Gearbox Studios, game developers like Border lands and also editors of things like the new Homeworld titles, have has been bought by Embracer Group, the same Swedish company that owns THQ Nordic and Koch Media.
The acquisition makes Gearbox the company’s seventh video game, along with other companies like DECA and Saber Interactive.
The purchase includes plans to expand Gearbox operations, adding new studios and staff, “creating new brands” and looking for more properties (I like Homeworld) to buy.
Gearbox chief Randy Pitchford, who will continue to be the head of the company, issued a statement, opening with the mention of Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors, who says:
Lars d’Embracer’s vision as a group of allied partners committed to nurturing and accelerating the ambitions of a series of decentralized and successful entrepreneurial companies while increasing the collective value and benefits of diversification throughout the group is the most brilliant strategy and design for short, medium, and long-term success in this industry that I have ever seen in my 30 years in this industry. The feeling at Gearbox is that we are just getting started and this transaction is not only a stimulant for the talent of our employee-owned company, but a driver for the exciting future we have in store.
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Gearbox is behind other hits like the Comrades-in-arms series, and there is one Border lands film that is currently being made, which certainly contributed to Embracer’s interest. No word on whether the sale was equally influenced by Aliens: Colonial Marines i Duke Nukem Forever, but, or the fact that that of Gearbox Battleborn turn it off permanently this week.
The initial purchase price was $ 363 million, half in cash and half in Embracer shares, with $ 1 more billion to be paid ($ 360 million shares and the rest in cash) if Gearbox manages to achieve the “agreed financial and operational goals over the next six years.”