Borderlands Studio Buys Call Of Duty, PUBG Co-Developer

Borderlands developer Gearbox Entertainment Company has acquired the developer Lost Boys Interactive, a studio that co-developed Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands with Gearbox itself. Lost Boys Interactive has also contributed to the development of major franchises like Call of Duty and PUBG.

In acquiring Lost Boys, Gearbox adds more than 220 employees, bringing its total headcount to around 1,300.

Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford said Lost Boys will have an “immediate and positive impact” on Gearbox and its future products.

Lost Boys was founded in 2017 and is a “remote-first” company that also has offices in Madison, Wisconsin and Austin, Texas. The studio aims to grow its own staff size to 350 by 2024.

Going forward, Lost Boys will be a subsidiary of Gearbox, which itself is owned by Embracer. Lost Boys will “operate independently,” Gearbox said, as it works “in tandem” with Gearbox on new games. Lost Boys’ CEO, Shaun Nivens, will report to Gearbox president Steve Jones.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Gearbox confirmed that Juno Capital Partners assisted Gearbox in the buyout as a “strategic advisor.” Gearbox used Fenwick & West as its legal counsel.

Gearbox’s buyout of Lost Boys is just the latest big acquisition of 2022, a year that industry-watchers expect to be among the biggest ever for M&A. Already so far this year, Microsoft announced plans to buy Activision Blizzard, Sony proposed to buy Bungie, and Take-Two is seeking to scoop up Zynga in massive buyouts that could shake up the industry.