'GTA 6' publisher lays off 5 percent of workforce, cancels games | Mashable.
'GTA 6' publisher lays off 5 percent of workforce, cancels games
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| Credit: Take-Two Interactive |
Grand Theft Auto IV publisher Take-Two Interactive has revealed plans to lay off five percent of its workforce by the end of the year, as well as cancel several projects currently in development. The games industry layoffs keep coming, and they don't stop coming.
The decisions were revealed on Tuesday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing which briefly outlined Take-Two's "cost reduction program." The company expects its plan to save it $165 million per annum and "enhance the Company’s margin profile."
Take-Two had 11,580 employees as of March last year, meaning the layoffs are likely to impact around 600 people. However, it isn't yet clear exactly where these cuts will come from. The holding company owns several well-known game developers and publishers, including Bioshock publisher 2K, Kerbal Space Program publisher Private Division, and GTA 6 publisher Rockstar Games. Its $460 million acquisition of Borderlands developer Gearbox was further announced just three weeks ago.
Several video games currently in development will also be cancelled as part of Take-Two's cost-cutting measures, though it hasn't been revealed exactly which ones. GTA 6 is probably safe though, with the highly anticipated game expected to smash sales records when released next year. Over 190 million copies of its predecessor GTA 5 have been sold since its launch in 2013.
Layoffs are awful even at the best of times, but Take-Two's news particularly stings considering that in February CEO Strauss Zelnick explicitly stated that the company was not planning any job cuts. Though the company had revealed it was working on a cost reduction program, Zelnick had emphasised that Take-Two was focusing on areas other than staffing, such as software and vendor expenses.
"I would just note that our biggest line item of expense is actually marketing," Zelnick told IGN at the time. "The hardest thing to do is to lay off colleagues, and we have no current plans."
Even so, this wouldn't be the first time Take-Two played down speculation about layoffs right before cutting its workforce. After Take-Two announced a previous cost-cutting program last February, Zelnick told GamesIndustry.biz the company didn't "expect any kind of broad-based reduction in force," and that it would "continue to support and build our development teams."
Take-Two subsequently conducted layoffs the very next month. Though to be fair, the development teams were largely unscathed. Instead, the cuts primarily impacted "corporate operations and label publishing."
The video games industry was plagued by layoffs and studio closures throughout 2023, yet somehow 2024 is managing to look even worse. Earlier this year Electronic Arts also announced it would cut five percent of its workforce, just one day afterPlayStation revealed it was letting go of approximately 900 employees. Over 8,000 games industry layoffs were announced in the first two months of 2024 alone, already exceeding estimates on the total number cut the year before.
Topics Gaming
wonder how many artist they'll lay off After the game release..
ReplyDeleteThey will have them fight to the death. Last one left standing gets their last paycheck and remains until their 12 month contract is up.
DeleteI wonder how much art they'll need after the game release.
Deleteexactly, that is not something new in game development, often artists work on contract basis and move to other studios/project onces they are done, if the studio does not already have something new planned like new game or dlc for them to work on theres no reason to keep them
DeleteWe can’t have people injecting reality into this thread. (I swear I see people astroturfing narratives about evil CEOs like it’s gamergate all over again.) Truth is costs went up (interest rates and inflation) and the games market has matured (growth in sales has leveled off.) The industry is in a downturn. Edit: Company is operating at a loss since 2023.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteThey cut future production and projects. How is your response even a rebuttal? It is perfectly consistent with having a pipeline with different projects on different schedules. The future prospects of many projects look less promising giving expected future sales. Interest rates increasing means financing projects got more expensive.
DeleteIt’s mundane, but for some “bad man does bad thing” narratives are easier to parrot, Net profit for FY2023 was $-1.21B.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take-Two_Interactive
But then again it’s easier to lie and insult someone rather than to know.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteYou realize interest rates for bonds are determined in part based on collateral and profitability (as represented by share price.)
DeleteBut you don’t care. You don’t care there was a net loss last year (you completely disregard this). You don’t care that it’s an industry wide down turn. Heck, you don’t even define the subject of your sentences (they, they, they, the ill defined bad guys doing bad things because of bad motives.)
Somewhere along the line the education system failed you. Repeating an unsubstantiated and unreasoned assertion again does not make it true, no matter how emotionally invested you feel.
DeleteMan, if only you could spell "lives" correctly I might have tried to believe you.
Seriously though, how could you possibly know this with absolute certainty? Right now, companies in every market are firing folks. It's obviously not just Take2
Ah yes, random redditor that doesn’t know a single thing about the industry knows best
DeleteAnd look at how many AAA games release half finished with day one battle passes and dlc that should have been a part of the main game. This is a turn off for consumers.
