The sale of the development part of Gearbox was the last stage of restructuring Hug group. The Swedish video game and media company has completed a lengthy process that included layoffs, studio closures and asset sales.
All this took nine months. Restructuring got carried away 1300 people (8% of the workforce), was practically abolished 30 games and research ceased to exist will (Saints Row) and Free radical design (Time separators). The rest of the staff can rest easy, at least for now.
Gearbox was sold this week to Take-Two Interactive for $460 million. The rights to Borderlands, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, Homeworld, Risk of Rain, Brothers in Arms and Duke Nukem were transferred to Grand Theft Auto. Saber Interactive previously split from Embracer with Fractured Byte, Mad Head Games, Slipgate, New World Interactive, DIGIC, Nimble Giant and Sandbox Strategies.
The day after the acquisition, Gearbox began laying off employees. Several people wrote on social media that they had to leave the studio. Former PR manager she wrote about countless people. At present, we do not know exactly how many there are and which departments they belong to.
Lars Wingefors, CEO of Embracer Group, confirmed to investors that there will be no further sales and no studio closures. The company has no plans to make any acquisitions at this time. Instead, he wants to focus on developing better games. The company includes THQ Nordic, Deep Silver, Prague-based Warhorse Studios (Kingdom Come) or 4A Games. However, the creator of Metro may buy Saber in the future.
Embracer Group’s financial problems began in 2023 after a $2 billion deal fell through. She should have invested in the company Smart games group, owned by the Saudi Arabian government. Since then, large-scale restructuring has begun. The goal was to reduce debt and make Embracer a viable company.
Source :Indian TV
