Update 06/04/21: A press release has confirmed "The Gearbox Entertainment Company and Embracer Group announced today that they successfully closed on their up to $1.3 billion merger agreement" in "the largest merger that Embracer has undertaken."
Metro developer 4A Games and Insurgency's New World Interactive.
Gearbox Software has its own publishing chops, having recently published Counterplay Games' Valve. Original projects such as Brothers in Arms and Borderlands were what helped Gearbox carve out its place in the industry.
Gearbox co-founder and CEO Randy Pitchford maintains his present role as the studio transitions into an Embracer Group subsidiary, both companies have confirmed.
Such news comes as a massive surprise, especially since, as noted above, Gearbox Software has only ever been independent. How the company will operate as a subsidiary to another entity remains a mystery at present, but Embracer Group's evidently vast resources could engender further growth for the Frisco, Texas-based crew.
While Borderlands, Gearbox's flagship property, continues to thrive, little else is keeping the studio afloat. Its role as Godfall's publisher didn't exactly set the world on fire. The action title from Counterplay Games was critically panned at launch, and players across the board quickly lost interest. Earlier this week, Gearbox closed Battleborn's servers, marking the official death of its short-lived attempt at the hero shooter genre. There's currently no word on what project the developer has planned next.
Source: Embracer Group, Gearbox Software
