Embracer Group Reportedly May Sell Borderlands Developer Gearbox Entertainment

After a few years of purchasing all kinds of studios, the Embracer Group has been shuffling around its various properties and studios quite a bit. Last week, the mega-publisher announced that it was shuttering Voltion, the veteran developers behind the Saints Row series. That was just the latest in a string of layoffs and game cancellations though, as the studio has been restructuring since June. Now, it seems that Embracer Group is “considering options” in regard to Gearbox Entertainment. This comes just two years after the Embracer Group bought the Borderlands developer for $1.3 billion. 

The news was first revealed by Reuters and then confirmed by Jason Schreier at Bloomberg News. Essentially, Reuters has heard from various sources that Embracer has been hearing from other companies that are interested in acquiring Gearbox and it is now entertaining those offers. Of course, nothing is anywhere close to confirmed, and a potential deal is likely still far away. That said, with how much things have been changing lately around Embracer, it wouldn’t be surprising if some type of deal does go through.

In fact, Bloomberg reported that Gearbox is also currently exploring the idea of “spinning off and going independent.” Again, all of this seems to be in the very early stages. You should not expect to hear anything concrete for some time. If something does happen, it will be yet another surprising move from Embracer after it has spent the last few years making all of these acquisitions.

What is Gearbox Entertainment Currently Working On?

Gearbox recently published Gunfire Games’ Remnant 2, which has performed well for the company. The team is also working with Heart Machine on Hyper Light Breaker and Blackbird Interactive’s Homeworld 3. In terms of games that Gearbox is developing itself, the team released both Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands and New Tales from the Borderlands in 2022. It also recently dropped the first Borderlands 3 update in years, adding new content to the game.

As far as what’s next, there have been several rumors popping up recently about Borderlands 4, but Gearbox hasn’t said anything concrete. The franchise is set to finally get a movie adaptation from Eli Roth next year, so we may start to hear about the next game in the series around then. There’s also an “interactive streaming series” called Borderlands EchoVision Live that’s due out at some point but doesn’t have a firm release date.

If this sale does happen (or Gearbox decides to go independent), it’ll be very interesting to see if that changes anything for the developer. Without anything technically on the books right now, it’s potentially a good time for Gearbox to move on from what seems like a situation that could become volatile depending on Embracer’s next moves. Either way, next year will have been five years since Borderlands 3 was released, so you have to expect news about the next game in the franchise to be announced relatively soon.