Embracer Group (Parent Company of THQN, Saber, Koch, etc) acquires Gearbox Entertainment

DarkDetective · Feb 3, 2021

King Kingo said:
Looking back at this article just seems all the more ironic in retrospect considering today's press releases by Embracer Group.

Nordic Games acquires THQ's Darksiders, Red Faction and more in $4.9M bid

Nordic Games acquired "substantially all" of THQ's remaining intellectual property, including titles in the Darksiders, Red Faction and MX series, pending court approval, as part of a $4.9 million...

www.polygon.com

I find this also quite funny:

Earlier today, Gearbox Software announced it had submitted the highest bid for the Homeworld franchise. Court documents reveal the property was purchased in a $1.35 million bid. Gearbox beat out Aspyr Media for the sci-fi strategy game series.

Igniz12 · Feb 3, 2021

mazi said:
dodged a bullet there tbqh

Why? Are the skeletons in Pitchford's closet that are about to come out soon? As much as I dont like the guy, BL is a banger IP that MS would love to get, especially as their DLC model might do well in a GP environment.

Or that BL wont be exclusive to MS?

Deleted member 10737 · Feb 3, 2021

Igniz12 said:
Why? Are the skeletons in Pitchford's closet that are about to come out soon? As much as I dont like the guy, BL is a banger IP that MS would love to get, especially as their DLC model might do well in a GP environment.

Or that BL wont be exclusive to MS?

as we just found out, they're gonna keep working with take two on borderlands.
beyond that, it's best that they don't work with randy pitchford.

DarkDetective said:
I find this also quite funny:

lol, quite the full circle moment

N64Controller · Feb 3, 2021

nvm not worth discussing it here, ignoring the thread (edit)

Cyberia · Feb 3, 2021

Mentalist · Feb 3, 2021

FarSight XR-20 said:
In the recent months:

June: WB looking to sell gaming division, interest by MS, Activision, EA and T2 (didn't happen)

August: 4A Games by Embracer, Leyou by Tencent

September: Zenimax-Bethesda by MS

November / December : Codemasters by T2 then EA, Embracer acquires 12 studios

January : Tencent reportedly raising several $ billion, Next Level Games by Nintendo (first in 13 years though it was specific), edit: Tencent acquires majority stake in Klei

February : Gearbox (edit: + Aspyr) by Embracer, Sumo making their 3rd acquisition in 12 months (clearly not as big as other though)

Did I forget anything?

Devolver bought CroTeam

Focus Home picked up Deck 13 at some point, though this may have been earlier, don't remember now.

Deleted member 6235 · Feb 3, 2021

damn, things are moving really quickly

King Kingo · Feb 3, 2021

Radium217 said:
Hate Gearbox. So I don't really care. Though I would probably sub to Embracer if they did an EA Play vibe. A cheap fee to experience mediocre content with some golden nuggets inbetween. I'm being genuine here, I feel the sentiment is the same on Era.

Onix555 said:
I've said it before and i'll say it again..

These dudes are prepping for a console.
Or alternatively it's a money laundering operation.
Or both.

Random Character said:
Sadly place your bets on who Embracer will acquire next.

Atari SA - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

If Embracer Group is able to successfully acquire Atari, they could very well set up their own subscription service under the Atari brand.

Theorry · Feb 3, 2021

Eamon · Feb 3, 2021

BetterGraphics said:
What's the Embracer play here? Are they just hoping to be a giant publisher or are we looking at a new streaming service in a few years?

Seems like a perfect candidate to partner with Stadia to leverage their technology for the streaming future

christocolus · Feb 3, 2021

Theorry said:

makes sense..

Spirited · Feb 3, 2021

Theorry said:

MS dodged the Randy bullet

BabyDontHurtMe · Feb 3, 2021

Embracer Group is the European Tencent (except they don't have a social media platform infrastructure, film production and distribution wing, music label, and computer software branch...yet). Seriously though, every month they announce an acquisition. Also bouncing off that Brad Sams tweet, it's evident that Embracer Group is a frequent bidder in the market, which can compete with the likes of Microsoft and Tencent.

AuthenticM · Feb 3, 2021

I had no idea Gearbox was worth that much. Is the Borderlands IP really that valuable?

DarkDetective · Feb 3, 2021

PleaseDontHurtMe said:
film production and distribution wing

hahaha

(It's not big, but they are active in film distribution ;) )

Deleted member 56752 · Feb 3, 2021

Do we think Embracer Group will go bankrupt like THQ?

Minthara · Feb 3, 2021

boxingiscool said:
Do we think Embracer Group will go bankrupt like THQ?

No. I do think they'll eventually make the cat so fat that they become a tempting acquisition for someone bigger though.

They are going to keep buying though, as will companies that generally fly under the radar here like Keywords.

