Gearbox Publishing San Francisco Renamed to Arc Games

Gearbox Publishing San Francisco has a new name, Arc Games. This publishing branch is known for editing games like the shooter soulslike Remnant 2 and the roguelike Hyper Light Breaker. A new trailer for Hyper Light Breaker will be out tomorrow during the triple-i initiative event, along with several unannounced titles.

Originally called Perfect World Entertainment in 2008, it was the North American subsidiary of the Chinese company Perfect World. This company published Valve games like Dota 2 and Counter Strike in China.

Embracer bought Perfect World Entertainment in December 2021. This deal also included Cryptic Studios, known for Star Trek Online and City of Heroes. All were integrated into the Gearbox group, which Embracer had acquired earlier in February of the same year.

In August 2023, it was confirmed that Gearbox Publishing was one of the studios affected by layoffs at Embracer.

Also Read: Singularity 6 Cuts 35% of Workforce

A few weeks ago, Take-Two started a purchase operation for Gearbox valued at 460 million dollars. As part of this operation, both Cryptic and Gearbox Publishing stayed with Embracer and it was mentioned then that the publishing branch would change its name.

The name change is meant to clear up confusion with Gearbox Publishing, an internal branch of Gearbox started in 2015. It has published titles like Bulletstorm and is managing the upcoming Homeworld 3, set to release on May 13 after several delays.