Dark skies ahead.
The Embracer Group’s second quarter interim report has been a real barnburner for old Gearbox. Not only has the studio been handed oversight of Saints Row developer Volition, but the report also quietly announced that Gearbox has gone and bought up the Risk of Rain series too.
In a statement posted to Twitter, Gearbox said that, “After years of publishing work on Risk of Rain 2, we have developed a deep love and respect for the IP,” and that it would endeavour to “bring you world-class content” and ensure “a bright future for this genre-leading franchise”.
To start off, that means Gearbox’s first order of business is bringing Risk of Rain 2’s Survivors of the Void DLC to consoles, but the studio is also teasing a “very special passion project” it’s working on alongside original Risk of Rain developer Hopoo.
For its part, Hopoo didn’t have a great deal to add to the announcement, only calling it “excellent news” for Risk of Rain fans on Twitter. When pressed by nervous fans to clarify exactly what the purchase means for the future of the series, Hopoo did at least elaborate that it meant “More RoR“. Whether or not “More RoR” will also mean ‘better RoR’ (or at least ‘equivalent RoR’) is still up in the air, though.
Gearbox had better hope it knows what it’s doing with the series, because the news was mostly greeted with trepidation by fans. The replies to the tweets from Hopoo and Gearbox announcing the purchase mostly consist of increasingly esoteric memes conveying fear and hostility. The number one comment in reply to the announcement on the Risk of Rain subreddit, meanwhile, says only “did they just obliterate themselves”. Good luck, Gearbox.
Regardless of how Gearbox’s stewardship turns out, we liked Risk of Rain 2 quite a lot around these parts, praising the “ebb and flow” of its chaotic multiplayer and the irresistibility of ascending its power curve. Hopefully Gearbox’s experience publishing the game means it knows what makes the series tick, but if not, well, we’ll always have Petrichor V.
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