Buggy Loop
Member
Microsoft be like...
I would prefer that than whatever the fucked happened to these studios after the buyout.
Microsoft, save Eidos please, k? Thanks
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Reuters reports that Embracer Group is considering options for its U.S. game developer Gearbox Entertainment including a sale
- Thread starter Thick Thighs Save Lives
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I would prefer that than whatever the fucked happened to these studios after the buyout.
Microsoft, save Eidos please, k? Thanks
Mibu no ookami
Member
What is the AAA IP are you referring to?
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Unless a company is desperate to sell itself at a bargain price and there arent various suitors lined up bidding them up in an acquisition, just about all acquisitions are overpriced. Just going by general theory that a company usually needs a +30% premium to their current market cap just to get them interested is already a warning sign. That doesn't mean it's not good long term value, but the short term it'll rarely be worth it. And long term that new acquisition has to perform as expected.
As for the company buying, unless they buy in cash or stock swap, they'll go into debt to finance it because they dont have enough on them to buy out all the shares with what they got. So they go into debt like a car loan. And with interests rates sky high, any loan for anything in life will be a lot.
Thats why when interest rates go sky high a lot of tech companies crash and burn. They got hardly anything going, hardly any sales and profit (lots lose money) and their loans (and loan renewals) will be high costs.
As for the company buying, unless they buy in cash or stock swap, they'll go into debt to finance it because they dont have enough on them to buy out all the shares with what they got. So they go into debt like a car loan. And with interests rates sky high, any loan for anything in life will be a lot.
Thats why when interest rates go sky high a lot of tech companies crash and burn. They got hardly anything going, hardly any sales and profit (lots lose money) and their loans (and loan renewals) will be high costs.
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Flutta
Banned
PC…
DR3AM
Member
SEGAvangelist
Gold Member
What hole have you been living in? Game Pass is why.
YeulEmeralda
Member
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
Embrace - r Death...By the sounds of it 
Magic Carpet
Member
Any thoughts that one of the big guys like Amazon, Facebook might just casually pick up the whole shebang?
Mibu no ookami
Member
No one is interested in overpaying for these studios.
Imagine buying something that is worth 10,000 dollars for 25,000 dollars only for the value of that to drop to below 5,000 dollars... And you're paying to keep it.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
To me, gaming is an industry where if a big company wants to buy a studio you either scope it out and buy up dirt cheap indie studios who can make good games (and if they crash who cares it was a tiny studio) or buy up proven giants that already make tons of money with a rock solid gamer base.
How Gearbox is worth $1.4 billion in 2021 who they hell knows.
What happened was embracer was buying up everyone when interest rates were in the toilet. The past year and a half, rates have skyrocketed. So it's coming due to loan renewal time and Embracer is panicking because the loan rates will probably be triple what they were during covid and before that.
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small_law
Member
If it was 10 years ago, maybe, but tech giants are much more gunshy these days about getting into areas that aren't within their core competencies. They want to develop new shit, create a market for it themselves, and have it blow up rather than get into markets and compete with established players.
Media is real dicey right now across the board. Tastes and preferences are all over the place.
Clear
CliffyB's Cock Holster
Time's not right I think. My opinion has always been that Embracer's plan is to float a huge raft of IP such that they can get a favourable bargaining position with any suitor in the digital streaming future. The problem is that they've over-extended themselves before that target market has matured sufficiently (i.e. become dominant) for them to get the return they desire.
As it stands they are running a model pretty much interchangeable with all the big European publishers that went bust in the 2000's. The economics just don't really work anymore because games -even of the AA variety- take too long and cost too much to make.
So they are going to quietly shutter studios that have no proven IP, and sell off those that do in order to right the ship and hopefully start the cycle over.
Mibu no ookami
Member
I always (and mostly wrongly) compare every purchase to Insomniac, which Sony got for a song. I have to wonder if the studio was in major debt., which is possible after the underperformance of several games.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Looking at their wiki of games made and published, Gearbox is basically a company now that releases a Borderlands inspired game here and there, and some junk nobody plays.
I dont think they are even worth $500M. How Embracer paid $1.4B in 2021 after they released Godfall in 2020 who knows.
I dont think they are even worth $500M. How Embracer paid $1.4B in 2021 after they released Godfall in 2020 who knows.
Chukhopops
Member
What’s weird is that their last game sold really well apparently:
‘Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands’ Dramatically Exceeded Take-Two’s Expectations
Take-Two is reporting a whole bunch of good news for its earnings this week, as games like GTA 5 next gen, Red Dead Redemption 2 and WWE 2K22 have all exceeded the company’s sales expectations. But especially Wonderlands.
www.forbes.com
Godfall was most likely a flop but I’m sure there are other deadweight devs in the Embracer portfolio. Also makes me worried about Homeworld 3 between this and the BBI layoffs…
feynoob
Banned
Borderline series.
Good IP and great TV show IP if you can utilize it.
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StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
As for any suitors interested in buying Gearbox, it basically comes down to what Borderlands is worth. The rest of the games they make are throw ins.
Mibu no ookami
Member
Borderline? Do you mean Borderlands? See it's so insignificant, you couldn't even remember the name of the IP.
