Take-Two, the publisher of Grand Theft Auto, Borderlands and many other well-known gaming franchises, has confirmed the reports of layoffs taking place at the company, stating that "we are taking these necessary steps to position the company for another extended period of success." Take-Two reported $1.4 billion in revenue in its 2023 fiscal third quarter, a 56% increase year-over-year.
As reported by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, layoffs began at Take-Two's Private Division, the publishing arm of games like Kerbal Space Program and OlliOlli World, and affected other unspecified parts of the company as well.
Take-Two acknowledged it had laid staff off and, in a statement provided to PC Gamer, said employees impacted were predominantly "targeted reductions in our US teams, primarily in corporate operations and label publishing." A spokesperson for the company, Alan Lewis, said, "we continue to make strategic investments in our talent and technology to deliver our long-term pipeline, and the impact of these changes on our US development teams has been minimal."
Lewis also states, "outside of the US, we have begun procedures in compliance with local law that we anticipate may result in similar reductions." Take-Two is looking to save as much as $50m via this "cost reduction program".
Private Division was founded back in 2017 and focused on smaller indie titles, some of which went on to find widespread critical acclaim, such as the excellent roguelike Hades and ambitious sci-fi mind-bender The Outer Worlds.
[source twitter.com, via pcgamer.com]
Comments 11
@StrawberryWave Welcome to capitalism.
@Grimwood You read the articles about the intense crunch during the production of "RDR2" (and other videogames) I take it? If only the dev teams had done less drinking coffee and smoking then their home lives and mental health would've been vastly improved. Who knew?
@Grimwood yeah good thing you don't because just reading your comment you're clueless and have no idea how to increase productivity. The solution is far more simpler.
That's malicious, nintendo policy is better with no layoffs even when nintendo is in bad place (like when in wii u era).
@Grimwood No one would work for you is why you will never have your own company
@wiiware
That is, of course, pure nonsense. Perhaps there are many more people working within take two than within Nintendo. And Nintendo also has a profit from hardware sales, right? Take two only sells software.
@Grimwood ....you're being sarcastic right?
@KingPev no I'm guessing this is less sarcasm and more an example of one trying to keep Up the facade of a sociopathic alpha persona via a keyboard and the illusory opportunity cosplaying behind the veil of a screen allows.
@StrawberryWave
It's simply that they care about one thing and one thing alone. It's not quality games or celebrating the medium. It's not innovation or being a leader and good employer. It's nothing more than to increase the wealth of the large stake shareholders above all else.
This model has infected and continues to destroy the world in nearly every aspect of human existence.
@TommyNL I guess that's usa vs japan things, you work for life in japan so the company takes care of you, while in usa the worker usually hops between company but the company can fire you anytime 😅
Perhaps they did and it just isn't mentioned. But I would hope they at least tried to find them other positions in the company before firing them.
@TommyNL Skill retention is a priory in many business cultures. It was well documented in Wii U era and would go a long way to explaining how they bounced back so strongly with the Switch and why Nintendo games are widely considered more polished and with less bugs than the market in general. The mass hire and fire approach in the game industry and spilling over to tech in general is very short termist and highly inefficient. A sign that decisions are being by those with a big stake in short term performance and little to gain over long term success.
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