GTA publisher Take-Two Interactive has announced that it’ll be laying off 5% of its staff alongside canceling some games. This development comes weeks after CEO Strauss Zelnick said that the company has “no current plans” for redundancies.
GTA parent Take-Two set to lose around 600 employees
In a note submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Take-Two said that it anticipates losing nearly 600 of its employees as part of a “cost reduction program” that’ll also see the publisher cancel “several” game projects in the pipeline. Take-Two owns a number of studios including Rockstar Games and the recently-acquired Borderlands developer Gearbox. Rockstar’s last main release was 2013’s GTA V.
“The Company is rationalizing its pipeline and eliminating several projects in development and streamlining its organizational structure, which will eliminate headcount and reduce future hiring needs,” Take-Two says. “The Company estimates that it will incur approximately $160 million to $200 million in total charges in connection with the [cost-cutting] Plan.”
It’s currently unclear how many of Take-Two’s studios have been affected but we’re likely to find out in due course as employees often take to social media in search of new opportunities.
Take-Two is the latest in an ever-growing list of game companies, including PlayStation, that are laying off employees en masse.
