Gearbox Publishing Rebrands After Gearbox Gets Sold

Late last month, Embracer Group sold off Gearbox Software to Take-Two Interactive. The move came after months of rumors, and after several other Embracer owned studios had similarly been sold, or even shut down completely. While Take-Two now owns the Borderlands developer, it did not acquire Gearbox Publishing, which will remain part of Embracer. Since that has the potential to get a little confusing, Gearbox Publishing has announced that it will be rebranding the company under the name Arc Games. In a statement on Twitter, Arc Games talked about the games it published in the past, while teasing plans for the future. 

"We're the same team of passionate gamers that brought you many beloved franchises including the Remnant series, Have a Nice Death, Star Trek Online and Neverwinter. And we can't wait to bring you even more exciting titles like Gigantic: Rampage Edition, Hyper Light Breaker, and more soon-to-be announced games for 2025 and beyond," the statement reads. 

The Triple-I Initiative

The statement from Arc Games goes on to mention that a new trailer for Hyper Light Breaker will debut during the Triple-I Initiative. The digital event is set to take place on April 10th at 10 a.m. PT, and will put a major focus on indie games from various studios. In total, viewers can expect to see more than 30 announcements made during the show's 45-minute runtime, including some world premieres. There's still a lot we don't know about the presentation, but developer Poncle Games has been teasing some major announcements for Vampire Survivors. Hyper Light Breaker is one of several games that were mentioned in the show's announcement, but now we specifically know what to expect! 

Hyper Light Breaker is the highly-anticipated sequel to Hyper Light Drifter. Hyper Light Drifter received strong reviews upon its release on PC back in 2016, and the game was eventually ported to multiple platforms, including PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. At this time, the sequel has only been confirmed for PC, but it's a safe bet we'll see the game announced for consoles at some point. Hyper Light Breaker does not currently have a release date. 

Changing Times at Embracer

The last year or so has been a rocky one for companies owned by Embracer Group. Ever since a $2 billion investment deal with Savvy Games Group fell through, Embracer has been trying to restructure. This has led to the closures of studios like Volition (Saint's Row) and Free Radical Design (TimeSplitters), while Gearbox was sold to Take-Two, and most of Saber Interactive to Beacon Interactive. It remains to be seen whether these moves will be enough to stop the bleed, but hopefully we won't see any additional studio closures or layoffs. 

Are you excited to learn more about Hyper Light Breaker this week? What do you think of this new name for Gearbox Publishing? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!