Take-Two president Karl Slatoff has discussed the company’s recent decision to cancel games as part of a wider restructuring effort that also included layoffs.
During an earnings briefing, Slatoff observed that, across the video game industry, “the biggest games are winning, and they’re taking more share.” The executive said Take-Two takes this “very seriously,” and against that backdrop, the company decided to cancel games to instead focus on the ones with the best chance of success. Take-Two never specified which games in particular it canceled, however.
“We’re simply looking for the projects that we think have the highest chance for commercial success and for critical success,” he said, noting that it’s “always difficult” to cancel games.
Doing so was necessary given the current state of the industry, Slatoff said. He went on to say that Take-Two will continue to add more games to its slate, and remove some, too, as part of the company’s normal business operations. Slatoff also noted that Take-Two will continue to invest in new IP, which he described as the “lifeblood” of the video game industry.
In April, Take-Two announced that it was laying off 5% of its workforce, or about 600 people. Reports emerged that Take-Two was closing OlliOlli World developer Roll7 and Kerbal Space Program 2 studio Intercept Games, but Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick told IGN, “We didn’t shutter those studios.” However, Zelnick did not provide any updates regarding their place within the company either.
In other Take-Two news, the company just announced that Grand Theft Auto VI will be released in Fall 2025. Nearly every Rockstar Games release in the past decade has been delayed beyond its original release window, so history suggests GTA VI will not release on time.
