Gearbox Software is officially splitting from the Embracer Group, acquired alongside Gearbox Quebec and Gearbox Montreal by Take-Two Interactive for $460 million. However, several studios under Gearbox Entertainment will remain with Embracer, including Gearbox Publishing San Francisco, formerly Perfect World Entertainment.
It will be renamed before the sale closes while publishing rights to Gunfire Games’ Remnant series, Heart Machine’s Hyper Light Breaker, and other unannounced titles will be retained. Lost Boys Interactive (which worked on Wonderlands and faced layoffs earlier this year), mobile 3D scanning company Captured Dimensions, and Cryptic Studios of Neverwinter and Star Trek Online fame are also staying with Embracer.
These companies would be “welcomed and integrated” into other parts of the group and expected to contribute “a positive cash flow going forward.” Embracer has seen several layoffs since a $2 billion deal fell through last year, with studios like Free Radical and Volition shuttered. Whether further layoffs will occur following the sale of Gearbox and Saber Interactive remains to be seen.
