Gearbox is reportedly up for sale by parent company Embracer Group. As per Reuters, the Swedish conglomerate is looking to restructure following a $2 billion (about Rs. 16,586 crore) deal with Saudi Arabia government-funded Savvy Games Group that fell through, earlier this year. The fallout resulted in the former cutting down on spending, in addition to closing down studios and laying off its employees. Having been acquired merely two-and-a-half years ago, Gearbox is now the latest victim, with some alleged third-party publishers expressing interest in acquiring the developer. No names were mentioned, though they were described as “international gaming groups.”
Following the original critical and commercial failure of its latest open-world reboot, as Embracer mentioned in its 2023 financial report.
Embracer has spent the last few years swiping game studios through a series of non-stop acquisitions and building an empire, bringing together coveted developers like The Hobbit, and more. This obviously cost a lot of money, which was initially covered by the aforementioned Savvy Games Group through a $1 billion investment. But in May, the latter backed out, leaving Embracer to deal with the debt.
Earlier this year, Embracer Group confirmed that The Lord of the Rings was getting an Daedalic Entertainment closing down its development division.
Amidst all this restructuring drama, switched studios from Aspyr Media to Saber Interactive, in August 2022, following the firing of two top employees.