Gearbox Software has been sold, again, with Take-Two Interactive picking up the Borderlands developer and confirming rumors that have been circulating over the last six months.
Take-Two announced the news today, with the giant acquisition now expected to be completely wrapped by the end of June. This deal doesn’t include everything Gearbox has touched—just the core aspects of its business—so it will exclude “certain third-party publishing and other assets.” The acquisition cost Take-Two $460 million, which may seem like a lot, however, it was initially bought by Embrace Group in 2021 as part of a larger deal valued at around $363 million with additional considerations of over $1 billion if the studio met targets.
Gearbox will now run as a studio under the 2K banner and will continue working on six projects that are currently in development. Most of these are sequels, including one for the uber-popular Borderlands franchise. Gearbox founder and CEO Randy Pitchford will stay on and lead his team through and after the acquisition is finalized.
Take-Two and Borderlands coming together shouldn’t warrant any changes given they have been publishing the games under the 2K banner for some years. In fact, Gearbox and Take-Two have already been collaborating on the upcoming Borderlands film set to premiere in August.
It’s too early to say how this deal will impact Gearbox, but it could be the saving grace Embracer needed as it deals with issues that have been forcing major layoffs and game cancellations. Gearbox may well have a fresh start to achieve its goals under the 2K banner too.
For fans, this business shake-up shouldn’t really change much. Ultimately, all the projects that were in the works seem to still be on the way, so that’s good news.
