Embracer Group Acquires Dark Horse Media, Perfect World Entertainment, and More

[Tsing]

Image: Dark Horse Comics



Swedish video game holding giant Embracer Group revealed today that its empire has grown even larger with the acquisition of a few major companies that include Perfect World Entertainment and Dark Horse Media.



Perfect World Entertainment is a video game developer and publisher that’s known for various successful MMOs such as Neverwinter, Star Trek Online, and Champions Online, while Dark Horse Media is a company that should require little to no introduction for comic book readers. Its divisions include Dark Horse Comics, the publisher behind Aliens vs. Predator, Hellboy...

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[Brian_B]

I'm shocked Tencent isn't somewhere in all of this. I thought PWE was a Tencent subsidiary already, but I guess not.

 

[termus]

How is Gearbox involved?

 

[Burticus]

Hmmmmm

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

How is Gearbox involved?

From Wiki, I included the whole history just because it's kind of interesting. I don't normally refer to wiki but occasionally you can find the truth there. At the very end, it mentions how Embracer bought them in October.

"Gearbox Software is an American video game development company based in Frisco, Texas. It was established as a limited liability company in February 1999 by five developers formerly of Rebel Boat Rocker. Randy Pitchford, one of the founders, serves as president and chief executive officer. Gearbox initially created expansions for the Valve game Half-Life, then ported that game and others to console platforms. In 2005, Gearbox launched its first independent set of games, Brothers in Arms, on console and mobile devices. It became their flagship franchise and spun off a comic book series, television documentary, books, and action figures. Their second original game series, Borderlands, commenced in 2009, and by 2015 had sold over 26 million copies. The company also owns the intellectual property of Duke Nukem and Homeworld.

Gearbox expanded into publishing with the creation of Gearbox Publishing in 2015. A parent company, The Gearbox Entertainment Company, was established for Gearbox Software and Gearbox Publishing in 2019. Gearbox Entertainment was acquired by the Embracer Group in April 2021, becoming its seventh major label. A third division, Gearbox Studios, to focus on television and movie productions, was established in October 2021."

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

This is pretty huge. We've done so many articles in the last 12-24 months on their various purchases it's really getting difficult to understand what they don't own now or somehow have involvement with. The good news, so far, is we're not really hearing any grief from those studios. Unlike the ones that Ubisoft, EA, or Activision have involvement with. Not saying there might not be some grief out there, just saying it hasn't really been making headlines.