Take-Two announced today that it will acquire Borderlands developer Gearbox. The publisher is paying $460 million for the acquisition. That is notably less than the approximately $1.3 billion that Embracer paid for Gearbox back in 2021 (although many strings were attached to that figure).
Embracer used to be on a gaming acquisition spending spree. Lately, it has instead been bleeding studios as a part of a wider reorganization effort. It sold Saber Interactive to Beacon Interactive for $274 million earlier this month, notably less than the up to $500 million initially reported.
Take-Two has published games from Gearbox before under its subsidiary 2K, specifically the titles in the developer’s biggest franchise, Borderlands (which is also about to become a film). Take-Two expects the acquisition to finalize during the first quarter of the publisher’s Fiscal Year 2025 (ended June 30, 2024).
Gearbox founder and CEO Randy Pitchford and his management team will continue to lead the studio.
“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,” said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take-Two, in a press release sent to GamesBeat. “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.”