Rumors that circulated last year that Borderlands creator Gearbox Studios would be sold appear to have borne fruit. This would mean stepping out of the shadow of the proverbial juggernaut Embracer Group, which has had, oh yeah, an interesting year, a bit, to say the least.
The group, which earned a bad reputation for hoovering up studios after a spending spree in 2022, has been struggling to recover for nearly a year after a $2 billion deal fell apart several stories and the metaphorical cauldron in the basement collapsed into chaos and set the whole thing on fire.
This came at a human cost – about 5% of the workforce. Then Timesplitters creator Free Radical Design and Deus Ex studio Eidos Montreal left a possible sequel in the dust. Saints Row Studio Volition was also completely closed. Other studios affected include 3D Realms and Slipgate Ironworks, Cryptic Studios, Zen Studios and New World Interactive. Even studios not yet affected are sounding the alarm: Piranha Bytes – developer of Gothic, Risen and Elex – said last month that it was in “a difficult situation.”
The “restructuring” of 1,600 employees was all about “maximizing shareholder value,” which has led to unsubtle arguments across the industry as Embracer Group continues its mission to say the quiet part a little too loudly for everyone's comfort .
According to sources spoken to KotakuHowever, a town hall meeting was held last week with Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford, where Pitchford announced that “a decision has been made regarding the future of the studio and more information will be announced next month,” the report then states : “Kotaku understands that the decision to sell has been made and a deal is in the late stages of completion.”
This would follow reported plans to sell Saber Interactive, as reported by Bloomberg yesterday. Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors' statement in that infamously worded financial report is at least consistent with Kotaku's reports that the sales are at a late stage, as he noted: “Embracer still has some larger structured divestiture processes underway… Processes are ongoing a mature stage.” “
Pitchford himself didn't have much to say about the matter to Kotaku, other than the fact that he was “pleased that what we're doing is interesting enough for people to want to tell your readers a story about us.”
While it's a relief to see the Gearbox developers emerge from under a house of cards in the midst of collapse, that doesn't mean it wasn't cut off along the way. Lost Boys Interactive, an “independent subsidiary” of Gearbox Software, was hit by layoffs just over a month and a half ago.
