This is yet another social plan in the video game sector. Despite the success of its games, the American publisher Take-Two – which notably owns the very popular Grand Theft Auto (GTA) And NBA 2K – announced, Tuesday April 16, the dismissal of 5% of its staff, that is to say several hundred people.
The group plans to cancel current projects. In this way, the publisher intends to make savings and increase its margins, he explained in a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the American financial markets regulator.
The Take-Two Board of Directors “approved a cost reduction plan aimed at identifying efficiencies across its operations and improving the company’s margins, while continuing to invest for growth”, explains the company. According to the same document, the company estimates that this social plan should cost between 160 and 200 million dollars (between approximately 150 and 188 million euros).
Global successes
Take-Two, which had 11,580 employees in 2023, is the latest in a long list of technology companies, including Sony, Microsoft, Electronic Arts and Riot Games, to implement a layoff plan in 2024, after a year 2023 already marked by workforce reductions in this sector. According to the website Layoffs.fyi, 255 technology companies have laid off around 74,000 people since the start of the year.
This social plan is announced as Take-Two has just purchased Gearbox Entertainment, known for its series Borderlandsto Embracer, a Swedish video game giant in the midst of financial restructuring, for $460 million in March.
It especially comes shortly before the release of the highly anticipated GTA VIa new opus of the action game owned by the studio, scheduled for 2025. The title is expected to be one of the most profitable products of all time – the previous game, GTA Vhas sold 190 million copies, according to the publisher Take-Two. It is the second best-selling game in the world, behind Minecraft and its more than 300 million sales. The trailer for GTA VIreleased in December, showing chases, yacht parties and, for the first time, a female lead character, was viewed more than 42 million times on YouTube in just seven hours after it went live.