 Logo used since 2008 | |
.jpg) Headquarters in Frisco | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | February 16, 1999; 26 years ago (1999-02-16) |
| Founders |
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| Headquarters | , US |
Key people | |
| Products | |
| Revenue |  US$184 million[3] (2022) |
Number of employees | 1,300[4][needs update] (2022) |
| Parent |
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| Subsidiaries |
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| Website | gearboxsoftware.com |
Gearbox Software, L.L.C.[5] is an Americanvideo game development company based inFrisco, Texas. It was established as alimited liability company in February 1999 by five developers formerly of Rebel Boat Rocker.Randy Pitchford, one of the founders, serves aspresident andchief executive officer. Gearbox initially created expansions for theValve gameHalf-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 ofDuke Nukem andHomeworld.
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 theEmbracer Group in April 2021, becoming its seventh major label. A third division, Gearbox Studios, focusing on television and film productions, was established in October 2021. Due to major restructuring following a failed investment, Embracer announced plans to divest Gearbox toTake-Two Interactive, who had previously published several of Gearbox's games under its2K label, in March 2024. Take-Two Interactive closed the Gearbox Software acquisition on June 12, 2024.[6][7]
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Gearbox Software was founded on February 16, 1999, byRandy Pitchford, Brian Martel, Stephen Bahl, Landon Montgomery and Rob Heironimus, five developers formerly of Rebel Boat Rocker.[8][9] Before Rebel Boat Rocker, Pitchford and Martel previously worked together at3D Realms, and Montgomery previously worked atBethesda Softworks. By 2000, the company employed 15 people.[10]
They started with developing expansions toValve'sHalf-Life. PortingHalf-Life to console platforms (each with new game content) followed, building the company's experience in console game-making, in addition to enhancing and building upon the successfulCounter-Strike branch of theHalf-Life franchise. Prior toHalf-Life 2, they had developed or helped develop everyHalf-Life expansion game or port, includingOpposing Force,Blue Shift,Counter-Strike: Condition Zero,Half-Life for the SonyPlayStation 2 (includingHalf-Life: Decay), andHalf-Life for the SegaDreamcast (includingBlue Shift). Branching out to other publishers, they pursued additionalport work, each game being released with additional content, but this time from console to PC. These projects included their first non-first-person shooter,Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, andHalo: Combat Evolved, forging new publisher relationships withActivision andMicrosoft Game Studios respectively. Additional new development, in the form of a PC game in theJames Bond franchise (James Bond 007: Nightfire) forElectronic Arts, also occurred during the company's initial 5-year period.
In 2005, they launched an original property of their creation,Brothers in Arms, with the release ofBrothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 on theXbox,PC and PlayStation 2. Later that year a sequel,Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood, was launched. In 2008,Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway was released.
2007 brought announcements of new projects based on licensed film intellectual properties, including the crime dramaHeat[11] and the science-fiction classicAliens.[12] In the September 2007 issue ofGame Informer, Pitchford stated that development on theHeat game had not yet begun, as the planned development partner for the project had gone under.[13][14] This was followed by an announcement bySega that they would be helming a new version of rhythm gameSamba de Amigo for theWii, a departure from their signature first-person shooter titles.[15]
Work on a new intellectual property,Borderlands, began around 2005 and was first announced in 2007.[16][14] Pitchford likened the game as a combination ofcomputer role-playing games such asDiablo andNetHack, and first-person shooters likeDuke Nukem.[17] Defining features ofBorderlands was its outlined graphical style and its procedurally-generated loot system that was capable of generating millions of different guns and other gear items.[18]Borderlands was released in October 2009, published by2K, a subsidiary ofTake-Two Interactive. By August 2011, had sold over 4.5 million copies, making it a critical success for Gearbox and allowing them to expand the studio and budgets for subsequent games.[19][20] Subsequently, Gearbox developed two additional games in thevideo game series,Borderlands 2 (2012) andBorderlands 3 (2019), as well as the spin-off titleTiny Tina's Wonderlands (2022), and the series has spawn additional games from other studios under 2K/Take-Two or through license, includingBorderlands: The Pre-Sequel by2K Australia, andTales from the Borderlands fromTelltale Games. Gearbox and Take-Two have also partnered withLionsgate to develop a live-actionBorderlands film, which was released on August 9, 2024.
