So it seems today news broke on who's inheriting the Homeworld intellectual property from THQ. This entity is Gearbox.

I don't know much about Gearbox personally other than they worked on the Half-Life expansions way back when and did Borderlands. Pecking at some research says they primarily do first-person shooters... and have a habit of making bad games they inherited from other franchises. I can't be anything but confused as to WHY they bid so much on it to pick it up, especially since other companies have more experience.

My personal hope was for Blackbird. I met Rob personally at the Game Developer's Conference last month and I knew he was enthusiastic about the Homeworld universe. While BBI is working on their HARDWARE at the moment (a project which I am also trying to become a part of), the future of a Homeworld game by BBI would be the closest we'd come to the old days of the original creatives putting out a legitimate sequel.

Gearbox, though?

I am skeptical. It's no secret to many Relicnews veterans from over the years that I don't like Cataclysm and the changes it did to the Homeworld IP. My worries are that this is how normal run-of-the-mill companies perceive of Homeworld and what they'll do for an expansion. I don't want that repeated if possible. I want Homeworld to be just as grand and majestic as it was when I entered the first game years ago.

We'll have to see. Gearbox is likely going to be busy with porting over the Homeworld games before turning to a new installment and by then they might decide to license out the IP, perhaps to BBI. We'll see.

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In the meantime, I'm unemployed again. The office suddenly closed on us last month and we had about two hours to pack up our things and be done with working. Right now I'm trying to keep my options open and scope out a semi-permanent gig someplace, possibly locally. I'm not sure if I feel up to taking on commissions again... it's a tricky thing with Taxes that I would rather not get tangled with.

Right now I have two very good hopes/options in front of me. The first is Blackbird Interactive, which is populated by creatives who think like I do and know my passion for their work. The second is now Gearbox, since I'm half-sure I have a lot of clout with the Homeworld community given the Map I made and the many contributions I've offered to the Homeworld IP. That's a pretty impressive resume and I imagine would be convincing to Gearbox to tell them I'm serious with my hopes for Homeworld and would work my ass off to help deliver awesome Homeworld assets.

But all of that is outside of my control. I need to find a job and I can't afford to blow away time until BBI or Gearbox decide to hire me.

So, I guess we'll have to see...