Month: March 2024

Embracer Group, a Swedish video game conglomerate, has reached an agreement to sell Gearbox Interactive, the studio behind the Borderlands franchise, to Take-Two, the parent company of Rockstar, for $460 million. The company had been trying to sell Gearbox for at least a year, the studio it acquired just 3 years ago.

In un comunicado de prensa publicado hoy, Embracer ha anunciado que Take-Two adquirirá la propiedad total de las franquicias de Borderlands (incluyendo Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands), Homeworld, Risk of Rain, Brothers in Arms y Duke Nukem con este acuerdo, el cual se espera que se finalice en junio de este año.

Take-Two Entertainment will also acquire the Gearbox studios based in Quebec, Montreal, and Frisco (Texas). However, Embracer will retain several assets from Gearbox, such as Gearbox Publishing San Francisco (which will be renamed), Cryptic Studios, Lost Boys Interactive, the Remnant franchise, Hyper Light Breaker, and “other notable unannounced game releases”.

The acquired assets, which according to Take-Two include two Borderlands titles, two Homeworld titles, and at least one new and exciting intellectual property already in development, will continue to be led by Randy Pitchford, CEO of Gearbox, under Take-Two’s 2K division.

“We are pleased to welcome Randy Pitchford and his team of passionate and talented developers to 2K and look forward to releasing numerous projects in the future as colleagues,” said David Ismailer, president of 2K. “We have enjoyed collaborating with Gearbox on every installment of the Borderlands franchise and are excited to be actively involved in the development of the next installment in the series.”

The $460 million sale pales in comparison to Embracer’s $1.3 billion valuation of the studio in 2021. Embracer has been aggressively “restructuring” since a massive $2 billion deal fell through last year, including the sale of Saber Interactive last month and the layoffs of Lost Boys Interactive and Eidos Montreal in January.

Since its debut in 1966, Star Trek has been more than just a science fiction series: it has been an institution with a bold vision of a hopeful future for humanity. The series from the sixties opened the door to an incredible fandom that has continued to grow over the decades, and despite not reaching numbers like Star Wars, it has maintained its own niche that has always been on par with the saga.

Now, with over 50 years of history, the franchise that has gone through all kinds of series, movies, comics, books, video games, and much more is at a crucial moment. As reported by Variety, after the latest movies and series aired about Star Trek, the franchise is in a boiling moment to see what the future holds.

Star Trek continues its journey towards new horizons, maintaining its relevance in a constantly changing world and challenging the expectations of what it can achieve in the modern era of entertainment. And now, with the release of the new season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, along with other projects they have in the works, they embark on a promising future for fans.

Star Trek is an exemplary franchise in the history of science fiction

With Paramount Pictures’ renewed commitment to produce new movies and series, Star Trek is entering a new and exciting chapter where anything is possible. The addition of new faces like Anson Mount, who portrays Captain Christopher Pike, has revitalized the narrative while honoring the franchise’s legacy. Mount, along with a talented cast, is taking viewers to an earlier era in Star Trek history, providing a fresh and thrilling perspective on space exploration.

But the importance of Star Trek goes beyond entertainment, and it is something they are leaving their mark on for future productions. The franchise has been a pioneer in inclusion and diversity long before they became common topics in popular culture. Since its conception, Star Trek has promoted a message of unity and cooperation among species, reflecting the aspirations of a fairer and more equitable society. At a time when the world faces monumental challenges, this optimistic vision of the future provides a ray of hope for many.

In addition, Star Trek has proven to be a resilient institution, capable of adapting to changes in the entertainment industry. Through new technologies and innovative narrative approaches, the franchise continues to captivate audiences of all ages. The expansion of the Star Trek universe through spin-off series, movies, and other forms of content ensures that there is something for everyone, from lifelong fans to those who are discovering this world for the first time.

As Star Trek moves towards the future, it continues to be a beacon of inspiration and creativity. The universal themes of exploration, discovery, and coexistence resonate with a global audience, transcending the barriers of time and space. Whether on the big screen or the small screen, Star Trek is a powerful reminder of the unlimited potential of humanity when working in harmony towards a common goal.

