Gearbox Publishing has rebranded to Arc Games

It’s been a bit rough for Gearbox Studios this year already. Back in September of last year, there were reports that Embracer Group was looking to sell off Gearbox Studios. Even though they acquired the studio, along with a bunch of others, back in 2021 for US $1.3 billion. But Embracer has faced a massive loss due to selling off Gearbox to Take-Two Interactive late last month for US $460 million. Take-Two gained a lot of Gearbox’s IP, such as the Borderlands series (including Tiny Tina) and Duke Nukem. Yet, they weren’t able to nab everything. Embracer can keep quite a few studios and some publishing rights for Gearbox’s games. We also heard that Gearbox Entertainment suffered layoffs. While not affecting titles like Borderlands 4, as reported by GamesIndustry, it’s not clear how many employees and from what positions lost their jobs.

Today, Gearbox Publishing San Francisco is no more! As one of the studios Embracer could keep, the team has revealed a rebrand, renamed as Arc Games. In a press release posted to their website, Arc Games is still filled with the same team as before. They look forward to bringing fans exciting new titles like “Gigantic: Rampage Edition, Hyper Light Breaker, and more soon-to-be-announced games for 2025 and beyond!”.

Founded in 2008 under the name Perfect World Entertainment, it wasn’t until the 2022 acquisition by Embracer that they merged into Gearbox Publishing San Francisco. An instantaneous merger, with Gearbox Publishing replacing any past reference to Perfect World Entertainment. It’ll be interesting to see where Arc Games will go. As the company has already published its first game under the new name, Gigantic: Rampage Edition, developed by Abstraction Games. The title, which is one part re-release, and another part remake, currently has a mixed Steam review score.