In July 2013, Gearbox announced plans to rereleaseHomeworld andHomeworld 2 in high definition for modern PC platforms, in addition to making it available throughdigital distributors.[21]
In July 2014, Randy Pitchford formally contested theAliens: Colonial Marines class action lawsuit stating the game had cost them millions of their own money and the advertising was solely the fault of the publisher.[22]
In December 2015, Gearbox opened a second development studio inQuebec City, Canada.[23] The studio is run by Sebastien Caisse and formerActivision art director Pierre-Andre Dery. The team consists of over 100 members and is contributing to the development of original AAA titles.[24]
Gearbox established Gearbox Publishing in 2015, first announced to the public in December 2016, as to publish third-party games, starting with the remastered version ofBulletstorm fromPeople Can Fly.[25][26] Pitchford said that they wanted to start expanding into other areas of capital growth beyond games that Gearbox was traditionally known for, and planned to use Gearbox Publishing as a starting point.[27] Later, in May 2019, Gearbox established The Gearbox Entertainment Company, Inc. (Gearbox Entertainment) as a parent company for both Gearbox Software and Gearbox Publishing.[28][29]
Co-founder Landon Montgomery, who had left the company around 2007, died on March 25, 2020.[30]
In April 2021, Gearbox Entertainment was wholly acquired by theEmbracer Group for precisely $363 million rising to $1,378 million should they reach specific operational targets. This addition would be the company's seventh major publishing group.[31][29][32] Pitchford stated that while they were looking to raise capital from 2016, they came to meet with Embracer, and saw that their decentralized studio model would work well for Gearbox.[27] 2K remained on Gearbox's board and continued to publish theBorderlands series.[33]
Gearbox Entertainment opened a second Canadian studio, Gearbox Studio Montreal, in August 2021, to support 250 new staff, bringing the total size of Gearbox to around 850 employees.[34]
Gearbox announced the formation of Gearbox Studios as a third company under the Gearbox Entertainment Company on October 6, 2021, to oversee television and film productions, with Pitchford serving as Gearbox Studios president alongside as president and CEO of the parent company. Former CTO Steve Jones was named as president of Gearbox Software in Pitchford's place.[1] Embracer announced it intent to acquire Perfect World Entertainment in December 2021 and placing the group, including its publishing arm andCryptic Studios, under the Gearbox Entertainment operating group.[35] Following its acquisition in April 2022, Perfect World Entertainment was rebranded as Gearbox Publishing San Francisco, with the naming to be applied retroactively to past games published underPerfect World.[36]
In April 2022, Gearbox Entertainment announced it will acquire Lost Boys Interactive, which had supported Gearbox inTiny Tina's Wonderlands.[4] Later that November, Gearbox acquired theRisk of Rain IP from Hopoo Games, while Embracer transferred ownership ofVolition to Gearbox Entertainment from Deep Silver following poor reception to itsSaint's Row reboot. The studio would later shut down the following year due to the restructuring of Embracer Group.[37][38] That same month,Eidos Shanghai, another studio under the Embracer Group, was transferred to Gearbox Publishing San Francisco and rebranded as Gearbox Studio Shanghai.[39]
Gearbox Entertainment acquired Captured Dimensions, a 3D modeling company from Texas, in January 2023.[40] Later in the month, Gearbox laid off a sizeable portion of the staff at Lost Boys Interactive.[41] According to a Washington stateWARN notice, 125 employees lost their jobs.[42]
Take-Two Interactive announced its plans to acquire Gearbox Entertainment and its intellectual properties from Embracer Group for $460 million on March 28, 2024, to be added under the2K label. The acquisition also includes Gearbox Software with its satellite studios and Gearbox Publishing.[43] Embracer will retain Gearbox San Francisco, Gearbox Shanghai, Lost Boys Interactive, Captured Dimensions, and Cryptic Studios, along with publishing rights toRemnant,Hyper Light Breaker, and other unannounced titles.[44] Less than a day after the announcement, it was reported that an unknown number of employees were laid off from Gearbox.[45] On June 12, 2024, Take-Two Interactive closed the Gearbox Software transaction.[6][7]
Following the acquisition, The Gearbox Entertainment Company operates as a studio within 2K.[46]
Gearbox Software has two additional studios in addition to their main studios in Frisco, Texas; Gearbox Studio Montreal, and Gearbox Studio Québec. After the company was bought by Take-Two, many assets were retained by Embracer such as Lost Boys, Captured Dimensions and the San Francisco publishing division which was rebranded as Arc Games alongside several titles. The Gearbox Publishing division handled by The Gearbox Entertainment Company was later absorbed into 2K following Take-Two's buyout of Gearbox.
