Take-Two Interactive Joins The Wave Of Layoffs In The Industry

Take-Two Interactive (T2) has announced its plans to abandon the development of several video games, a decision made in the context of a cost-saving campaign that will also result in the dismissal of 5 percent of its workforce.

T2 Aims To Save Costs With This Measure

The video game developer and distributor, which encompasses studios like Rockstar Games, 2K, and Zynga, responsible for titles such as Grand Theft Auto, Civilization, and FarmVille, aims to discontinue various projects as part of its cost-saving strategy.

The titles affected by this measure have not been disclosed yet, but the intention to lay off 5% of its workforce has been confirmed. The company’s workforce, previously consisting of 11,580 employees, as per internal documents accessed by Bloomberg.

Through this process, the company expects to save up to $200 million. Of this amount, $140 million will be attributed to the canceled projects, and $35 million to workforce-related expenses.

It Will Cancel Unannounced Projects

This move comes shortly after the CEO of the developer, Strauss Zelnick, mentioned in the third-quarter earnings report of 2023 that they were working on “a significant cost reduction program” to maximize profit margins. CEO confirmed that the largest portion of their expenses was allocated to marketing and that there were “no plans” to include layoffs in the restructuring of their business strategy.

It remains to be seen how this situation will end, as despite all the layoffs that have been carried out to date, it seems that we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Nevertheless, it appears that the main games Take Two has in development among its multiple studios, such as Rockstar’s GTA VI, are still moving forward. We’ll see if the success of this title alleviates the situation.

The American distributor follows suit with other gaming companies such as Unity Software, Riot Games, and Microsoft’s gaming division, which are just a few examples of sector representatives that have experienced massive layoffs this year.

Stay tuned for this and other news like  Sony Layoffs Affect 8% or About 900 Employees and Microsoft Lays Off 1,900 Activision and Blizzard Employees