Take-Two Interactive is embarking on another cost cutting program, and this one will see the company layoff about 5% of its employees by the end of the year.
28.03.2024 - 09:49 / videogameschronicle.com / Randy Pitchford / Lars Wingefors / Strauss Zelnick / Jordan Middler
Embracer Group has announced that it has sold Borderlands developer Gearbox Entertainment to Take-Two Interactive.
The sale, which amounts to $460M, will see Gearbox become wholly owned by Take-Two, which already had an ongoing relationship with the developer through the Borderlands franchise.
”As a significant long-term Embracer Group shareholder, I believe in the strategy for the Embracer Group going forward and am completely convinced that this transaction is the best possible scenario and an obvious net positive arrangement for Embracer Group, for Take-Two and, of course, for Gearbox Entertainment,” said Randy Pitchford, founder and CEO of Gearbox Entertainment.
“My primary interest is always Gearbox, especially our talent and our customers. I want to personally assure fans of our games that this arrangement will ensure that the experiences we have in development at Gearbox will be the best they can possibly be.”
The deal will see Take-Two gain the rights to the Borderlands and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands franchises, as well as Homeworld, Risk of Rain, Brothers in Arms and Duke Nukem. Studios included in the deal are Gearbox Software, Gearbox Montreal and Gearbox Studio Quebec.
Reuters first reported back in September thatEmbracer was considering selling off Gearbox, with sources claiming that third parties had expressed interest in buying it.
Later that month, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick refused to be drawn on whether it would be interested in acquiring Gearbox, given its long-term publishing deal with Gearbox for the Borderlands franchise and other titles.
Embracer has been carrying out a widespread money-saving operation, announcing in June 2023 that it was implementing a restructuring plan which would involve the closure of studios and the cancellation of projects.
“Today’s announcement marks the result of the final structured divestment process and is an important step in transforming Embracer into the future with notably lower net debt and improved free cash flow. Through the transaction, we lower business risk and improve profitability as we transition to becoming a leaner and more focused company,” said Lars Wingefors, co-founder and CEO of Embracer.
“After evaluating several options for Gearbox, I am happy that we have reached a solution that is in the best interest of all stakeholders.
“Randy and the team have been great team members throughout the past years, and I would like to thank them all for that. As one of the world’s greatest games developers, I am confident that Gearbox will continue to innovate and thrive in their new home within Take-Two.”
Take-Two Interactive is embarking on another cost cutting program, and this one will see the company layoff about 5% of its employees by the end of the year.
Take-Two Interactive, the publisher behind Grand Theft Auto, has announced plans to cut around 5 percent of its workforce, or around 600 people.
Take-Two Interactive plans to lay off 5 percent of its workforce, or about 600 employees, by the end of the year, as reported in an SEC filing Tuesday. The studio is also canceling several in-development projects. These moves are expected to cost $160 million to $200 million to implement, and should result in $165 million in annual savings for Take-Two.
Amazon‘s Fallout TV show has been renewed for a second season.
Presumably, the remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic can’t hold up a newspaper with today’s date to prove that it is actually doing okay and hasn’t been quietly disposed of in a tax report somewhere, Warner Bros-style. As such, it falls to the head of current developers Saber Interactive to promise that the long-in-the-works Star Wars game is still “alive and well”.
Despite seemingly escaping the Embrace(r) of death through their sale to Take-Two at the end of last month, Gearbox Entertainment haven’t quite emerged unscathed. The studio has confirmed a number of layoffs shortly after the announcement of the sale, while clarifying that no positions related to the development of games were affected.
Gearbox Entertainment has announced an unspecified number of redundancies following its sale from Embracer last week.
Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors has acknowledged it's «way too early» for the company to «start talking about» acquiring new studios.
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.
Earlier today, megacorp Embracer announced they were selling Borderlands developer Gearbox to Take-Two. During an investor call about the divestment, CEO Lars Wingefors confirmed that this brought an end to the restructuring process Embracer announced last year. He was also asked whether this meant Embracer had plans to start acquiring other studios again.
Alongside announcing plans to buy Borderlands developers Gearbox from the collapsing wreckage of Embracer Group, Borderlands publishers Take-Two overnight casually mentioned that they are "in active development on next installment in Borderlands series". This isn't a formal announcement as much as a businessblast to hype shareholders, so it didn't have anything specific to say about what Gearbox are up to with their wildly popular and deeply unfunny looter shooter series. It had seemed curious that the much-delayed Borderlands movie was coming out five years after the latest main series game and with no new one in sight.
Take-Two is acquiring Gearbox Interactive from Embracer Group for a cool $460m.