Don’t look now, but the chunk of Gearbox that MMORPG players cared about is changing its name.
Readers will recall that back in 2021, Embracer bought Perfect World Entertainment – and therefore Cryptic and all of its MMORPGs – and set up PWE, formerly the western branch of Chinese powerhouse Perfect World, as its own publishing outfit, which it renamed Gearbox Publishing San Francisco in 2022. Lots of drama has happened since then, of course, as last year Embracer’s botched business dealings led to the near-capsize of its stock and prompted executives to throw staff and studios overboard in an attempt to keep the ship upright – and naturally, keep those executives in charge.
Caught in the squall were Gearbox and the chunks of PWE and Cryptic it still ran. Cryptic, of course, has been largely shuttled off to Deca Games, where Star Trek Online, Neverwinter, and Champions Online will apparently be developed going forward as Cryptic downsizes, and Gearbox proper was sold to Take-Two Interactive for $460M just a few weeks ago. But as we noted at the time, the sale did not include Gearbox Publishing San Francisco, which stays behind under Embracer with Cryptic. So naturally, we wondered whether GPSF would retain the name. Apparently not, as today, the publishing unit announced a rebrand.
“We’re very excited to announce that we are now Arc Games! We’re the same team of passionate gamers that brought you many beloved franchises including the Remnant series, Have a Nice Death, Star Trek Online and Neverwinter. And we can’t wait to bring you even more exciting titles like Gigantic: Rampage Edition, Hyper Light Breaker, and more soon-to-be announced games for 2025 and beyond! Follow us @ArcGames and check out the #iiishowcase April 10th, 10am PDT for a new Hyper Light Breaker trailer!”
Arc, of course, is already the name of the PWE launcher that hosted all all of the company’s MMOs, so that just makes sense; the current Arc website still lists all of the MMOs as well as Remnant From the Ashes, Torchlight III, and the newly launched Gigantic. In other words, what’s happening today is just a name change for the existing publisher. If there’s cause for alarm, it’s not this.