Gearbox has developed a total of six games in theHalf-Life series: the expansion packsOpposing Force andBlue Shift; ports ofHalf-Life for Dreamcast (which includedBlue Shift) andHalf-Life for PlayStation 2 (which includedHalf-Life: Decay); they also did a large amount of work on both the retail release ofCounter-Strike and the main portion ofCounter-Strike: Condition Zero.
During their fourth year, Gearbox began working on their first independently owned game:Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30. Developed forPC and Microsoft'sXbox console, and built with theUnreal Engine 2, it was released in March 2005. The sequel,Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood, followed seven months later. The series was published byUbisoft, who supported both games withPlayStation 2 versions, and later worked with them to developBrothers in Arms games for portable systems (mobile phones,PlayStation Portable andNintendo DS) and theWii home console.
In 2005, Gearbox licensed theUnreal Engine 3 fromEpic Games, to replace the Unreal Engine 2 technology used in previous games, and grew its internal development teams to handle the demands of next-generation technology and content.[47]Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway was the first new title to be announced, continuing the company's flagship franchise.[48]
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway was launched in September 2008. By 2008, the franchise also spun off a comic book series, a two-part television documentary, a line of action figures, and a novelization and non-fiction history book.
After the completion ofBrothers in Arms: Earned in Blood, Gearbox began working on their second original game,Borderlands. The game was envisioned by Pitchford as a combination of theroguelike genre withaction role-playing games likeDiablo in a first-person shooter.[17] Set on the fictional planet Pandora, players control a Vault Hunter as they fight off the planet's hostile wildlife and human forces while seeking a fabled Vault that is claimed to be filled with riches. Part ofBorderlands' features is the use of procedural generation to create the weapons and other gear that drop from defeating enemies or completing missions, with the first game featuring more than 15 million possible variations, according to Gearbox.Borderlands also features a cell-shaded-like art style giving the game a comic-book appearance.[49]
Borderlands was released in 2009, and became an unexpected success for Gearbox, selling around three to four million copies by 2011.[50][51][52] This has launched several followup games, including the direct sequelsBorderlands 2 (2012),Borderlands 3 (2019), andBorderlands 4 (2025), the prequelBorderlands: The Pre-Sequel (2015) and the spinoff titleTiny Tina's Wonderlands (2023), all that expand on the series' mechanics. In addition, twointeractive fiction games,Tales from the Borderlands (2014) andNew Tales from the Borderlands (2022) have been released. A feature film,Borderlands (2024) has also been released.
