THQ shocked the gaming world today by acquiring the studio behind the excellent Borderlands series, Gearbox.
Embracer (THQ Nordic) bought Gearbox. If you’ve never heard of Embracer they’re the parent company of THQ Nordic. It’s similar to how Bethesda was different than Bethesda Game Studios.
This is actually pretty confusing for me to write about. Usually, when a company is bought by another one (Bethesda by Xbox for example) the company that bought them would be their publishers. In this case, even though 2K doesn’t own Gearbox or Borderlands, anymore they still have publishing rights to the company and their future games.
Here’s the statement that 2K released
“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 company said. “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.”
No changes have been announced for the staff of Gearbox or their CEO Randy Pitchford. So it’s business as usual for them. They’re just under new ownership and maybe this new studio will allow Gearbox to make a new IP after the disappointing, but good, Borderlands 3?
Only time will tell how this move will impact Gearbox moving forward. Hopefully, it’ll shake the company up in a good way and have them release some bangers. I for one wouldn’t mind if they immediately started working on the next Borderlands game. Just bring bad the team that wrote Borderlands 2 and you’ll be good.
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Gearbox had bet on a few games over the years that didn’t work out like Battleborn and Colonial Marines and it almost seemed like Borderlands 3 existed because they knew it was easy money at a time when it was needed. That and the stuff revolving around Randy Pitchford and it might have been harder for them to go it alone. Good luck to them… and hopefully we still get Homeworld 3. 🙂
I agree. Battleborn was unlucky because it released close to Overwatch. It wasn’t a bad game, but it was overshadowed and no one bought it.
Colonial Marines was complete shit though and, honestly, Borderlands 3 was a big disappointment to me even though I enjoyed it. It’s the only Borderlands game I don’t want to play again. I can’t even bring myself to go back for the expansions.