“The plans are a spectrum of internally developed games with Gearbox IP, internally developed games with original IP of Gearbox, external partners that are both publishing partners, where we publish it in a second-party relationship, and then there are other developers working also to Gearbox IP, ”he said.
“It can expand, especially if we start interacting with other members of the Embracer Group without friction. There are many people who would like to work on Gearbox IP, and Gearbox would like to help some of the Embracer Group. Games that can be stronger in other markets be published more effectively in North America. ‘
Other studios in Embracer Group include THQ Nordic, Saber Interactive, Koch Media, DECA Games, Amplifier Game Invest and Coffee Stain Holding, as well as Aspyr Media and Easybrain – which they acquired today with Gearbox. With these companies, Embracer has access to properties such as World War II, NBA Playgrounds, Dead Island, Metro Exodus and Shadow Warrior.
In addition to the possibilities for existing Gearbox properties, Pitchford said elsewhere in the interview that he believes the financial support from Embracer Group will enable the studio to pursue more new games and more risky ideas than it previously did in was able.“We have so many new IP concepts in our incubator that are ready to explode,” he said. “We can wait for the right publisher partner who is willing to place a bet, rather than just taking a risk on something they know Gearbox has done before. The publishers we’ve risked for what we want next see, have always been but for some reason they can not feel comfortable with that kind of risk.Now we can take the risk.
“We do not have to burn the boats to do this. When Epic made their deal, they ended up selling Gears of War to Microsoft. They burned the boats to show that they could do something you would never expect from Epic,” and [gaming] got Fortnite out of it. We do not have to do that. We can maximize the IP we have and chase new IP because of this relationship. This is incredibly exciting for me. I feel like we’m just getting going. ‘
Gearbox’s most recently internally developed title was Borderlands 3 in 2019, though it was also released and helped with recent releases, including Trover Saves the Universe, Godfall and Risk of Rain 2.
Recently, Gearbox released the Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck DLC for Borderlands 3, which our review calls a “bizarre odyssey” that ‘holds one big boss fight, but few other surprises’.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.