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Gearbox Entertainment merges with Embracer Group

The deal to acquire Gearbox will cost the Sweden-based company $1.3 billion USD.

Sam Chandler

February 2, 2021 10:30 PM

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Gearbox Entertainment, the Texas-based company, has been acquired by the Embracer Group for $1.3 billion USD. The developer behind the critically-acclaimed Borderlands series will form a seventh operating group and position itself as a “significant shareholder” in Embracer.

A press statement released on February 2, 2021, from Embracer Group outlined the recent acquisition of Gearbox Entertainment. The statement goes into detail about how the company will be paying for Gearbox, which includes a day one purchase price of $363 million, of which $175 million of that is newly issued Embracer B shares.

Randy Pitchford, the founder of Gearbox, had the following to say regarding the deal:

Lars’s vision of Embracer as an allied partner group committed to fueling and accelerating the ambitions of a series of decentralized, successful entrepreneurial member companies while magnifying the collective value and advantages of diversification across the entire group is the most brilliant strategy and design for short, medium, and long-term success in this industry that I have worked in during 30 years. The feeling at Gearbox is that we are just getting started and this transaction is not merely a stimulant for the talent of our employee-owned company, but a propellent for the exciting future we have planned.

It certainly sounds like Pitchford and the team at Gearbox are excited about the future. For players, this will no doubt instil some confidence that Gearbox, and its franchises, will be around for a long time. Lars Wingefors, Found and Group CEO of Embracer group, supports this, stating that the resources available by Embracer places Gearbox in a position for “continued significant growth in the years to come.”

Gearbox’s own press statement notes that this new position will allow it undertake “the expansion of talent at both studios, the creation of new Gearbox studios, and expanded partnerships.”

Embracer Group was formally known as THQ Nordic AB, though that name still exists via one of its subsidiaries, a company many gamers will likely recognize: THQ Nordic. Gearbox’s most recent title, Borderlands 3, released in 2019, some seven years after the release of the second main game in the series. Be sure to keep it locked to Shacknews as we bring you the latest new on Gearbox and the Embracer Group.

Sam Chandler

Guides Editor

Hailing from the land down under, Sam Chandler brings a bit of the southern hemisphere flair to his work. After bouncing round a few universities, securing a bachelor degree, and entering the video game industry, he's found his new family here at Shacknews as a Guides Editor. There's nothing he loves more than crafting a guide that will help someone. If you need help with a guide, or notice something not quite right, you can message him on X: @SamuelChandler