Random Character · Feb 3, 2021

King Kingo said:
Atari SA - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

If Embracer Group is able to successfully acquire Atari, they could very well set up their own subscription service under the Atari brand.

I didn't even think about Atari but I can definitely see it.

ZugZug123 · Feb 3, 2021

Yikes, I can live without Borderlands but Homeworld getting under this umbrella is pretty sad :(

julia crawford · Feb 3, 2021

God i cannot read Koch without my body jerking from horror every single time.

Cursed name.

mael · Feb 3, 2021

I can't wait for Duke to appear on 8kun :/

ryan299 · Feb 3, 2021

so at what point does a larger company acquire Embracer? Lol

King Kingo · Feb 3, 2021

boxingiscool said:
Do we think Embracer Group will go bankrupt like THQ?

Absolutely not, they can sell off one of their publishing divisions to another company to make back the money such something like that occur. Unlike THQ, Embracer Group is not spending stupid amounts of money on marketing their titles or releasing gimmicky products.

Typhoon20 · Feb 3, 2021

I know it's not 1.3B upfront..but are they really worth that much ? It's basically just Borderlands as a big IP. And even that's ...eh these days.
This and Codemasters. So expensive. Sony really got the best deal with Insomniac lol. This Codemasters and Gearbox acquisition shows me that the Zenimax one is a damn good deal as well.

The acquisition wars have started.

ThereAreFourNaan · Feb 3, 2021

Typhoon20 said:
I know it's not 1.3B upfront..but are they really worth that much ? It's basically just Borderlands as a big IP. And even that's ...eh these days.
This and Codemasters. So expensive. Sony really got the best deal with Insomniac lol. This Codemasters and Gearbox acquisition shows me that the Zenimax one is a damn good deal as well.

The acquisition wars have started.

Borderlands is a tens-of-millions seller each time it comes out. Then they publish other people's games like Godfall or We Happy Few. They own the Homeworld IP (games in dev based on that) and the Duke Nukem IP. I'm unsure about if they own Brothers in Arms.

I predicted around 1 billion a few weeks back, turns out I was slightly under!

NinjaScooter · Feb 3, 2021

Typhoon20 said:
I know it's not 1.3B upfront..but are they really worth that much ? It's basically just Borderlands as a big IP. And even that's ...eh these days.
This and Codemasters. So expensive. Sony really got the best deal with Insomniac lol. This Codemasters and Gearbox acquisition shows me that the Zenimax one is a damn good deal as well.

The acquisition wars have started.

The Borderlands IP is pretty huge in gaming so I definitely think that adds a ton of value (to your comparison, Insomniac didn't really own any valuable IP of their own, which is where a lot of the value in these acquisitions). I also wonder if people here sort of underestimate the value in buying up huge developers (Gearbox has like 500 employees I believe) with years and years of experience in shipping AAA games. Like, yeah, you can always just open up new studios from the ground up but I imagine there's a huge value in just getting a developer that is up and running like this.

Kakadu18 · Feb 3, 2021

John Kowalski said:
God i cannot read Koch without my body jerking from horror every single time.

Cursed name.

The ch is pronounced like an h. It's German. That makes it easier.

biglo25 · Feb 3, 2021

Typhoon20 said:
I know it's not 1.3B upfront..but are they really worth that much ? It's basically just Borderlands as a big IP. And even that's ...eh these days.
This and Codemasters. So expensive. Sony really got the best deal with Insomniac lol. This Codemasters and Gearbox acquisition shows me that the Zenimax one is a damn good deal as well.

The acquisition wars have started.

Yeah the Zenimax deals come with some good ips and engines which they basically got for the dirt cheap and it was paid in cash too. cash in the business sense if you know what i mean

Musubi · Feb 3, 2021

Can they get rid of Randy Pitchford already?

King Kingo · Feb 4, 2021

Random Character said:
I didn't even think about Atari but I can definitely see it.

If Embracer Group ever ends up acquiring Atari, they would have the marketing spend to make the Atari brand relevant to gamers again. The only reason for this not to realistically happen is if Atari already declined the offer to be acquired.

sredgrin · Feb 4, 2021

Nobody actually wants Atari. It's too far gone, they are associated with ancient shit that nobody under 40 cares about, and even a lot of their popular associations (like Pac-Man) aren't owned by them.

8byte · Feb 4, 2021

Maybe they can get them to fix the busted ass trophies on the PS5 version, since Gearbox ain't gonna do it willingly on their own.

Embracer Group (Parent Company of THQN, Saber, Koch, etc) acquires Gearbox Entertainment

User requested account closure

Prophet of Truth

Prophet of Truth

Son Altesse Sérénissime

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account

Freelance Market Director

Took the red AND the blue pills

Unshakable Resolve - Prophet of Truth

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt-account