Mibu no ookami
Member
Well it comes down to buying a studio for an IP that isn't at all consistent. Is it worth taking on 1300 employees for the franchise AND buying the studio and IP?
Would probably be cheaper to buy the IP and a core group. No one wants to take on 1300 employees in today's environment.
SEGAvangelist
Gold Member
Problem is the publishing agreement with 2K. I guess someone like a Microsoft could agree to continue to let 2K publish until the agreement is done as long as Borderlands comes to Game Pass. It's not an awful thing if so.
jayj
Banned
It seems like the only thing Embracer is good at is ruining studios and destroying the value of whatever properties they acquire.
Gearbox used to be a great name in the business, not anymore. Any talent they had is probably long gone, and what remains isn't what it used to be. Any associated IP's would be the only thing valuable to anyone willing to buy.
Gearbox used to be a great name in the business, not anymore. Any talent they had is probably long gone, and what remains isn't what it used to be. Any associated IP's would be the only thing valuable to anyone willing to buy.
feynoob
Banned
The IP has potential for media presence.
As for naming, it's can easy to mix it.
diffusionx
Gold Member
Borderlands, obviously. It sells extremely well (B3 sold ~18 million) and has a long tail.
I think the big difference between Gearbox and Insomniac is the IP. Name on the building is irrelevant, devs come and go, but having actual properties is really valuable.
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BbMajor7th
Member
Phili Spencer right now:
Kotaku in two years:
Kotaku in two years:
Xbox Calls Borderlands 4 ‘One Of The Most Important Shooters Ever Made’ And It’s Not Even Out
Microsoft doesn’t get to decide if Borderlands 4 is important. Players do.
By Kenneth Shepard | Published June 13, 2025 | Comments (26)
Cyberpunkd
Member
Cyberpunkd
Member
May I interest you in F2P gacha? Only launch week roll for 5-Star Eowyn.
feynoob
Banned
Insomniac had spiderman from Sony and a great engine from sunset overdrive.
Sony got extremely lucky that MS funded insomniac project.
ChuckeRearmed
Member
I think T2 is the most optimal buyer (due to Borderlands IP), but I don't see them paying 1b+ for Gearbox. They did not want to pay for Codemasters for example. Maybe Borderlands worth more for them, but I am not sure.
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Clear
CliffyB's Cock Holster
More like Insomniac realized that all their success was on Sony platforms, and getting the Spiderman license they were securing the studio (and its employees) future for the next decade.
StueyDuck
Member
Yeah but I played BL2 mostly with my PS squad. Shame it's gonna be dead for them now.
Yay for consolidation
AmuroChan
Member
Remember when AOL bought Time Warner LOL?
feynoob
Banned
That is why they say "don't chew more than you can eat".
Mibu no ookami
Member
devs come and go, but established infrastructure, culture, pipeline, limited tech debt... all very important...
Borderlands is almost always available for free on a multitude of platforms.
Mibu no ookami
Member
Extremely lucky? No, I don't think so. If Microsoft hadn't funded it, someone else would have, maybe even Sony.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Goolging it, Embracer had a falling out where there was going to be some kind of partnership or sale of stuff worth $2B. It never happened. So now they got around $1B US in debt trying to get rid of.
They're like a house flipper hoarding properties assuming buyers will come by and take them off their hands to bank profit. The mortgages cost sky high and they got no big deals, so they need to dump them.
They're like a house flipper hoarding properties assuming buyers will come by and take them off their hands to bank profit. The mortgages cost sky high and they got no big deals, so they need to dump them.
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feynoob
Banned
Sony refused to fund them unless they own the IP. Hence why MS funded them.
Mibu no ookami
Member
Citation that Sony refused to fund them.
feynoob
Banned
Post in thread 'Official Sunset Overdrive Trailer' https://www.neogaf.com/threads/official-sunset-overdrive-trailer.815293/post-111129325
Insomniac wanted to retain the IP and MS was ok with that.
CamHostage
Member
Embracer always seemed like a disaster waiting to happen, but I hate that it happened. They were one of the few old-school "Let's just make a lot of games!" publishers out there, and they were buying up IP and developers in genres that other publishers had abandoned but that niches of gamers still enjoyed. And these development studios needed a parent publisher, not every studio can operate as an indie. If Embracer had just been able to keep cranking out a slew of 7s forever and making money on the full slate of game interests, that would have been pleasant.
(I can't believe I'm defending the shit-shoveling THQ publishing model, but now that it's gone I miss the stuff I liked to be found among the garbage.)
(I can't believe I'm defending the shit-shoveling THQ publishing model, but now that it's gone I miss the stuff I liked to be found among the garbage.)
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chromhound
Member
Take Two could buy Gearbox hmmm
Games of Today
Member
Please for the love of God I hope they get sold and make the fourth Brothers in Arms game. FUCK!
Games of Today
Member
I could seriously see Xbox adopting Brothers in Arms as a first party FPS title. It would honestly be so sick. But of course I wish Sony would do that haha.
ComputerBlue
Member
Expecting to see Deus Ex get ruined or forgotten about for good by all of this.