Play Games
2 weeks ago
48
Bloomberg reports that Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive will close two game studios as part of a recently announced plan to lay off 5% of its workforce.
The two studios are London-based Roll7, developer of the much-loved OlliOlli skating games, and Intercept Games, a Seattle outfit formed by Take-Two to make Kerbal Space Program 2.
Both studios were part of Take-Two’s boutique publishing label Private Division. It seems Private Division, probably best known for publishing Obsidian Entertainment’s The Outer Worlds, will be heavily impacted in the Take-Two layoffs. GamesIndustry.biz reports that the “vast majority” of Private Division staff in Seattle, New York, Las Vegas, and Munich have been laid off.
Roll7 broke through with old-school skateboarding game OlliOlli in 2013. It was acquired by Private Division in 2021 ahead of the releases of OlliOlli World and competitive skater-shooter Rollerdrome in 2022.
Intercept Games was formed by Private Division in 2020 to take over development of Kerbal Space Program 2 from original developer Star Theory Games. Star Theory subsequently shut down. Reports that Intercept Games was to follow suit began to circulate on Wednesday after Take-Two filed a notice in Washington State that it would close an office in Seattle, affecting 70 workers.
In a statement supplied to GamesIndustry.biz and other outlets, Private Division did not confirm the studio closures, but said that it “continues to make updates to Kerbal Space Program 2,” which is currently in early access. It also pointed to the releases of No Rest for the Wicked and upcoming cozy Lord of the Rings game Tales of the Shire. It said Take-Two was “not providing additional details” on its cost reduction program, other than to say it was “rationalizing its pipeline and eliminating several projects in development and streamlining its organizational structure.”
Take-Two announced its reorganization on April 16, saying it would shed 5% of staff, roughly 580 employees. The news came shortly after the publisher agreed to purchase Borderlands studio Gearbox Entertainment from Embracer for $480 million. The company is also preparing to release Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto 6 in 2025.
