According to Bloomberg’s sources, Take-Two Interactive Software is preparing layoffs that could result in the closure of two studios at the Strauss Zelnick-led publisher, which recently acquired Gearbox Entertainment Company from the splintered Embracer Group.

According to Jason Schreier, writing for Bloomberg, two studios under Take-Two’s indie titles subsidiary Private Division are about to be padlocked. One is London-based Roll7, which makes OlliOlli games and Rollerdrome, and will move under Private Division in November 2021 after the acquisition. According to Schreier, Take-Two will close the studio and offer a severance package to its employees.

The other studio involved could be Seattle-based Intercept Games, whose most recent release was Kerbal Space Program 2, which is currently in early access on PC (both on Steam and the Epic Games Store). Take-Two has already announced to the Washington State Employment Security Department that it intends to close an office in Seattle, putting 70 people out of work, and since Intercept Games’ staff is roughly the same size, it’s easy to connect the two. So they too are supposedly in Game Over.

In April, Take-Two said it planned to lay off about five percent of its workforce by the end of 2024. That’s about 600 employees, so the publisher (which is now waiting for Rockstar to finish development on Grand Theft Auto VI…) has already started laying off the staff it doesn’t need. In a statement, Alan Lewis, Take-Two’s vice president of communications, said that no further details would be given about the layoffs announced in April, and that Kerbal Space Program 2 is still in development.

It is likely that Take-Two is not going on the record about this in order to avoid a negative image for the publisher, which would hurt their stock value and take a lot of money out of the company, which is already enjoying excellent results due to the cash flow generated by the cash cow Grand Theft Auto Online.

Source: Gematsu, Bloomberg