Duke Nukem Forever had been a project with atroubled development history at3D Realms, who had created theDuke Nukem series, since sometime prior to 2000. Due to financial difficulties in 2009, 3D Realms was forced to downsize and ultimately lay off most of the development staff. Take-Two Interactive sued 3D Realms for failing to deliverDuke Nukem Forever.[53]
Pitchford, who had prior industry relations with many 3D Realms staff includingGeorge Broussard, learned that many of the 3D Realms team were still eager to developDuke Nukem Forever, working out of their homes on what they could. Pitchford negotiated with Take-Two to bring many of the former 3D Realms staff into a new studio called Triptych Games, housed at Gearbox's headquarters, to continue working onDuke Nukem Forever following 3D Realms' closure in 2009.[54] As a result, 3D Realms sold the rights toDuke Nukem and the existing work onDuke Nukem Forever to Gearbox around February 2010. Take-Two and Gearbox subsequently announced in September 2010 that Gearbox would finish production ofDuke Nukem Forever.[55][56]Duke Nukem Forever was released in June 2011, and received negative critical reception on release, with most of the criticism directed towards the unfinished, rushed state of the game.[57][58] Despite the criticism, the game topped the charts on release and made a profit.[59]
3D Realms had initially sued Gearbox in June 2013 for unpaid royalties overDuke Nukem Forever,[60] but dropped the suit by September 2013, with 3D Realms' founder Scott Miller stating that it was a misunderstanding on their part.[61]
3D Realms was eventually acquired in part byInterceptor Entertainment, and in 2014, Interceptor announced plans to make a newDuke Nukem game,Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction. Gearbox filed suit against 3D Realms and Interceptor based on the fact that Gearbox now owned the rights to theDuke Nukem franchise.[62] The case was settled out of court in August 2015, with 3D Realms and Interceptor acknowledging that Gearbox has full rights to theDuke Nukem series.[63] Following the settlement, Gearbox releasedDuke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary Edition World Tour in September 2016. The game included new levels developed in conjunction with some of the original developers, re-recorded lines by original Duke voice actorJon St. John, and new music from original composerLee Jackson. It was released on October 11, 2016.[64]
Aliens: Colonial Marines was a result of Gearbox's exploration into working on licensed film properties in 2007, and was developed under license from20th Century Fox, who held the film rights, andSega, who held the game publishing rights to thefranchise.[12]Aliens: Colonial Marines was planned as a first-person shooter, both single-player and multiplayer, with players as members of human squads facing the franchises titularxenomorphs in settings based on the films. Gearbox did initial development on the game, but as the studio started working onBorderlands andDuke Nukem Forever, they drew developers offAliens though still collected full payments from Sega. Sega and 2K discovered the discrepancy on Gearbox's allocation of its staff on its projects, which lead to a round of layoffs in 2008.[65]
After Gearbox releasedBorderlands to critical acclaim in 2009, it began work on its sequel rather than re-allocating developers toAliens. Instead, the studio outsourced the work to third parties, includingDemiurge Studios,Nerve Software, andTimeGate Studios. By 2012, Gearbox took over full development of the game as it neared its planned release in February 2013, but due to the heavily outsourced process, the game's state was haphazard, forcing Gearbox to cancel a planned beta period and rush the game through the final stages of production, certification, and distribution.[66] On release, the game suffered from performance issues even on target hardware specifications, and shipped with a software bug that hampered the artificial intelligence of the xenomorphs in the game, making the game far less challenging than promised; it was discovered in 2019 that this bug was result of a typographic error in a configuration file shipped with the game.[67][68] The game's poor performance led Sega to cancel planned releases for theWii U.[69]
A class action lawsuit filed in April 2013 by Roger Damion Perrine and John Locke alleged that Gearbox and Sega falsely advertisedAliens: Colonial Marines by showing demos at trade shows that did not accurately represent the final product. Sega and the plaintiffs reached a settlement in late 2014, wherein Sega agreed to pay $1.25 million to the class. The plaintiffs dropped Gearbox from the suit in May 2015.[70]
Released in May 2016,Battleborn was a cooperative first-person shooter video game withmultiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) elements.Battleborn takes place in a space fantasy setting where multiple races contest possession of the universe's last star. Players select one of multiple pre-defined heroes, customized with passive abilities gained through end-of-mission loot, to complete both player-vs-player and player-vs-environment events. During such events, characters are leveled up through their "Helix tree", granting one of two abilities at each level.[71] WhileBattleborn was well received by critics, it was released within a month ofBlizzard Entertainment'sOverwatch, ahero shooter with similar concepts, and which quickly overshadowedBattleborn.[17] The title wentfree-to-play in June 2017[72] and was shut down in January 2021.[73]
After 10 years without any new releases to the series, Gearbox acquired the rights to theHomeworld series fromTHQ in 2013.[74][75] Shortly after that theHomeworld Remastered Collection was released in 2015, containing updated High-Definition versions ofHomeworld andHomeworld 2 compatible with modern Windows and Mac OS X systems.[76]
In September 2013, Gearbox announced a partnership withBlackbird Interactive and licensing theHomeworld-IP for their then-namedHardware: Shipbreakers game. This game later becameHomeworld: Deserts of Kharak and was released on January 20, 2016[77] as a prequel to the originalHomeworld game of 1999.
