Embracer Group gobbled up a lot of studios during its 2020-era spending spree, but perhaps the biggest acquisitions were Saber Interactive (World War Z, many, many ports) and Gearbox Software (Borderlands). It’s clear Embracer had big plans for Saber and Gearbox, as both were spun into entire company divisions with other smaller studios reporting to them, but those plans have changed – Embracer’s fortunes took a turn when a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia fell through and the company has been desperately cutting costs since. Apparently, this means two of their crown jewels have to go.
According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, Saber Interactive is being sold for $500 million to a group of “private investors” (who these investors are is unclear at the moment). Embracer is taking a loss on the deal as they purchased Saber, which has over 3,500 employees and studios around the world, for $525 million in 2020. According to Schreier many Saber projects, including the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake, will continue on post-sale.
Meanwhile, Kotaku has released an article strongly suggesting Gearbox Software is being sold as well. The Kotaku article isn’t quite as definite as the Bloomberg one, but rumors of a Gearbox sale have been floating around for a while and company founder Randy Pitchford reportedly held a town hall meeting this week in which he said a decision about the company’s future had been made with more info set to be revealed in March. While we don’t know exactly what the decision is, it’s unlikely it’s “stick with Embracer” given the state of the company. Embracer paid $1.3 billion for Gearbox back in 2020.
According to Kotaku, Gearbox shelved some more experimental projects once Embracer’s problems began and are now focusing on the next Borderlands and a sequel to Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. The leadership team responsible for the new Borderlands has reportedly gone through a “reshuffling” and Tiny Tina 2 has undergone a “soft reboot,” but sources claim both games are still progressing well. For his part, Randy Pitchford had the following to say about the sale rumors…
“I’m delighted that what we might be up to is interesting enough to people that you want to make a story about us for your readers. I’m honored and humbled that our company is a topic of rumor, speculation, and discussion. As always, we will be thrilled to share whenever we have projects to announce or news to share as we work hard towards our mission to entertain the world.”
And so, it seems like the Embracer Group story is set to end with a whimper, with most of the studios they bought up released back into the wild. Hopefully, Saber and Gearbox can land on their feet once they’re freed from their current corporate overlords.
