Gearbox Acquisition Will Not Impact 2K's Role As Borderlands Publisher

Huge purchase. These guys get bigger and bigger.

Looking forward to more Borderlands and more VR from them.

They want to make their own streaming games service maybe 😅

@OrigamiCrane I think that's exactly the way the industry wants to be heading towards. And industry as in corporate shills, not the devs or the gamers.

I wonder what are they planning to do with all this acquisitions

For some reason i assumed they were already owned by 2k 🤷‍♂️

@OrigamiCrane althogh I sure hope any subscription service is just an option, you already have to give money to a hndread different publishers to play your games, as you buy them.

Honestly, If everyine starts having their own service, that's when one just subscribe to the service that has games one decides to play a given month. Want to play Borderlands 4? Cancel EA, Ubi, PSNow, and pay a month of THQs service.

In such a world, would never own a game but would never pay for more than 2 subscriptions a month, something that would be cheaper.

@OrigamiCrane I doubt anyone but platform owners will be able to get away with big subscriber numbers from these services, so surely doubt anyone will exclusively offer games through them.

If there is only one subscription service around, people are more likely to simply keep that sub going. I'm sure GamePass subscribers don't subscribe intermittently.

The magic of having such a service is only viable when people stay subscribed, since the average user does not buy that many games a year. With a sub service, they are sure to get at least 120 a year from each user, and the user also gets to play way more games than they would if they simply bought them.

Anyways, I'm sure no publisher will lock their games behind these services. OK... I got to admit, maybe Sony has done so by locking some pre-ps4 games behind PSNow Streaming, but that's just a tech limitation because they won't invest on bringing those games into current Gen.

It is upsetting seeing talented studios getting scooped up one by one while Sony just stands by and watches. After Microsoft continuously adding teams (which they still are) there’s really not much left out there in the way of a big impact buy.

@BamBamBaklava89 Well it not like Sony was gonna buy any studio anyway. They've never been into buying developers that they don't have a history with.

Not a single person has gotten the platinum trophy for Borderlands 3 on PS5...Maybe they will now have the resources to patch that massive glitch?

At least it wasn't Tencent...

@get2sammyb But how, they keep buying companies with obscure and dead IPs that no one cares and now they are buying Gearbox with a dying Borderlands IP after the disappointing third game I don’t think anyone it’s exciting for the fourth game myself including, so outside of Darksiders and Borderlands how are they profiting from their other acquisitions

Edit: I just read that 2K will still be the publisher to the borderlands franchise, which in my opinion makes this purchase even more worthless

We live in a world where THQ('s successor) can buy Gearbox.

@doontoon What’s broken this time?

I had to wait 1 year for them to fix a trophy I needed for the PS4 platinum.

So if there is a similar problem on the PS5, I’ll hold off.

Embracer Group? Never heard of them, seriously. Do they have their logo on any of the games?

@jorel262 They own THQNordic (and originally named THQNordic until a year ago)

@get2sammyb Well then stop with these €400 CE that collecte dust in the stores.

@BamBamBaklava89 They are big but nowhere near the size of MS you can spend your money only once.

THQ Nordic has been a pretty decent company, not always quality wise but microtransaction wise they've been pretty decent so this doesn't bother me a whole lot

Heh, as much as I despise the tendency towards monopsony the industry has taken, at least it's not Tencent, Microsoft or Sony, so platforms won't have to be locked out of their games.
That said, pretty much everyone hates Gearbox and Randy, so maybe now they have a shot a redeeming their public image.

The streaming boogie-man is not under your bed and coming to get you. I do not even accept the all digital format. I accept streaming, digital, and physical as a options ONLY! The day I do not have the option to pick my choice is the day I say no thanks.

Their content would make for a great partnership with Electronic Arts to add value to EA Play’s streaming service.

@OrigamiCrane Unfortunately that's where it's going to go, you never will own a physical copy of the game ever. And have to subscribe to more services for entertainment, movies and TV shows have done it with Netflix, Amazon Prime. The gaming industry now wants in that piece of the pie as well and unfortunately the common denominator will except that because they just don't care, they will moan and groan but they'll except it