GTA 6 publisher Take-Two Interactive lays off hundreds of employees

Continuing a worrying trend in the world of gaming, GTA 6 publisher Take-Two Interactive are laying off hundreds of employees. The company is also canceling a number of unannounced projects as part of a cost-cutting measure, so these games may never see the light of day.

In their SEC filing, Take-Two said this is part of an ongoing restructuring of the company, which will supposedly save the company $165 million. Should everything go their way, the company will be able to complete its downsizing by December 31 and their “restructuring” will be done.

Over 500 employees will be laid off from the GTA 6 publisher, which is five percent of Take-Two’s workforce. While projects of the company have been canceled, they didn’t detail any of them. Based on this information, it’s safe to say that Take-Two and Rockstar will continue working on GTA 6 before it releases.

Gaming companies firing employees like this is quickly becoming a regular occurrence, showing just how expensive these AAA titles are becoming. Players asking for cheaper-looking games with worse graphics might be a meme right now, but it would mean less heartbreaking news like this.

While they weren’t mentioned, Take-Two Interactive is currently in the process of purchasing Gearbox Software, the developers of Borderlands. It’s a logical move on the part of Take-Two since these games tend to be published by 2K Games upon release. Still, we wouldn’t be too surprised if this was one of the reasons why Take-Two decided to start laying off hundreds of their employees.

Last year really showed how common layoffs were for AAA games, with Insomniac Games, Bungie, and more firing numerous employees. It’s not just game companies but game-adjacent ones as well, with Twitch also laying off a good number of their employees.

GTA 6 is the biggest game Take-Two and Rockstar are currently working on, with plans to release the open-world title sometime in 2025. Currently, the game is scheduled for current-gen consoles, with no plans for a simultaneous PC release.