Video Games

Gearbox Publishing renamed to Arc Games

That’s the part of Gearbox remaining with Embracer

Marco Wutz

Arc Games

The Embracer Group rounded off its massive cost-cutting program, which resulted in hundreds of layoffs, several studio shutdowns, and a few divestments, with selling off parts of Gearbox to Take-Two. The three development studios under the Gearbox label went to Take-Two, while the Swedish company retained ownership of the Gearbox Publishing brand. However, to avoid any future confusion, it’s been stated that Gearbox Publishing would be renamed as part of the deal.

That rebranding has been executed – Gearbox Publishing is now called Arc Games. 

“We're very excited to announce that we are now Arc Games,” the company’s official statement said. “We're the same team of passionate gamers that brought you many beloved franchises including the Remnant series, Have a Nice Death, Star Trek Online and Neverwinter. And we can’t wait to bring you even more exciting titles like Gigantic: Rampage Edition, Hyper Light Breaker, and more soon-to-be announced games for 2025 and beyond!”

The rights to Borderlands, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, Homeworld, Risk of Rain, Brothers in Arms, and Duke Nukem were sold off along with the three Gearbox studios and are now with Take-Two.

Embracer retained several former Gearbox subsidiaries alongside the publishing branch and the rights to some IP, namely Cryptic Studios including its active MMOs Neverwinter Online and Star Trek Online, Lost Boys Interactive, and Captured Dimensions. It’s a similar arrangement as with the divestment of Saber Interactive, which saw a split of studios and IP between the parties.

For Arc Games, rebranding is not anything new: It was originally founded in 2008 under the name Perfect World Entertainment before taking on the Gearbox moniker. Based in Redwood City, California, Arc Games also has offices in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Shanghai, China.

The Gearbox sale is bringing in around $460 million USD for Embracer and was called “the best possible scenario and an obvious net positive arrangement for Embracer Group, for Take-Two and, of course, for Gearbox Entertainment,” by Gearbox CEO and founder, Randy Pitchford.

This transaction is still pending regulatory approval, but is expected to be closed by June 2024.

Published
Marco Wutz

MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg