Grand Theft Auto owner Take-Two has announced it's laying off around five per cent of its more than 11,500-employee-strong workforce in an effort to save $165 million annually. Around 600 full-time workers will be affected by the layoffs, and some unannounced games within the publisher are to be cancelled as a result. Take-Two declined to say what the projects are.
A Reuters report on the matter reveals scrapping the titles in development will cost Take-Two around $140 million in charges, and then severance for employees and charges related to them will amount to $35 million. Some office space will also be reduced as part of the decision. Annually, the company expects to make back $165 million as a result of the downscaling, which is expected to be largely completed by the end of this year.
As well as having GTA 6 slated for the next year, Take-Two just bought Borderlands maker Gearbox, and also publishes titles from a number of other high-profile developers. Over the weekend, the GTA+ subscription service confirmed a price rise for all users.
[source reuters.com]
Comments 42
Wow. Just wow. The publisher with the most lucrative IP of the last 23 years needs to save money.
Crazy. All the revenue they make and still making cuts
It looks like the price rise on GTA+ subscription service means that the subscribers will now be paying for the money lost in game development cancellations and the employee layoff severance packages.
Bye bye a lot of projects.
... lays off only 5% of its workforce not 10% like the others (to spin this in a positive direction). It could also mean that development on gta6 is mostly done and these 5% are not needed anymore.
Anyway one can only hope that all these people who lost their job land on their feet and maybe start something new and fresh.
That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve read, so far today.
And the video game industry keeps on burning……..
This is what happens when people splash out £70 on a remade game, publishers know they can downsize cos all they really need is someone who can improve graphics. It's people buying remakes causing the problems imo
Why can't they say what the games were, that was cancelled?
Why waste good money on new IP,s or a Bully 2, RDR 3, etc when you can push GTA Online V2.0 dlc out & just outsource their older titles for minimal "remasters" to the cheapest bidder.🙄
Feeling max pain. Hopefully everyone affected can find a job elsewhere to keep doing the thing they love.
Aw sheet, here we go again…
Was expected after buying Gearbox. Probably also some of the cancelled projects, were projects in development by Gearbox.
One whom wants to enter the gaming industry must not view it as a career. More like a part time gig which is cool. Knowing that once the project is done that one is working on, they likely will be gone. The idea of a career is allusive especially in vanity based industries like gaming which aren’t a need. It’s a luxury hobby. It’s the digital age and fortunately these people have the skills to land another job.
This absolutely will not affect GTA6. That is their golden goose for the next decade.
@SJR one has to consider that the gaming industry hasn’t really kept up with inflation like all other industries. The people working within it want more compensation and benefits just like everyone else. Rent for offices too has gone up for these companies. All while charging the same price for their products which are games in this case. Games that cost more to develop and provide a lot of value. Couple this with people in outage over the cost of buying a physical copy outright that has gone up. Which is still cheap in my eyes. These companies are trying to make the subscription models profitable while providing new content. Which is a hard balance even for the bigger companies. The gaming industry will suffer unless everyone can magically make software money like Microsoft.
Meanwhile, the CEO earns as much as all those people combined.
Possibly the most lucrative series in gaming, making billions a year and T2 needs layoffs? Come on!
Take2... More like TakeMore, greedy gits.
They’re all just scumbags aren’t they
Just shut down the entire AAA industry.
Then reboot it, with lower budgets and original idea's.
@__jamiie Except they release 1 game every 10 to 12 years.
not like we were getting another midnight club anyway
variety is dead
@Jbird dude , replaying final fantasy 7 was the best thing since replaying final fantasy 7 !
There goes my 60 fps patch for Red Dead 2. Oh wait that was never coming out anyways. Maybe PS5 Pro will get a ray tracing update to RDR2. Nah it’s rockstar us RDR players get nothing.
@Jbird Depends on the Remake, if it's like Final Fantasy 7 ReBirth/Remake then that's fine as it's over 20 years old and the Remade versions added more the game and the size of the environments are vastly different and some changes to story elements and conversations etc.
But for lazy Remakes like TLOU and Dead Space I agree with you, not much effort required and not needed as they are only a couple of gens old. To me they are just quick cash grabs and don't get me started on the many Elder Scrolls Skyrim editions across three generations of consoles.
Man, I didn’t think I would see this from this company. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Sad to hear.
And the capitalist circle goes round and round and and round and and round and round... Unionize, folks.
@gaston True, potentially some staffs work on 6 is complete and the project they were moved to in Pre-Production was one of the canned ones.
Still sucks for the staff but glass half full and that
Can't wait until AI gets really good at making games. 🤑
Yikes.. these poor people. Then again, this IS Rockstar after all, so i'm not really surprised. Arrogant, shallow and most of all - unfair towards their user/fanbase.
This is just another ''shining'' exemple of their arrogance.
'We need to save money. Have you seen my new super car?'
I don't understand how the gaming industry is structured. Why studios are hiring and firing to adapt to the market evolution? In the aeronautics for example, you have the big companies like Boeing and Airbus, and you have a constellation of contractors that collaborate on different projects. If one is ended, there are plenty others and they can switch gears and allocate workforce accordingly. If you layoff the people who know how to make planes, good luck to find new ones in the low-cost category.
They just bought some studios so it makes sense. This always happens. When two companies merge you don’t need two independent legal, accounting, HR, administrative departments.
this will be mostly because of the acquisition and needing to make the combined organisation more efficient than the two parts.
Everyone is taking about GTA like that the only thing T2 handles… They also own 2k and private divisions which haven’t done too hot. They’ve also have done some massive purchases within the last 4 years. This was bond to happen.
@WizzNL These cancel projects were probably more likely with Private division. Game freak was supposed to working on a title with them… But we haven’t heard anything about it since the announcement.
@Vaako007 while you raise a good point, you don't seem to take into account that far more people are gamers nowadays, so more copies of games are being sold. Even smash hits back in the day didn't sell nearly as well as games that have been coming out recently have. GTA 5 being an obvious example, but there are plenty more.
Also, games didn't use to have microtransactions for blue hats or extra characters, that you'd have to play to unlock back in the day. And they didn't have remasters.
So they're much more profitable than they used to be. The only problem is that when an expensive game to make flops, it can bankrupt a company.
Rockstar simply has no excuse. It's greed at its finest.
@__jamiie Yup. These cuts are not to save on costs, they are to increase profits.
@B0udoir you assume Take Two are actually interested in making games anymore. They seem more concerned with microtransactions in GTA V probably the worst entry in the series.
Hopefully they laid off all the nba2k MyTeam devs. They’ve been actively destroying the mode for a few years now.
Corporate greed knows no limits.
All I want is GTA IV Remastered man. Just gimme that game in 4k@60 on ps5 and keep the rest
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