It has just been revealed that Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games, is preparing to lay off approximately 500 members of staff. Not only that but the publisher is reportedly scrapping projects to recoup finances. It was revealed that the company intends to strip 5% of the workforce out of the firm, despite high expectations that Grand Theft Auto 6 will be the highest-grossing game of all time.
In February, it was noted by the CEO of Take-Two that a ‘cost reduction program’ was in the pipeline. However, it was mentioned that no current plans for layoffs existed – but mere weeks later, that’s exactly what’s happening. This news comes just a couple of weeks after Take-Two agreed to purchase Gearbox from the Embracer Group for almost half a billion dollars.
Not The News We Wanted
Grand Theft Auto 6, which is being developed by Rockstar, has just entered its final stages of development. The company issued a return-to-office mandate that caused backlash but was put in place for good reason. It’s to avoid leaks and any quality concerns as GTA 6 approaches its final few months of development. It could be less than a year before GTA 6 is released, but that’s a high hope for fans the world over.
Last year, Take-Two Interactive posted a fiscal update that confirmed there were 11,580 employees on the books. If that’s still the case, a 5% reduction in employees will see between 500 and 600 workers made redundant across the board. It was noted that this ‘cost reduction program’ will end up cutting $200 million out of Take-Two’s coffers. That’s a mixture of both employee-related costs and the costs incurred by cancelling projects.
It hasn’t been revealed what projects have been cancelled, but Take-Two has a lot of studios and developers under its sizeable umbrella. It’s not likely that this wave of layoffs will impact the development of Grand Theft Auto 6, though.
It’s important to stress that this is the latest in a long line of layoffs made across the industry. Since the start of 2023, around 20,000 industry workers have lost their jobs. Most recently, the likes of Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard underwent sweeping layoffs.
For more industry news, Esports.net
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