Take-Two announces plans to lay off staff at its Private Division label

Take-Two Interactive has announced plans to lay off staff at its Private Division publishing label.

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The parent company of Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar Games, is also cutting staff in other divisions, according to Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier who also claims that spokesman Alan Lewis said the cuts “will better align our organisation with our long-term priorities” and that the impact on dev teams will be “minimal”.

Lewis said in a separate statement to GameSpot that the job losses will mainly come from Take-Two’s US teams, though cuts are expected internationally, too.

He reiterated that the job losses are “primarily” related to “corporate operations and label publishing,” as opposed to game development positions.

Video game publisher Take-Two is laying people off today in its Private Division label and other divisions, sources tell Bloomberg. Spokesman Alan Lewis says the cuts “will better align our organization with our long-term priorities” and that the impact on dev teams is “minimal.”

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) March 7, 2023

It comes after Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick announced $50million (£42.2million) in cost-reductions last month and also confirmed that layoffs were coming.

“The program includes personnel, processes, infrastructure, and other areas, and will primarily focus on corporate and publishing functions,” Take-Two said at the time.

“It’s not as though we guarantee lifetime employment sadly,” Zelnick added. “So there will be certain instances where jobs will be lost, but I think that will be pretty modest.”

Private Division funds and publishes Take-Two’s smaller, indie-style titles which included last year’s hugely popular skateboarding game OlliOlli World and rollerskating shooter Rollerdrome along with the forthcoming new The Lord Of The Rings game.

Meanwhile, Take-Two, said a “terribly disappointing” hack of Rockstar Games‘ upcoming title Grand Theft Auto 6 will not affect development.

Early footage from the game was leaked online by a hacker, which led to one arrest by British police.

50 Cent recently posted artwork from Grand Theft Auto‘s Vice City on social media, prompting fans to theorise if the rapper will feature in Grand Theft Auto 6.

He then deleted a number of social media posts that fans believed to be teasers for the game.