Take-Two laid off 5% of its staff in April, but the company is now reportedly considering moving its independent publishing label Private Division, either by selling it or shutting it down.
Back in April, Take-Two announced it was laying off around 500 employees, and the following month it was reported that the studios behind Rollerdrome and Kerbal Space Program 2 would also be shut down. Despite evidence suggesting otherwise, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has claimed that this is not happening, and a new report from IGN states that these closures are not only “imminent,” but are “part of a larger move by Take-Two to either sell or shut down its independent brand Private Division.” IGN claims that it was able to independently confirm that Kerbal Space Program developer Intercept Games will shut down on June 28, and Roll7 will also shut down, leaving only a small team to pick up the pieces.
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When it comes to Private Division, though, things are a little different. IGN reported that employees were informed of the impending layoffs in February, but did not reveal how many, why, or what the layoffs were. In April, Take-Two released an update saying it “would no longer support Private Division, and nearly all of its employees were laid off at the time.” A small team of employees remain supporting games that are still in development, such as Moon Studios’ No Rest for the Wicked, Wémacr;té Workshop’s Tales of the Shire, and an unnamed new game from Pokemon studio Game Freak. A new game deal was also reached with Silent Hill 2 remake developer Bloober Team, but that deal has reportedly fallen through, with Bloober looking for alternatives.
Take-Two is apparently looking to sell Private Division, and appears to have attracted interest from a private equity firm, but that’s no guarantee it’ll survive. A deal hasn’t been reached yet, but Moon Studios leadership is apparently helping with negotiations—though this has caused some concern among IGN’s sources, given a 2022 VentureBeat report alleging “oppressive” working conditions at the Ori developer (IGN says a source it spoke with confirmed that “everything” in the report was “true, and worse,” with another source calling the studio’s founder “cruel”).
Whatever happens with Private Division, it sounds like a sad and difficult situation overall, and just the latest frustrating move in the gaming industry to lay off thousands of people over the past year.
