GTA 6 owners shut down studios, office and lay off staff

Take-Two Interactive Software, an American holding company that owns publisher Rockstar Games which makes the Grand Theft Auto series, is shutting down two studios, one of its offices and is laying off staff, according to reports.

In April 2024, Take-Two announced it would lay off around five per cent of its workforce, or around 600 employees.

That seems to be coming into effect as documents seen by Bloomberg say two of its indie studios will shut.

London-based Roll7 and Seattle-based Intercept Games will both be closing down - both of these are part of Private Division, which is Take-Two's label for publishing indie games.

Bloomberg reports severance agreements are being worked on with staff at Roll7.

Take-Two plans to shut an office in Seattle and cut 70 jobs, according to a WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retaining Notification) notice filed in Washington State as reported by Gamesindustry.biz, which is roughly the number of people who worked for Intercept Games.

Bloomberg reported other Private Division staff have been affected by the layoffs and a source told GamesIndustry.biz the "vast majority" of the label's teams in Seattle, New York, Las Vegas and Munich have been let go.

A spokesperson for Take-Two said: "On April 16, Take-Two announced a cost reduction program to identify efficiencies across its business and to enhance the company's margin profile, while still investing for growth.

"As part of these efforts, the company is rationalising its pipeline and eliminating several projects in development and streamlining its organisational structure, which will eliminate headcount and reduce future hiring needs.

"The company is not providing additional details on this program.

"On April 18, Private Division successfully launched Moon Studio's No Rest for the Wicked. The label continues to make updates to Kerbal Space Program 2 and plans to release Weta Workshop Game Studio’s Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game in the second half of 2024."

Mike Straw, senior editor for Insider Gaming, previously said members of staff at 2K, another developer owned by Take-Two, had "been let go" across various different projects.

2K has published games such as the Borderlands and Bioshock series as well as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion along with a number of sports games.

Mike said: "I can confirm that people from WWE 2K, TopSpin 2K, and the in-development NFL 2K game have been let go. Not sure on full number, but those teams have definitely seen layoffs."

X / Twitter account @GTAVI_Countdown also previously said some Rockstar employees are reported to be included as part of the five per cent of staff Take-Two is laying off.

As mentioned in the statement, Take-Two did not previously confirm specifically how five per cent of its workforce, around 600 employees, would be reduced and it's not known if Rockstar or the development of GTA 6 will be affected.

Take-Two is a holding company that owns developers Rockstar, 2K and now Gearbox in a deal that was recently announced for $460m.

But as part of a cost-reduction plan, it recently said that it will scrap several projects in development, which is expected to result in total charges of up to $200m, but at the time declined to name the projects which will be chopped.

The move is expected to save more than $165m per year, Take-Two has said.

It isn't the first in the industry to make cuts like this - Riot Games, Electronic Arts and Japan's Sony Corp have all trimmed their workforces this year due to uncertain spending from consumers after the pandemic-era boom.

Additional reporting by Reuters.

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