Take-Two Interactive, the renowned publisher behind game series such as Grand Theft Auto, will lay off five percent of its total workforce. Additionally, projects worth 140 million US dollars are to be canceled. Will this cost-cutting measure also affect GTA 6?
Update from May 2, 2024: According to a report by industry insider Jason Schreier (Bloomberg), Take-Two Interactive is shutting down the two studios Roll7 (OlliOlli World, Rollerdrome) and Intercept Games (Kerbal Space Program).
The two companies belonged to the Private Division, which will remain and is expected to publish games like Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game – at least that should make colleague Benedict very happy.
What is happening at Take-Two specifically? On Tuesday, April 16, 2024, the management of the US-based publisher announced massive cost-cutting measures. They want to “streamline the pipeline” and save costs.
Specifically, this means:
- About 600 of the approximately 11,000 employees will receive a layoff notice.
- Diverse projects will be canceled to save an estimated 140 million US dollars.
- Through the layoffs, it will also be possible to reduce office space, which further reduces costs.
The first trailer for GTA 6 makes you crave much more:
Why is this step surprising? In March 2023, there were already layoffs at Take-Two Interactive. A specific number of affected positions was not mentioned at the time (via PC Gamer).
Moreover, Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two, stated just last month that while further cost-saving measures were planned in the coming weeks, there would be no plans for layoffs (via IGN).
And then, Take-Two had recently announced plans to acquire Gearbox Entertainment for 460 million US dollars by the end of June. The acquisition is expected to be financed through the sale of new Take-Two shares (via Press Release).
What is happening with GTA 6?
The publisher did not disclose which projects will be cancelled in detail, but we can assume that GTA 6 will not be affected by the cost-cutting measures – after all, this is the most important release of the coming years.
Take-Two expects a massive increase in revenue once the open-world blockbuster is released – the launch is planned for 2025. This will also be necessary, as development and marketing costs are estimated by various sources to be between one and two billion US dollars.
In the last quarter, Take-Two achieved a net revenue of 1.2 billion US dollars. That is a 20 percent increase compared to the previous year. For the financial results for 2023, CEO Strauss Zelnick received a total compensation of 40 million US dollars. Part of the bonuses were tied to players investing as much money as possible in microtransactions.
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