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Gearbox Entertainment confirms layoffs following sale from Embracer

It's not clear how many roles have been affected

Gearbox Entertainment has announced an unspecified number of redundancies following its sale from Embracer last week.

As reported by Eurogamer, the studio said the layoffs weren't linked to the development of future titles, such as Borderlands 4.

"The Embracer Group will continue to report on their restructuring program that impacted some parts of Gearbox that are not tied to the development of Gearbox Software games," it said in a statement.

It's unclear how many people were laid off from Gearbox. Former PR manager Jennifer Locke shared on social media that she was one of "countless others" affected by the decision.

Last Thursday, Embracer announced the sale of Gearbox to Take-Two for $460 million as part of its restructuring program, which Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors confirmed had come to an end after the sale.

Embracer's restructuring program, which began in June 2023, resulted in the loss of more than 1,400 jobs and the closure of three studios.

The games firm originally acquired Gearbox in a deal worth $1.3 billion in 2021.

Take-Two's acquisition of Gearbox is expected to be completed in June. The Borderlands developer will operate within Take-Two's 2K label, and will continue to be led by founder and CEO Randy Pitchford.

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Sophie McEvoy avatar
Sophie McEvoy is a Staff Writer at GamesIndustry.biz. She is based in Hampshire and has been a gaming & entertainment journalist since 2018.
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