Grand Theft Auto and Borderlands publisher Take-Two is reportedly looking to sell or shutdown OlliOlli World and Kerbal Space Program 2 developers, Roll7 and Intercept Games respectively, along with its indie label, Private Division.
According to IGN, “these closures [are] imminent”, despite Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick claiming earlier this month that Take-Two “didn’t shutter” its indie teams at Intercept Games and Roll7.
According to multiple anonymous sources verified by IGN, Intercept Games is set to close on 28th June, as detailed by the Washington State WARN Act, whilst Roll7 “is similarly winding down”.
A skeleton crew will be kept on to support Moon Studios’ No Rest for the Wicked, Wētā Workshop’s Tales of the Shire, and an untitled game from Game Freak. It’s claimed Private Division has completely backed out of projects with Ghostrunner developer One More Level and Silent Hill 2 Remake developer, Bloober Team, with “almost all the staff” at the indie label laid off in April. Insiders say Take-Two is now looking to sell Private Division completely, possibly to a private equity firm.
Staff that remain at the label seemingly blame both Take-Two bosses and Private Division head Michael Worosz for “unreasonable sales targets, and pressured to release games before they were ready, with Kerbal Space Program 2 being a notable recent example”.
“The people at Private Division were amazing, talented, passionate individuals who loved what they did and also really cared about each other as a team and as people,” said one source. “We loved our projects, we worked hard, and we fostered a great environment internally. I would love to work with any of them again.
“The pain point was always Take-Two and associated leadership forcing our hand. The whole layoff situation proved what we already felt. Take-Two could not care less about its employees.”
It follows a round of Private Division layoffs in March 2023, which – at the time – leadership called “necessary steps” as the company sought to “position [itself] for another extended period success”.
More than 10,000 people have been laid off from their jobs this year across the video game industry so far.That’s according to an archive tallying layoffs across the industry, which has now hit an estimated total of 10,100 people.
For comparison, 10,500 people were laid off in 2023, meaning almost as many have been impacted so far in 2024 in less than half the time.