Gearbox Software LLC is an American video game developer based in Frisco, Texas. It was founded in 1999 by former 3D Realms employees Randy Pitchford, Brian Martel, Stephen Bahl, Landon Montgomery and Rob Heironimus.
They got their start making expansion packs and ports for the Half-Life 1 series, which were generally regarded somewhere between So Okay, It's Average and pretty good. They came into their own when they released Brothers in Arms for the PC and Xbox, an original IP that managed to sell very well despite its lack of pedigree and very realistic approach to the FPS genre.
After making a few sequels, they announced another IP they were working on - Borderlands. After a lengthy preview in Game Informer, a last-minute art style shift, and good buzz all around, the game became an unexpected Sleeper Hit, managing to sell incredibly well despite being an unproven IP. In 2010, after 3D Realms went bankrupt, Gearbox purchased the Duke Nukem franchise from them, and released Duke Nukem Forever to the sound of flying pigs. In late April 2013, they acquired the
Homeworld franchise from shuttered video game publisher THQ. In 2015, Gearbox established Gearbox Publishing to publish games by other developers.
In 2021, The Gearbox Entertainment Company, including Gearbox Software and Gearbox Publishing, was acquired by Embracer Group, who owned the rest of THQ's IPs. Later that same year, Embracer also bought Perfect World Entertainment, including Cryptic Studios, and integrated them into Gearbox. In November 2022, Gearbox acquired the rights to the Risk of Rain franchise from Hopoo Games.
However, Embracer ended up with $2 billion in debt after a deal fell through in 2023, leading to massive restructuring throughout the company and eventually being forced to sell Gearbox Entertainment to another company in order to pay it off. In June 2024, Take-Two Interactive acquired Gearbox Entertainment for $460 million and placed it under its 2K Games division, with Embracer retaining rights to several Gearbox studios and titles.
Compare Zombie Studios, a similar American game developer that, like Gearbox Software, was an independent company that developed games for a multitude of major companies and used the Unreal Engine extensively.
Games developed by Gearbox Software:
- Half-Life expansions
- Half-Life: Opposing Force (1999)
- Half-Life: Blue Shift (2001)
- Half-Life: Decay (2001)
- Halo: Combat Evolved (PC port) (2003)
- Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 (2005)
- Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood (2005)
- Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (2008)
- Samba de Amigo (Wii port) (2008)
- Borderlands (2009)
- Borderlands 2 (2012)
- Borderlands Legends (2012)
- Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! (2014) note
- Borderlands 3 (2019)
- Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (2022)
- New Tales from the Borderlands (2022) note
- Borderlands 4 (2024)
- Duke Nukem Forever (2011) note
- Aliens: Colonial Marines (2013) note
- Battleborn (2016)
- Penn & Teller VR: Frankly Unfair, Unkind, Unnecessary, & Underhanded (2019)
Games published by Gearbox Publishing:
- Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak (2016)
- Homeworld 3 (2024)
- Desert Bus VR (2017)
- We Happy Few (2018)
- Risk of Rain 2 (2020)
- Risk of Rain Returns (2023)
- Godfall (2020)
- Tribes Of Midgard (2021)
- Eyes In The Dark (2022)
- Blanc (2023)
- Have a Nice Death (2023)
- Remnant II (2023)
- UFO Unidentified Falling Objects (2023)
- Relic Hunters Legend (2023)
- Rakugaki (2024)
Tropes that apply to the company:
- Everything Is Big in Texas: Oddly averted - despite being headquartered in Texas, and being the minds behind the Borderlands series (which is, put lightly, Gun Porn: The Game), with the second installment being the highest-selling game released by 2K Games, no one seems to mention the two facts together.
- Shout-Out: Common; Borderlands and Borderlands 2 even have their own pages just for shout outs.