Following the acquisition of the Gearbox studio, creators of Borderlands, on behalf of the Embracer Group (for $ 1.3 billion), studio head Randy Pitchford says the deal could mean other Embracer Group-owned studios end up creating games with Gearbox’s intellectual properties.
In an interview with VentureBeat, Pitchford reaffirmed that Gearbox was still working on Homeworld 3 in association with Blackbird Interactive, but that the continuation of the franchise was “just scratch the surface” of the company’s plans.
“The plans are a spectrum of games developed in-house with the Gearbox IP, games developed in-house with the original Gearbox IP, external partners that are publishing partners, where we publish them in a second-party relationship, and then there are other developers as well. working on IP from Gearbox IP. “, said.
“That can be expanded, especially when we start to interact without friction with other members of the Embracer Group who have an interest. There are many people who would love to work on Gearbox IPs, and Gearbox would love to help some members of the Embracer Group with their games, which could be stronger in other markets and published more effectively in North America. “he continued.
Other studios within the Embracer Group include THQ Nordic, Saber Interactive, Koch Media, DECA Games, Amplifier Game Invest, and Coffee Stain Holding, as well as Aspyr Media and Easybrain, which it acquired together with Gearbox yesterday. With these companies, Embracer has access to properties such as World War Z, NBA Playgrounds, Dead Island, Metro Exodus or Shadow Warrior.
In addition to the possibilities for Gearbox’s existing properties, Pitchford said elsewhere in the interview that he believes the financial support from the Embracer Group will allow the studio to pursue more new games and specifically riskier ideas than it has previously been able to do.
“We have many new IP concepts in our incubator that are ready to explode.”, said. “We could wait for the right publishing partner who is willing to place a bet, rather than just taking a chance on something they know Gearbox has done before. Publishers who have taken a chance on us for what we want to see next have always been rewarded. for it. But for some reason they can’t be comfortable with that kind of risk. Now we can take that risk. “.
“We don’t have to burn the ships to do it. When Epic made their deal, they ended up selling Gears of War to Microsoft. They burned the ships to show they could do something you would never expect from Epic before, and [los juegos] they got Fortnite out of it. We don’t have to do that. We can fully comply with the IP we have and look for a new IP as a result of this relationship. That is incredibly exciting for me. I feel like this has just begun. “, he concluded.
Gearbox’s most recent in-house developed title was Borderlands 3 in 2019, though it has also published and helped with recent releases, including Trover Saves the Universe, Godfall, and Risk of Rain 2.
Most recently, Gearbox released Krieg the Psycho and Fantabulous Calamity, the fourth DLC for Borderlands 3. You can read more about this content here.
