Next Borderlands game confirmed to be in “active development”

thesixthaxis.com:

Alongside the announced acquisition of Gearbox by Take-Two Interactive, publishing subsidiary 2K Games has also confirmed that the next Borderlands game is in active development.

2K Games president David Ismailer said, “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 instalment in the series.”

This is, of course, entirely expected. Borderlands has been Gearbox’s go-to series ever since the first game proved to be a smash hit in 2009. Sure, there have been other games from Gearbox, like Duke Nukem Forever, Aliens: Colonial Marines and Battleborn, but it’s only really Borderlands and its spin-offs that have had any staying power.

And through all this time, 2K Games has been the exclusive publishing partner for the Borderlands franchise, even while Gearbox has been a part of Embracer. This acquisition by Take-Two is a totally logical move to secure this popular and enduring series going forward.

Take-Two is acquiring Gearbox from Embracer for $460 million – paid for in newly created stocks that Embracer is expected to cash out as soon as possible to help ease their cashflow problems. That’s a big step down from the $1.3 billion that Embracer paid (and promised to pay) when buying Gearbox in 2021, but that’s far from the only investment they’ve made in the Gearbox brand. Take-Two isn’t taking Gearbox as a whole, but is instead taking the company’s core studios and acquiring a handful of core IP – the Borderlands franchise, as well as Homeworld, Risk of Rain, Brothers in Arms and Duke Nukem. Embracer is holding onto the publishing arm (which is to be rebranded) and the various IPs that they had assigned to the brand over the last few years, including Remnant and Hyper Light Breaker, and they are also