Gearbox Entertainment has conducted a round of layoffs after announcing its sale of Take-Two Interactive for $460 million. This is reported by the Game Developer portal with reference to the publications of former employees of the company on social networks.
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It is unknown how many employees of Gearbox Entertainment lost their jobs. According to former public relations manager Jennifer Locke, the cuts have affected "countless" people, including herself. Former IT director Michael Musick, former director of online interaction Chris Harada and former creative marketing manager Omar Flores also wrote about the many people who were fired.
Along with countless others, I've just been informed I've been laid off at Gearbox. It really was a dream come true working on this team, and I'm incredibly grateful for my time here.
I'll be making another pinned post that I'm ✨️ looking for work ✨️
— Jennifer Locke (@JenLocke95) March 28, 2024
Judging by the publications, a significant part of the cuts occurred at Gearbox Publishing. According to Nathaniel Wattenmaker, director of brand management at Gearbox Publishing, it was decided to close the publishing division. According to Gearbox Publishing's LinkedIn account, it employed about 100 people.
In the announcement of the sale of Gearbox Entertainment, the Swedish Embracer Group holding announced that the Gearbox Publishing San Francisco division (also known as Perfect World Entertainment) will remain part of the Embracer Group and will continue to operate under a different name. The fate of other Gearbox Publishing branches was not specified.