Gearbox Publishing Rebrands to Arc Games Following Take-Two Deal With Embracer

Gearbox Publishing has rebranded itself to Arc Games following the Take-Two deal with Embracer Group where Gearbox Software was sold for $460 million.

When a video game studio changes its name, it is typically a sign of the company having some form of structural change. However, that is not the case here as Arc has emphasized that other than changing its name, it is business as usual everywhere else.

Gearbox Publishing Rebrands to Arc Games

This means that Arc will still be responsible for publishing previously agreed-upon games such as Hyper Light Breaker and will still be involved in working on titles such as Star Trek Online and Gunfire Games' Remnant series.

In a statement following the rebranding, series designer at Gunfire Games Ben Cureton said that it is still the same publishing team since the days of Remnant 1. He noted that it was a name change for the publisher and did not affect his team, according to Game Developer.

Arc, which is responsible for the Borderlands franchise, started publishing third-party games in 2016 with a remaster of Bulletstorm. Two years ago, the company's efforts grew substantial after Embracer Group bought Perfect World Entertainment.

While the studio's new name has not yet resulted in any worker layoffs, some are skeptical as its former parent company cut employees off their jobs a few hours after the announcement of the independence. Furthermore, both studios have been hit with reductions while under the ownership of Embracer Group.

Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors said last week that the company would end its near-yearlong restructuring efforts. Those plans resulted in layoffs and closures at a number of subsidiaries alongside the more recent sales of Gearbox and Saber Interactive.

The team wrote in the announcement of the name change that they are the same team of passionate gamers who worked on a lot of beloved titles. They also noted that they are excited to bring a lot of newer titles to the industry, including Gigantic: Rampage Edition, which is a MOBA that is getting new life, said GamesHub.

Embracer Group's Restructuring Efforts

The latest development comes after Embracer Group sold Gearbox Software for $460 million, three years after it bought the studio for $1.3 billion. The acquisition of the studio is expected to be finalized by the end of June later this year.

Despite the sale, Embracer Group will maintain ownership of Gearbox Publishing, which is the one that has rebranded to Arc Games. The efforts have been part of the company's continued moves to downsize following years of monthly studio and publisher acquisitions.

In 2023, the company laid out roughly 1,400 people and shut Saints Row studio Volition and Square Enix Montreal last year. There have also been rumors that Gearbox was on the out starting as far back as September last year.

The latest situation of Embracer Group is a stark contrast to how it was in 2021 to 2022 where it made massive acquisitions ranging from Lord of the Rings through to some of Square Enix's former tentpole western studios. It also received large investments from Saudi Arabia, according to PCGamer.