It all starts with Intercept Games, founded in 2020 in Seattle (Washington State) to obtain the Kerbal Space Program license under the aegis of the Private Division label, the indie-compatible branch of Take-Two. Several media outlets have noted that WARN, an online document from the State of Washington listing upcoming layoffs and business closures, mentions the layoff of 70 Take-Two workers in Seattle by June 28 as well as the closure of a studio. It didn’t take much to cross-reference the two pieces of information and guess that Intercept Games belonged to the past. Jason Schreier was able to confirm this for Bloomberg with internal documents.
A little further from the stars
However, Jason Schreier also learned that London studio Roll7 was going out of business. The team was actively working on its next game after the excellent arcade shooter Rollerdrome published in 2022. Around 55 employees will find themselves out of work.
As for the future of Kerbal Space Program 2still in early access, official releases from Take-Two state that “Private Division will continue to update” the space simulator without specifying the terms. The Intercept Games team also claims to continue to work hard. The situation is furiously reminiscent of the sad tale of Star Theory Games, the first developer of KSP2 which went out of business after Private Division transferred the baby to Intercept.
For the moment, Take-Two refuses to make any further comment. This round of layoffs is certainly only a warning shot since the publisher had 11,580 employees last year. To reduce its workforce by 5%, or 579 people, sacking 125 people will not be enough. FYI, CEO Strauss Zelnick earned $42.1 million in the 2023 fiscal year.
 and Intercept Games (Kerbal Space Program 2) studios – News){kind=link}