AS part of its ongoing restructuring, Embracer Group has divested Gearbox Entertainment from the portfolio of video game studios it owns. The studio is being purchased by Take-Two Interactive for US$460 million (RM2.1 billion). Three years ago, Embracer bought Gearbox for US$1.3 billion.
Embracer’s latest studio loss is part of the company’s restructuring efforts after a planned US$2 billion deal with Saudi Arabia-backed Savvy Games Group fell apart last year.
The deal is expected to be finalised this June, and once it closes, Take-Two will acquire full ownership over several Gearbox development studios, along with intellectual properties (IP) to game franchises such as Borderlands, Homeworld, Risk of Rain, Brothers in Arms and Duke Nukem. These IPs will join the more popular franchises already under Take-Two such as Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead, NBA 2K and WWE 2K.
In the March 27 announcement, Gearbox revealed that its current six in-development projects will also be taking the ride to Take-Two. The titles are five sequels, including a sequel from Borderlands and Homeworld.
“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,” Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors wrote in a statement.
For the past few months, Embracer has been procedurally laying off its employees in several studios, cancelling in-development games, shutting down some studios and selling off others, such as Saber Interactive for US$500 million in March.
