Take-Two plans to go massive on Borderlands now it owns Gearbox Leisure.
In March, the embattled Embracer Group offered Borderlands developer Gearbox to Take-Two for $460 million. As a part of the deal, Take-Two, which via its publishing division 2K already had a protracted historical past with Gearbox, now owns the franchises Borderlands, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, Homeworld, Danger of Rain, Brothers in Arms, and Duke Nukem. Gearbox is becoming a member of 2K Video games and can proceed to be led by CEO and founder Randy Pitchford.
Gearbox has loved monumental success with the looter shooter Borderlands franchise over the years. It’s offered practically 86 million items throughout all titles, with Borderlands 2 safe as 2K’s top-selling online game with 28 million offered. Borderlands 3 is 2K’s fastest-selling online game ever, and has offered practically 20 million items to date.
At the moment, Gearbox has each a brand new Borderlands and “no less than one thrilling new mental property” in growth. 2K Video games plans to reveal the “subsequent iteration in one in every of its greatest and most beloved franchises” at Summer season Recreation Fest, which is about to happen on Friday, June 7. Followers speculate this sport could also be Borderlands 4.
In that case, it could match up neatly with the launch of the Borderlands film, which comes out on August 9. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford has teased Borderlands 4 in the previous. “Look, we have not even introduced something of it,” Pitchford stated again in March. “Clearly, we’re engaged on one thing. And I do know what we’re engaged on, and holy shit… It is the best factor we have ever accomplished. And I am unable to wait, but it surely’s not time but. It is not time but. There shall be a time.”
Talking in an investor-focused name following its newest monetary outcomes, Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick stated the firm now plans to double-down on Borderlands, and had already recognized “many potential progress alternatives” for the sequence.
“Borderlands 3 outpaced our forecasts and we’re thrilled that Randy Pitchford and Gearbox Leisure are slated to be part of formally 2K’s famend inside studios in the coming weeks,” Zelnick stated.
“We have now already recognized many potential progress alternatives for the Borderlands sequence and Gearbox’s catalog, which we plan to pursue as soon as the studio is built-in into our group. We’re additionally excited to see rising buzz for the star-studded Borderlands characteristic movie which is deliberate for launch by Lionsgate this summer time.”
The Borderlands franchise has already expanded with quite a lot of online game spin-offs and is about to increase additional with the launch of the aforementioned Borderlands film, starring the likes of Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, and Jamie Lee Curtis. One spin-off Take-Two has singled out as doing significantly properly is 2022 motion role-playing first-person shooter Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, which is about inside the world of a fantasy-themed tabletop RPG.
Increasing on the determination to purchase Gearbox throughout the investor name, Zelnick stated that when the alternative offered itself to purchase the firm “on phrases that we felt had been affordable, we frankly jumped at the alternative.”
“We have now all the respect in the world for Randy Pitchford and his crew,” Zelnick continued. “He has the potential to carry AAA merchandise to market, responsibly and on a really dependable and relatively speedy cadence. And he’s successful maker. And it’s extremely exhausting to make a brand new hit, and [Tiny Tino] was a brand new hit. And naturally, Borderlands simply goes from power to power. So we’re thrilled to have Gearbox in the household.”
Primarily based on Zelnick’s feedback, we are able to count on loads extra Borderlands in the future now Gearbox is beneath the Take-Two umbrella. However there are points elsewhere in the firm. Earlier this month, Take-Two introduced a value discount plan that included challenge cancellations and layoffs amounting to 5% of its workforce. Amid this announcement got here reports based on internal documentation that appeared to affirm Take-Two was closing OlliOlli World developer Roll7 and Kerbal Area Program 2 developer Intercept Video games. However when IGN requested Zelnick why these closures occurred, he replied: “We did not shutter these studios.” Experiences additionally point out publishing label Non-public Division, which is behind was additionally gutted.
This week, Take-Two narrowed the hotly anticipated GTA 6 launch date window to fall 2025.
Wesley is the UK Information Editor for IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You may attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.