Today Take-Two Interactive Software announced that it has reached a deal with Embracer to acquire the developer of the Borderlands franchise Gearbox Entertainment.
The announcement made via press release mentions that the deal is valued at $460 million and is expected to close in the first quarter of Take-Two’s fiscal year 2025.
This means that the closure of the deal should happen between April and June 2024. That’s just how fiscal years can be. They’re a little weird.
The announcement mentions that the agreement is definitive but is “subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including applicable regulatory approvals.” That’s pretty much business as usual.
On top of that, the deal “excludes certain third-party publishing and other assets” that Take-Two did not believe were core to its business. Among these is Gearbox Publishing San Francisco (which will be renamed), including publishing rights to the Remnant franchise, Hyper Light Breaker, and other unannounced games. These will remain with Embracer.
Take-two will receive ownership of Gearbox’s franchises, including Borderlands, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, Homeworld, Risk of Rain, Brothers in Arms, and Duke Nukem.
Among them are six games in development including the next Borderlands and Homeworld 3. Take-Two also intends to “invest in new projects and to expand Gearbox’s proven franchises.”
It’s worth mentioning that this acquisition is certainly not unexpected, as Take-Two has been partnering with Gearbox to publish several of its games including Borderlands 3 and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands.
The announcement includes a comment by Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick.
Our acquisition of Gearbox is an exciting moment for Take-Two and will strengthen our industry-leading creative talent and portfolio of owned intellectual property, including the iconic Borderlands franchise.
This combination enhances the financial profile of our existing projects with Gearbox and unlocks the opportunity for us to drive increased long-term growth by leveraging the full resources of Take-Two across all of Gearbox’s exciting initiatives.
David Ismailer, President of 2K, also commented.
With nearly 20 years of history working together, Gearbox has played an integral role in our success, given their unique ability to create interactive entertainment experiences that feature beloved characters, exciting new worlds, and humorous storytelling.
We are thrilled to welcome Randy Pitchford and his team of passionate, talented developers to 2K and we look forward to releasing numerous projects in the future as colleagues. We have loved partnering with Gearbox on every iteration of the Borderlands franchise and are excited to be in active development on the next installment in the series.
Lastly, we hear from Randy Pitchford, Founder and CEO of Gearbox Entertainment.
Joining forces with Take-Two Interactive and 2K will help Gearbox ascend to our next level. 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 groundbreaking, 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.
We learn that Gearbox will operate as its own studio within 2K Games’ structure and Randy Pitchford and his management team will remain at the helm.
This is certainly another gem in Take-Two Interactive’s crown, which includes Rockstar Games. The studio is currently working toward the release of Grand Theft Auto 6.
Perhaps even more notably, it also puts Gearbox out of the reach of its former parent company Embracer, which has been aggressively downsizing following the failure of a “groundbreaking” strategic partnership. This resulted in the sale of Saber Interactive and studio closures and layoffs that reduced the group’s personnel by over 8%.
