A new report from Reuters claims that Embracer Group is considering selling Borderlands Developer Gearbox Entertainment.
Sources told Reuters that Embracer is considering options for its U.S. game developer Gearbox Entertainment including a sale as Europe’s largest gaming company looks to shore up its finances. “
“Embracer is weighing selling the unit, which is known for first-person shooter game Borderlands, after receiving interest from third parties, two of the people said”, the report states.
In June Embracer’s announced a restructuring to reduce its net debt to less than SEK 10 billion ($903 million) by the end of its financial year from SEK 16.7 billion at the end of June. The report follows a statement from Volition at the end of August that the company will be closing down due to Embracer’s restructuring.
The statement read,
“This past June, Embracer Group announced a restructuring program to strengthen Embracer and maintain its position as a leader in the video game industry. As part of that program, they evaluated strategic and operational goals and made the difficult decision to close Volition effective immediately.”
“To help our team, we are working to provide job assistance and help smooth the transition for our Volition family members. We thank our customers and fans around the world for all the love and support over the years. You will always be in our hearts.”
Embracer Group went on a massive acquisition spree between 2019-2022, snapping up dozens of studios. As of September 2023, Embracer Group has 129 internal game development studios and is engaging more than 15,000 employees and contracted employees in more than 40 countries.
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They really need to figure out what to do and if they do sell Gearbox start consolidating they don’t need this many publishers under the same umbrella. They might want to start closing down the useless divisions that don’t profit that much like Dark Horse and Limited Run the niche things.
They shouldn’t sell them off they should sell the whole company off. If anything just fold everything into THQ Nordic that’s gaming related and then I guess let Plaion be the new home of TV and film rights management. Selling Gearbox is a stupid move just organize everything better into 1 gaming publisher instead of 8-12.
Could Savvy buy all of Embracer out instead? It feels dumb to sell Gearbox off especially since they own Duke Nukem and Flying Wild Hogs also owned by Embracer I think could bring the IP back. I think instead of selling everything off just fold everything into 1 big gaming publisher and let the right studios make games it seems weird to me that Saber makes games for other publishers not under Embracer when they could make some great games like remakes but instead they do work for others. Even Eidos and CD have to work for others like Microsoft and Amazon.
Embracer should sell the whole company instead. If Savvy is interested then sell to them in full don’t hurt the value.
So since they absorbed Volition do they own Saints Row and will their potential new owner own that as well?