Gearbox now owns the Homeworld franchise

Borderlands developer Gearbox Software has just announced its acquisition of the Homeworld franchise.

Borderlands developer Gearbox Software has just announced its acquisition of the Homeworld franchise. In the wake of THQ's bankruptcy, the cult classic space RTS was one of the last few licenses up for grabs when most of the publisher's former assets were auctioned off back in January. Gearbox's Chief Creative Officer, Brian Martel, reportedly "personally spearheaded the acquisition."

Other prominent bids for the franchise came from Paradox Interactive, Sins of a Solar Empire devs Stardock, and a crowdfunding campaign called SaveHomeworldthat failed to meet its goal.

Gearbox has expressedthat its first priority to "direct Gearbox's interest to preserve and assemble the purest form of the original acclaimed and beloved games, Homeworld and Homeworld 2, with the intent of making them accessible on today's leading digital platforms." Relic, the original developers, are now owned by Sega, and may be working on Dawn of War 3.

Gearbox is best known for Borderlands, but has a less than stellar track recordworking with other people's material. It may be a while until we get our hands on their version of Homeworld, but we suspect there will likely be a new team involved. In the meantime, the devs have set up a dedicated forumwhere you can give input and feedback on the revival of the franchise.