Another one for the Embracer Group
Perfect World Entertainmenthave announcedthat they’re now known as Gearbox Publishing. Or Gearbox Publishing have announced that they’re no longer Perfect World Entertainment. Same difference. Gearbox Publishing say the change shouldn’t affect anything to do with the ageing live service games they steward, likeStar Trek OnlineandNeverwinter. They’re all part of the Embracer Group, y’see.
Embracer went Christmas shopping in December tobuy Perfect World, along with Dark Horse Comics and some other companies. In August theygrabbed 3D Realms. They’re still picking up companies too. Just last weekEmbracer acquired Lost Boys Interactive, which will act as a subsidiary of Gearbox Software. The week before, Embracerpicked up Beamdogand their upcoming first original game, the roguelike Mythforce, through subsidiaryAspyr Media.
It’s no understatement to say thatEmbracer have become one of the largest groups of companies in the industryeven if that’s mostly down to owning smaller studios, although they do count Deep Silver, THQ Nordic, Saber Interactive andGearboxamong the group. They evenformed a new version of former Timesplitters studio Free Radicalback in May last year.
Ed checked out Perfect World’s last game published under their old name, Magic Design Studios' rogueliteHave A Nice Death, when it launched in Steam Early Access last month. Calling it a “mash-up betweenDead Cellsand Hades”, he still came away feeling like he had a “good, if familiar, time”.
Gearbox Publishing recently confirmed that they werepublishing Hyper Light Breaker, Heart Machine’s follow-up toHyper Light Drifter. The games industry ever trudges towardsits consolidation…