DeleteShhhhh. CEO and executives bad this is reddit it's illegal to use logic
DeleteWell someone is gonna have to draw up the design for flying missile launcher motorcycles
Deleteshouldn't matter. can just train AI to replicate art styles. There's no law against it.
DeleteTime for some AI Art. Can't wait for characters that have more than five fingers on each hand, lol
DeleteThey should lay off everyone who worked on the gta trilogy definitive edition.
ReplyDeleteThey outsourced it.
DeleteThey could probably still do it
Deleterockstar: We're buying your company.
Deleteoutsourced devs: Our dreams have come true!
rockstar: To fire you all. Get out.
Then fire everyone that made the decision to outsource it.
DeleteOh yeah, that's Jeff from emerging products and rereleases, he'll show you the spreadsheet with the hard numbers. It was actually a great success if you look at his spreadsheet.
DeleteProbably unironically it was.
DeleteYeah, pretty sure their pockets are fine. Revenue is revenue...at least to investors
DeleteJeff, Todd.
DeleteWhy is it always three letters?
My brother in Christmas that’s four letters
DeleteWait until you meat Bob. And the other Bob.
DeleteThey won't fire themselves
DeleteThey probably got a raise out of that and a commendation on their resume.
Delete"Generated over 100 million in revenue by shipping an unfinished remake and scamming millions"
DeleteThese executives are nothing but fucking scum bags. It’s time to start shaming the people that keep buying the same fucking game over and over and over again. They are enabling these ass holes. How many versions of skyrim and GTAV have been released since the original? How many of these morons are pre ordering video games knowing full well that the scum bag’s running the company are releasing buggy and unfinished games? Are people seriously going to pay $130 for a star wars game knowing full well that the game is going to be full of micro transactions and published by a shitty company? What the fuck is wrong with these people?
DeleteOrrrr... Keep the executive that made that decision and fire some overworked employees, preferably ones who have children with horrible illnesses that require expensive medication /s
DeleteThe weakest link is always the first one to break.
DeleteTruly a dreadful society we have.
Then hire them first.
DeleteI thought that's what outsourcing was. You're hiring a third party to do the work. You're paying whoever pays them.
DeleteDid he stutter?
DeleteAnd? They gave the final ok on it.
DeleteDid they? I believe they were at one point an external studio yes but T2 finally bought the studio and it became "Grove Street Games"
DeleteIt's amusing how much of meta-conversations in gaming in the last decade or so can be reduced to this. The company outsources parts. The assembled parts feel soulless and low quality, the existing customer base hates it and sales fall below historic trends. Company marketing rage-quits reverting to name-calling directed at their customers in an infantile emotional outburst disrespecting their customers.
DeleteThe advertising of used cars sales lots often has the trope of the brainless customer tripping over themselves to shove money from their pockets onto the slimy used car salesman depicted as a heroic figure. This form of denigrate the customer who didn't buy the outsourced crap is similar. It represents a failure in ability to place yourself in the shoes of another person, and design for their interests. Reveals an imagined customer that's an imbecile. Not a partner in the process whose problems and needs are being served. You've got a lazy MBA or marketing team who stuck their neck out on decisions that resulted in inferior products and they rage-quit. Doubling down on insulting imagined customers who just don't get it. They were lazy. Failed to consider their product. And made bad short-term decisions. As a rule after stumbling humans will tell stories to themselves that allows them to still be the hero in their personal melodramas, and that story tends to be anger towards everyone else who are wrong.
Outsourcing product development to the cheapest slave-market around the globe is still slavery. The sadness of the team you send that off to comes through the soulless product. Your players pick up on it and feel bad. They don't like it. Just develop with cohesive teams. It's more expensive. You don't have a choice. Gaming like cinema is art.
And that's how that do.
Do you mean the GTA Definitive Trilogy that sold 12 million copies and counting?
DeleteYes, I'm sure the suits are deeply dissatisfied.
Same with diablo immortal.
Deletethe diablo are the companies - the immortal the practices.
Diablo Immoral*
DeleteHonestly besides the launch day bugs I don't even see what's bad about those remasters. I thought the art style fit the arcadey gameplay perfectly. And the remastered trilogy cost $60 for three games, so $20 per game, which was only $5 more than the original ports on current/last gen consoles. Seems like people expected full on remakes and were disappointed when it wasn't that.
DeleteWe love to keep blaming greedy execs but a lot of people like you are happy with these practices, judging by your comment. Maybe that's the problem.
DeleteThe practice of what? Making a remaster and selling it for $5 more than 20 year old ports?
DeleteEverything was bad about those, the worst part was how they took down better versions.
DeleteYou paid for the experience of getting screwed over like a GTA NPC. View the experience as a special DLC.
DeleteThey gave it to a studio with single-digit employees who weren't even a part of Take-Two.