Undoubtedly, the future of Star Trek looks as promising as the stars it explores. As the franchise continues its journey, it continues to light the way to a better tomorrow, where limits are just borders to cross and possibilities are endless.

We continue to analyze the recent lawsuit filed by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) against Apple. Yesterday, the Financial Times reported on a rather curious argument made by the DOJ. In the fiscal year 2023, Apple spent twice as much on share buybacks as it did on research and development. These numbers have been presented as ‘evidence’ of Apple’s lack of competition, according to the DOJ, when compared to Google, whose spending on R&D matched its share buybacks. Does this make any sense?

An argument that raises more questions than answers

The logic behind share buybacks is simple: a company uses its excess cash to buy its own shares and then cancels them. This has three main benefits: it reduces the number of shares in circulation, which means the company has to pay less money in dividends; it increases the effective value of each remaining share; and, by reducing the number of shares while income remains constant, it increases earnings per share (EPS), a key measure of a company’s financial performance. Apple, a company that traditionally has a significant cash surplus, has invested over $650 billion in share buybacks in the last decade.

However, the DOJ compares these figures with R&D spending, pointing out that while Apple spent $30 billion on research and development in 2023, it invested $77 billion in stock buybacks during the same period. The lawsuit suggests that, although Apple’s conduct has benefited its shareholders, it has come at a great cost to consumers, inflating the price of iPhones and preventing the development of better products.

This argument has been criticized for its lack of solidity. Stock buybacks are, precisely, a show of confidence in the future of the company. It only makes sense to buy back own shares if it is believed to be a better way to use the money and generate income than other forms of investment.

It is also worth noting that Apple’s R&D expenditure as a proportion of its revenue has historically been lower than that of other technology companies. This is largely due to the fact that the company develops a relatively limited number of devices and technologies. Unlike other companies like Google, taking the example of the DOJ, that launch services and close them shortly after (see Google Stadia), Apple focuses on a few products.

In this context, we can also remember that Apple doesn’t necessarily arrive first to a market, but it does offer the best product. MP3 players existed before the iPod, smartwatches before the Apple Watch, and VR glasses before the Vision Pro. In this sense, although it obviously takes an immense amount of resources for research and development —$30 billion over a year goes a long way—, most of those resources are allocated to integration, improving existing technologies, and presenting an attractive product. A product that, many times, unlike those that have cost millions to develop, offers real value to future customers.

Undoubtedly, the argument presented by the DOJ and highlighted by the FT is not one of the strong points of the lawsuit. While some of the reactions to it are laughable and Apple’s response is clear and forceful, points like these catch our attention. We will see, probably more than a year from now, what the courts think.

“The movie that thrilled Spielberg“ is a classic headline to say that a film has sublime quality. This phrase has ended up becoming more of a meme than anything else, but every now and then Steven Spielberg himself gives it a chance to be repeated. The latest one he has done it with is a space epic that has recently become a hit: Dune: part 2.

The feature film by Denis Villeneuve has managed to sweep at the box office and receive practically perfect reviews. Pending its success at next year’s Oscars, where it will surely take home more than one statuette, Spielberg wanted to dedicate a few words to it on the podcast Director’s Cut, where they have talked about it.

When Spielberg met Villeneuve

“It is an honor for me to sit here and talk to you“, Spielberg began. “Let me start by saying that there are filmmakers who are world builders. It’s not a long list and we know who many of them are. Starting with Georges Méliès, Disney, Kubrick, George Lucas. I include Ray Harryhausen in that list. Fellini built his own worlds. Tim Burton. Obviously Wes Anderson, Peter Jackson, James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, Guillermo del Toro. The list goes on, but it’s not that long, and I deeply and fervently believe that you are one of its most recent members”.

Undoubtedly, these words excited Villeneuve at the time they were spoken. But it has gone further during the conversation, talking exclusively about Dune: part 2.

“It’s a story of deserts, but for being such a desertic movie, there is so much thirst for water in this film. Despite all the sand in this movie, it’s actually about water. The sacred waters that long for green meadows and the blue water of life. The desert is filmed to look like an ocean, a sea. The sandworms were like sea serpents. And that scene of surfing the sandworms is one of the best things I’ve ever seen. In my whole life! But you made the desert look like a liquid”.