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Embracer is considering options for its U.S. game developer Gearbox Entertainment including a sale as Europe’s largest gaming company looks to shore up its finances, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Embracer is weighing selling the unit, which is known for first-person shooter game Borderlands, after receiving interest from third parties, two of the people said.
Embracer, majority owned by founder Wingefors, purchased Gearbox in February 2021 in a deal that valued the business at up to $1.4 billion at the time.
Gearbox marketing materials are already available for potential buyers, which consist mainly of international gaming groups, said two of the people.
The sources, who requested anonymity as the matter is confidential, cautioned a deal may not happen.
Their strategy was always diversifying in ways that other big publishers stopped diversifying, buying old neglected and mismanaged IPs for pennies on the dollar. If this strategy doesn’t work, then I weep for what video games could have been, because this lack of diversification is why I can’t get a decent racing game or first person shooter anymore.
Yeah, I was really happy when they got Eidos and Crystal Dynamics out of Square’s hands. Deus Ex continuation finally looked like a possibility.
Losing Eidos would be especially bad for those of us who are fans of immersive sims.
And with Deep Silver, they excelled in giving us the great Eurojank RPGs we know and love (I’ll still die on the hill that Risen is an entertaining trilogy, probably because of the major tone shift after the first game).