Apparently out of nowhere, it was announced this week that the Borderlands Gearbox studio, which has operated independently since its founding 21 years ago, has sold the company to Sweden’s Embracer Group for up to $ 1.3 billion. Gearbox CEO and founder Randy Pitchford now clarifies why he did the deal and why he believes it is in the company’s interest in the future.
Speaking to VentureBeat, Pitchford said that selling his company never really crossed his mind before that. “I have always been allergic to the concept of [mergers and acquisitions]He said that “all partner companies” that Gearbox has worked with over the years have suggested the possibility of a purchase for Gearbox – either through suggestions or an open offer – but Pitchford has always said no.
“Many companies we never worked with would attack us with a cold call, an unsolicited proposal. I’ve always been allergic to it, ”said Pitchford.
Pitchford was cautious about previous purchase proposals because a typical acquisition means that the acquired company will be “centralized” in its parent company. “It is a more restrictive approach. It is based on the assumption that we cannot make our own way, that we do not know how to gain from what we are experts,” he said.
But with Embracer Group, Gearbox has been offered to remain decentralized from the corporate structure. He said he was informed by Lars Wingefors of Embracer that, “’We need to do the opposite of control. We need to feed them. instead of being held back, ‘”Pitchford said.
Pitchford said he did not know that such an arrangement could exist.
“When I realized what Lars had built, what he was doing and what the strategy was, it was simple and obvious, but it was totally counterintuitive to the way the rest of the industry works,” he said. “I realized that Lars is not the suit I was browsing for. Lars is me, just getting to it from the point of view of access to capital. I learned from the construction of the product.”
Also in the interview, Pitchford said that Gearbox was an attractive acquisition target because the studio and its games never lose money. Not all Gearbox games were home runs – Battleborn, for example, just closed – but the company has been profitable every year since 1999, Pitchford said.
“We never lose money. For us, that part – I feel like Neo at Matriz after he sees it. I just need more capital so we can do it faster and better,” he said.
Pitchford owns most of the Gearbox, so he can make a lot of money from the sale, but he also structured the studio in a unique way. Pitchford owns 70% of Gearbox, while employees own the remaining 30%. This setup, along with what Pitchford called “the most generous royalty bonus program in the history of the industry” for his employees, is why people like to work at Gearbox and stay around.
“This created an alignment between each person who participates in the profitability of our products,” he said.
Gearbox’s deal with Embracer is structured in such a way that Gearbox could earn even more money in the future if it reaches certain performance milestones.
Despite the sale, Gearbox will continue to work with 2K Games on the Borderlands series, although no new franchise titles have been announced.
Pitchford also recently revealed that the studio is also incubating several new game ideas that he believes can rock the video game industry like Borderlands did.
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