Seven Borderlands veterans leave Gearbox
"On the best of terms," says Randy Pitchford.
A set of senior developers have left Borderlands studio Gearbox.
Several of the group, including senior producer Christopher Brock, lead mission designer Keith Schuler and art director Scott Kester, had all been with Gearbox for more than a decade, Axios reported.
Creative director Paul Sage, UX/Game Feel director Chris Strasz and lead character artist Kevin Penrod have also departed. All are intending to work together on a new indie project.
According to Axios, the group had been working on an unannounced project in pre-production separate from Gearbox's announced upcoming Borderlands spin-off Tiny Tiny's Wonderlands.
In response, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford said the group had quit "on the best of terms" but that their departure would "cause minimal disruption in our current plans".
"The bulk of our attention at the moment is dedicated to finishing Wonderlands," Pitchford concluded, "which is on-track."
Gearbox's last big release was Borderlands 3, back in September 2019. In February this year, the studio was bought by THQ Nordic parent company Embracer for $363m, with further performance targets which could push the deal's value up to $1.3bn over six years.