DeleteThis isn’t due to greed. This is a direct result of piracy /s
ReplyDeleteQuick! Sacrifice your frame rates for the DRM gods and pray that we make it another year.
DeleteGTA6 is cancelled boys, better luck in another 11 years.
ReplyDeleteGTA 6: Boys Girls Edition.
DeleteWell obviously the executives needs bigger bonuses
ReplyDeleteWon't anyone think of the stock prices?
Delete
DeleteTell me you don’t invest without telling me that you don’t invest. If you think anyone will start investing millions of dollars just because 500 people were fired then you are incredibly dumb.
These people are fired because they just finished making one of the biggest game of all time and there is no point on having them on anymore
or maybe they have finished one of the biggest games ever and those employees are not required anymore? I know using logic is forbidden here. If I am a construction compay owner and I had to build 100 floors building, I would surely hire more workers to built it and then let them go when its over.
DeleteCompanies literally don't exist to provide jobs or public good, but to maximize profits to the owners. The public good part comes naturally from the laws of economics, and the jobs part just comes from the fact that humans are great at creating value. Companies also do lots of bad stuff, and they are never your friends.
ReplyDeleteThose same laws also dictate that the public good diminishes over time
ReplyDeleteCapitalism sucks and is bad for everyone who isn't one of the rich people on top
ReplyDeleteWhen will we just get it already…?
ReplyDeletethey make games? could have fooled me!
ReplyDeleteThey don't, they publish games....
DeleteThey did, people didn't say Ubisoft or EA just publish games..
DeleteHangar 13, Firaxis isn't any different from Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Paris just because the one in Ubisoft has their "publishers name"
NBA 2k24’s billion of microtransaction income wasn’t enough .
ReplyDeleteThey could barely afford an upgrade to their yacht. Economy is down the toilet I tell ya.
DeleteThey want the billion that FIFA EA FC MAKES EA. 2k doesn’t generate that for them
DeleteActually been a tough year for their card collecting mode myTeam. They have lost a large portion of their player base and have transitioned the content to cards that can only be obtained through gambling on packs. 1 content creator famously spent $3.000 a week and was not able to pull the guy he was going for
Deletewas it troydan lol
DeleteIt was indeed. He did finally get a 100 overall card during the 3rd week. I believe all in he was around $11k Canadian Dollars to get 1 out of the 3 cards he was going for.
DeleteHOW
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Capitalism 101
DeleteThey published the most profitable piece of media in history
ReplyDeleteGreedy bastards
ReplyDeleteHear me out. French style revolution where c suites and shareholders of massive companies are on the block. This game will make billions and the layoffs have already started is ridiculous. The greed from shareholders of game studios is actually putting me off gaming. Thank fucj for indie studios
ReplyDeleteI mean, I was disgusted in the 2000's when they were parachuting in execs from other kinds of companies to be gaming CEO's.
DeleteGenuinely think if gamers want to stop this greedy money grab we need to start boycotting AAA games on release. I think arrowhead has shown what the new model is for live service games hopefully studios see that and now fear. If companies layoff loads of developers and they start a new studio then we can show them support and maybe end this ridiculous chicken hawk style of greed.
DeleteThere is no reason to keep someone hired when they’re not needed anymore
DeleteYeah I am sure it’s totally fine to start laying people off and cancel games while being one of the most profitable companies in gaming. Sure people don’t need jobs to live right?
DeleteI’m confused why you think a company should keep people that are not needed anymore, is there any argument for it? Except for garbage like “ITS A DECENT THING TO DO, COMPANIES SHOULD NEVER FIRE PEOPLE!!”, how would you justify it for shareholders? “Yeah we don’t need them but we’re going to keep spending money on them”?
DeleteWell maybe they could wait till after they launch their massive AAA game so they have the people to make the fixes they will definitely need also cancelling games already in development is a tactic to shrink the market so to milk more money for gamers. If they where only going to be needed for a certain period of time why where they not giving contracts stating that instead of laying them off. It’s about greed and manipulative financial practices but you seem to be pro giant company that has said it wants €150 a game from us.
DeleteHow do you know they are firing people working on GTA 6?
DeleteSo give 'em a job!
DeleteLaying off employees that aren’t needed is the exact same concept as canceling a subscription that you don’t use anymore. Being theoretically able to afford it isn’t even part of the calculation.
DeleteAdvocating mass murder over video games. You are peak entitled consumerism.
DeleteThese people are far worse than the execs they hate
DeleteAre there any game developer unions out there? That seems like the most straightforward path to securing job security for workers in this industry.
DeleteAAAA BADDD
DeleteINDY DEV HELL DIVERS 3 GUD
My Prediction is GTA 6 move to 2026
ReplyDelete