Take-Two Interactive , the publisher of Grand Theft Auto , announced today that it has approved a cost-cutting program to find efficiencies across its business and strengthen the company's profit profile while investing in growth. This means it is canceling games currently in development and laying off about 5% of its staff .
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News of the layoffs came in an SEC filing, where Take-Two is “radicalizing its development environment” and “shaping its organizational structure.” Among the charges it will take related to the cuts is $15 million to $25 million related to office space reductions, suggesting that some Take-Two offices will close as part of the cuts.
The actual number of employees being laid off was not disclosed, but in a 2023 annual report, Take-Two said it had nearly 11,580 employees worldwide as of March 31, 2023, so the number of layoffs would likely be a little less than 600 positions. This would be the second time Take-Two has made layoffs in less than a year: In March 2023, following “space-based growth over the past few years,” Take-Two laid off an undisclosed number of employees from its Private Division publishing label and other distributions.
Take-Two reported $1.3 billion in net bookings in its most recent fiscal quarter and expects total net bookings of $5.25 billion to $5.3 billion for fiscal 2024. That sounds like a lot of money, but it doesn't seem like it's enough to avoid laying off hundreds of people. And while there will be more money — a lot more money — when Grand Theft Auto 6 comes out in 2025 or '26 or whenever, that won't be enough either.
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As of early February, we've seen more than 16,000 layoffs in the games industry since the start of 2023, and 2024 shows no signs of slowing down. Since then, we've seen hundreds more layoffs from studios like Relic, Certain Affinity, Sega, EA , and more.
Take-Two refused to comment on the layoffs and cancellations. Its next financial report will be released in May and may shed more light on the size of the cuts.
Source: pcgamer
