Grand Theft Auto and Borderlands publisher Take-Two is reportedly considering selling or shutting down Roll7 and Intercept Games, the developers of OlliOlli World and Kerbal Space Program 2, as well as selling its indie label, Private Division.
According to IGN“This is closed [are] Despite Take-Two chief Strauss Zelnick claiming earlier this month that Take-Two had not shut down its indie teams at Intercept Games and Roll7, that remains a possibility.
According to multiple anonymous sources verified by IGN, Intercept Games is shutting down on June 28th, as outlined in the Washington State WARN Act, while Roll7 is “similarly shutting down” as well.
A skeleton crew will be kept on to support Moon Studios’ No Rest for the Wicked, Wet Workshop’s Tales of the Shire and an untitled game from Game Freak. It’s claimed Private Division has pulled out of the project completely, along with Ghostrunner developer One More Level and Silent Hill 2 remake developer, Bloober Team, with “almost all of the indie label’s staff” laid off in April. Insiders say Take-Two is now looking to sell Private Division entirely, possibly to a private equity firm.
Staff who remain at the label blame Take-Two’s chiefs and Private Division head Michael Voros for “unreasonable sales targets and pressure to release games before they were ready, with Kerbal Space Program 2 being a notable recent example.”
“The people at Private Division were wonderful, talented, passionate individuals who loved their work and genuinely cared about each other as a team and as people,” one source said. “We loved our projects, we worked hard, and we fostered a great atmosphere internally. I would love to work with any of them again.”
“We have always been pressured by Take-Two and its leadership. The whole layoff situation just confirmed what we already felt. Take-Two doesn’t care about its employees.”
This is after a round of private division layoffs in March 2023Which — at the time — leadership called a “necessary step” as the company looked to “position [itself] to a further extended period of success”.
More than 10,000 people were fired from their jobs this year The biggest change the video game industry has ever seen. This is according to a study Account of layoffs in the industryAn estimated 10,100 people have been affected by the virus so far.
For comparison, 10,500 people will be laid off in 2023, meaning roughly the same number of people will be affected in 2024 in less than half the time so far.
