The Embracer Group, the parent company of THQ Nordic, have announced they have acquired developers Gearbox, Aspyr Media, and Easybrain.
The Embracer Group confirm that Gearbox and Easybrain will become the seventh and eighth operating group within the holding company. Aspyr Media will become the largest independent company joining Saber Interactive. The Embracer Group state the acquisition should lead to kr3.6 billion to kr4.6 billion SEK in net sales (est. $427 million USD to $546 million USD).
This now total 64 internal development studios, over 6,600 employees working for the Embracer Group; with 4,000 of those employees being game developers.
Gearbox Software’s past titles include the Borderlands and Brothers in Arms series; but recent games include the now defunct Battleborn, and the infamous Aliens: Colonial Marines and Duke Nukem Forever. Gearbox Publishing have also handled Godfall, Risk of Rain 2, and We Happy Few.
Aspyr Media are best known for handling ports; such as Sid Meirer’s Civilization VI on Linux, Mac, Nintendo Switch, and iOS. They also published Layers of Fear and Observer. Finally, are developers of mobile games. Their works include mostly puzzle games such as Sudoku.com, Nonogram.com, and music maker Groovepad.
The Embracer Group had previously announced in November 2020 that they had acquired 11 game studios; including Flying Wild Hog, 34BigThings, and more.
UPDATE: 2K Games; the publisher of the Borderlands games, have issued a statement to GamesIndustry.biz. Therein they state that they will continue to act as the publisher for the series, along with any projects that are currently in the works with Gearbox.
“As the proud publisher of the Borderlands franchise, we are happy for our partners at Gearbox and this exciting new chapter for their organisation.”
[…] “The merger does not change 2K’s relationship with Gearbox nor our role as the publisher for the Borderlands IP or any other projects we are currently working on with the studio. We look forward to continuing our long-term partnership with this incredibly talented team and delivering many more exciting entertainment experiences to gaming fans around the world.”
Image: Borderlands 3 via Steam