On August 30, 2019, Gearbox announcedHomeworld 3 which was developed byBlackbird Interactive.[78] The game's development was at least partially funded through a crowdfunding campaign on theFig platform,[79] and was released May 13, 2024.[80]
ABorderlands film was released by Gearbox andLionsgate in 2024, withEli Roth as director.[81] The film received negative reviews from critics and poor reception from fans.[82]
In April 2020, Gearbox announced it was developing a television series based on itsBrothers in Arms series.[83]
In 2006, they partnered withDell andIntel to provide development computer systems and technology for their studio.[84]
In June 2007, they purchased a Movenmotion capture system that uses non-optical inertia technology, to augment their existing Vicon optical motion capture system becoming one of the few independent developers with two in-housemotion capture capabilities.[85]
In February 2008, it was announced that they had licensedNaturalMotion's Morpheme software.[86]
| Year | Title | Platform(s) | Publisher(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Half-Life: Opposing Force | Linux,macOS,Microsoft Windows | Sierra Studios |
| 2001 | Half-Life: Blue Shift | ||
| Half-Life | PlayStation 2 (port) | ||
| Half-Life: Decay | PlayStation 2 | ||
| 2002 | Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 | Microsoft Windows (port) | Activision O2 |
| James Bond 007: Nightfire | Microsoft Windows | EA Games | |
| 2003 | Halo: Combat Evolved | Microsoft Windows (port) | Microsoft Game Studios |
| 2005 | Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 | macOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox | Ubisoft |
| Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood | macOS, Microsoft Windows, mobile, PlayStation 2, Wii, Xbox | ||
| 2006 | Brothers in Arms: D-Day | PlayStation Portable | |
| 2007 | Brothers in Arms DS | Nintendo DS | |
| 2008 | Samba de Amigo | Wii (port) | Sega |
| Brothers in Arms: Double Time | macOS, Wii | Ubisoft | |
| Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | ||
| 2009 | Borderlands | macOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | 2K |
| 2011 | Duke Nukem Forever | ||
| 2012 | Borderlands 2 | Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3,PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360 | |
| Borderlands Legends | iOS | ||
| 2013 | Aliens: Colonial Marines | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | Sega |
| 2014 | Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! | Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | 2K |
| 2015 | Borderlands: The Handsome Collection | PlayStation 4,Xbox One | |
| Homeworld Remastered Collection | macOS, Microsoft Windows | Gearbox Software,Aspyr | |
| 2016 | Battleborn | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One | 2K |
| Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour | Gearbox Publishing | ||
| 2019 | Penn & Teller VR: F U, U, U, & U | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation VR, Oculus Quest | |
| Borderlands 3 | Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4,PlayStation 5, Xbox One,Xbox Series X/S | 2K | |
| 2022 | Tiny Tina's Wonderlands | ||
| New Tales from the Borderlands | Microsoft Windows,Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S | ||
| 2024 | Risk of Rain 2: Seekers of the Storm | Microsoft Windows | Gearbox Publishing |
| 2025 | Borderlands 4 | Microsoft Windows,Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S | 2K |
| Year | Title | Platform(s) | Developer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak | macOS, Windows | Blackbird Interactive |
| 2017 | Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition | Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One | People Can Fly |
| Fortnite (physical format) | Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One | Epic Games | |
| Desert Bus VR | Windows | Dinosaur Games | |
| 2018 | Burnstar | Nintendo Switch | Nerve Software |
| Earthfall | Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch | Holospark | |
| We Happy Few | Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One | Compulsion Games | |
| 2019 | Trover Saves the Universe | Squanch Games | |
| Into the Dead 2[87] | Nintendo Switch | PikPok | |
| 2020 | Risk of Rain 2 | Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One,Stadia | Hopoo Games |
| Godfall | Windows, PlayStation 4,PlayStation 5, Xbox One,Xbox Series X/S | Counterplay Games | |
| 2021 | Tribes of Midgard | Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S | Norsfell Games |
| 2022 | Eyes in the Dark: The Curious Case of One Victoria Bloom[88] | Windows | Under The Stairs |
| 2023 | Blanc | Windows, Nintendo Switch | Casus Ludi |
| Risk of Rain Returns | Hopoo Games | ||
| Relic Hunters Legend | Windows | Rogue Snail | |
| 2024 | Homeworld 3[89] | Blackbird Interactive | |
| RKGK / Rakugaki | Wabisabi Games |
| 2K |
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