A report details that Take-Two Interactive, the company that owns Rockstar Games, 2K, Zynga, and Private Division, plans to fire 5% of its staff and scrap multiple projects.
A screenshot from Red Dead Redemption 2 (2019), Rockstar Games
This report comes from Cecilia D’Anastasio at Bloomberg. D’Anastasio writes, “Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., the company behind the Grand Theft Auto video games, plans to fire 5% its workforce and drop several projects as part of a cost-savings drive.”
She notes the company plans to cut costs by around $200 million. $140 million is being cut by the scrapping of numerous projects while $35 million will be done by firing its workforce.
A screenshot from Borderlands 3 (2020), Gearbox Software
This move to scrap numerous projects and fire its workforce comes less than a month after the company purchased Gearbox Entertainment Company Inc. from Embracer Group. Take-Two Interactive purchased Gearbox for $460 million according to a press release.
Take-Two Chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick said at the time, “Our acquisition of Gearbox is an exciting moment for Take-Two and will strengthen our industry-leading creative talent and portfolio of owned intellectual property, including the iconic Borderlands franchise.”
He added, “This combination enhances the financial profile of our existing projects with Gearbox and unlocks the opportunity for us to drive increased long-term growth by leveraging the full resources of Take-Two across all of Gearbox’s exciting initiatives.”
A screenshot from Borderlands 2 (2012), Gearbox Software
2K President David Ismailer also said, “With nearly 20 years of history working together, Gearbox has played an integral role in our success, given their unique ability to create interactive entertainment experiences that feature beloved characters, exciting new worlds, and humorous storytelling.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Randy Pitchford and his team of passionate, talented developers to 2K and we look forward to releasing numerous projects in the future as colleagues. We have loved partnering with Gearbox on every iteration of the Borderlands franchise and are excited to be in active development on the next installment in the series,” he added.
A screenshot from Borderlands 3 (2020), Gearbox Software
These cuts also come less than two years after the company merged with Zynga in May 2022. Zelnick said at the time of the merger, “We are thrilled to complete our combination with Zynga, which is a pivotal step to increase exponentially our Net Bookings from mobile, the fastest-growing segment in interactive entertainment, while also providing us with substantial cost synergies and revenue opportunities.”
He added, “As we bring together our exceptional talent, exciting pipelines of games, and industry-leading technologies and capabilities, we believe that we can take our portfolio to another level of creativity, innovation, and quality. Each of our teams has a strong history of operational execution, and together, we expect that we will enhance our financial profile through greater scale and profitability, paving the way for us to deliver strong shareholder value.”
According to Tech Crunch the merger cost $12.7 billion.
Key art for Empires & Puzzles (2017), Zynga
In Take-Two’s most recent earnings report, the company revealed it had $1.34 billion net bookings “with outperformance in Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online, Red Dead Redemption series, and Toon Blast.” However, this was down 3% compared to last year’s third quarter.
The company also updated its fiscal 2024 outlook by decreasing projected net bookings from a range of $5.45 to $5.55 billion to a range of $5.25 to $5.3 billion.
Nevertheless, Zelnick touted the earnings stating, “We achieved solid third quarter results, including Net Bookings of $1.3 billion. Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online, the Red Dead Redemption series, and Zynga’s in-app purchases, led by Toon Blast, exceeded our expectations, as we launched engaging new content, partnerships, and activations. This was partially offset by some softness in mobile advertising and sales for NBA 2K24.”
A screenshot of Civilization VI (2016), Firaxis Games
The company also reported a $91.6 million net loss for the quarter. For the nine months ending December 31st, it reported it had a net loss of $841.2 million.
A screenshot of Take-Two Interactive’s FY 20234 Third Quarter
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