In 2021, Embracer Group purchased gaming studio Gearbox for a staggering $1.3 billion. Now, just over three years later, they’re parting ways and selling Gearbox Entertainment to 2K Games and Rockstar parent company Take-Two Entertainment for $460 million. The acquisition is expected to be finalised by the end of June.
To somehow justify the massive loss that Embracer is making, they’ve opted to keep embracing at least one part of Gearbox, although it will be renamed, in the form of Gearbox Publishing San Francisco, which holds publishing rights to the Remnant series and Hyper Light Breaker, in addition to some yet-to-be-anouced releases.
The last few months have seen Embracer Group scrambling to try and stay afloat after years of seemingly monthly studio and publisher acquisitions. The group sold off Saber Interactive last month and has already laid off over 1,400 people.
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