"Our acquisition of Gearbox is an exciting moment for Take-Two and will strengthen our industry-leading creative talent and portfolio of owned intellectual property, including the iconic Borderlands franchise," said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take-Two. "This combination enhances the financial profile of our existing projects with Gearbox and unlocks the opportunity for us to drive increased long-term growth by leveraging the full resources of Take-Two across all of Gearbox's exciting initiatives."
"With nearly 20 years of history working together, Gearbox has played an integral role in our success, given their unique ability to create interactive entertainment experiences that feature beloved characters, exciting new worlds, and humorous storytelling," added David Ismailer, President of 2K. "We are thrilled to welcome Randy Pitchford and his team of passionate, talented developers to 2K and we look forward to releasing numerous projects in the future as colleagues. We have loved partnering with Gearbox on every iteration of the Borderlands franchise and are excited to be in active development on the next installment in the series."
"Joining forces with Take-Two Interactive and 2K will help Gearbox ascend to our next level," said Randy Pitchford, Founder and CEO of Gearbox Entertainment. "Take-Two and 2K have demonstrated repeatedly their commitment to our engine of generating creativity, happiness, and profit. We set the bar for interactive entertainment and achieved remarkable results with groundbreaking, record-setting games when we worked together at arm's length as partners. I'm incredibly excited about what we can accomplish now that we're fully aligned as one."
Future Gearbox Operating Structure
Gearbox will operate as a studio within 2K and will be led by Founder and CEO, Randy Pitchford, and his management team. The acquisition adds a robust and proven development team to 2K's incredibly talented developer community, including personnel that have worked together on multiple critically and commercially successful games. Gearbox operates studios in Frisco, Texas; Montreal, Canada; and Quebec City, Canada.