy Pitchford, CEO and founder of Gearbox. “Far from the sunset, we are now in a position to launch new IPs, do more with our existing brands, expand our base of incredibly talented team members and seize new opportunities in our mission to entertain the world. It is just the beginning. ‘
Gearbox has 550 employees in its offices in Frisco, Texas and Quebec. The studio is best known for the Borderlands series, but it has also worked on a large number of other big-name franchises such as Half-Life, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, James Bond, Counter-Strike and Halo. The company launched a publishing division in 2015 and has released titles such as Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition, We Happy Few and the PS5 launch title Godfall. Not all of Gearbox’s games were as successful as Borderlands’s, as the MOBA game Battleborn could not find an audience and its servers have since gone dark. On top of that, Duke Nukem Forever and Aliens: Colonial Marines were not very well received.
Lars Wingefors, CEO of Embracer Group, said in a statement that the acquisition of Gearbox is the biggest buyout in its company’s history. “We are confident in the long-term future of Gearbox within Embracer Group.”
The deal is worth up to $ 1.3 billion, but the bulk of it depends on Gearbox reaching certain performance milestones. Gearbox received $ 188 million in cash in advance, with further prepayments earning the company $ 363 million on day one of the transaction. Gearbox can earn many millions more if the company reaches certain milestones, and then another $ 715 million thereafter pending other major milestones. You can see the full terms of the acquisition in GameSpot’s previous coverage.
Embracer’s buyout of Gearbox is just the latest example of high consolidation in the gambling industry. In March, Microsoft completed its $ 7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax and its subsidiaries, including Bethesda. It was the second largest acquisition of games in history, and years ago followed only Tencent’s $ 8.6 billion purchase of Clash of Clans developer Supercell.
Next for Borderlands is the Borderlands 3: Director’s Cut, which will be released on April 8 after a delay. A Borderlands movie is also underway with great talent behind it. Recently, a seven-foot Dutch bodybuilder from Marvel’s Black Widow joined the cast.
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