It looks like Grand Theft Auto editor take two trying to get rid of his indie label, Private DepartmentThis is the result of a new IGN report which describes in detail how the recent Studio closures and mismanagement have “quietly killed” the indie publisher.
Accordingly IGNThe majority of Private Division’s staff were laid off at the end of April, leaving only a small team to support previously announced titles under the label, such as Moon Studio’s Early Access game No rest for the godlessThe move came after a series of reported closures of studios under the Private Division banner, including KHereditary Space Program 2 Developer Intercept Games and Rollerdrome developer Roll7. While Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick claimed earlier this month after a wave of layoffs that the company “these studios are not closed”, IGN reports that Intercept will officially close on June 28, while Roll7 will also cease operations.
Sources in conversation with IGN accused Take-Two of mismanagement and specifically criticized Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Private Division Michael Worosz for poor leadership. “The whole layoff situation has proven what we already felt,” said a source, “Take-Two doesn’t care about its employees at all.”
This series of events points to the larger problems that Private Division faced under Take-Two. IGN is now trying to get rid of the label entirely, one way or another. Following the wave of layoffs in April, Private Division employees were reportedly told that Take-Two would no longer support the indie label. While that sounds like Private Division is on the verge of closing, Take-Two is reportedly trying to sell the indie label and its associated studios. IGN reported that Paradox Interactivethe publisher behind strategy games like Stellarisheld talks about acquiring Intercept, but these failed.
As for Private Division itself, there is interest from a private equity firm. Those talks are reportedly being moderated by people with ties to Moon Studios. The studio was the subject of a Report 2022 claims there is an “oppressive” workplace. Sources familiar with IGN said that everything in the report was “true and worse.” This connection has the folks at Private Division worried about the indie label’s uncertain future.
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