GTA publisher Take-Two joins the flood of gaming layoffs — which could be felt for years

We got 19K layoffs before GTA 6… Gamers have been waiting 11 years for the next “Grand Theft Auto,” but there’s no joyriding in the industry right now. Take-Two, GTA’s publisher, last week announced plans to lay off 5% of its workforce (~600 people) and scrap several projects in development. Take-Two said the move’s meant to boost profit margins, adding to a flurry of layoffs that’ve been KO’ing the industry. By some estimates, since last year, nearly 20K workers have been let go from video-game giants like Microsoft, Sony, EA, and Epic.

• Watch the cutscene: By comparison, gaming layoffs were 12x worse than news-industry cuts as of February. Over a third of game devs said they’d been affected.

• Vice City gridlock: GTA 6 — which could inject billions into the industry — will likely be unaffected by the reductions. But production challenges have reportedly pushed back its release window, which could slip into 2026 (at least we have this trailer?).

Tweakin’ the difficulty sliders… At play in the cost cuts: production expenses have ballooned with bigger worlds and chattier NPCs. GTA 6 has a rumored $2B price tag, and Sony’s “Spider-Man 2” budget hit $315M, 3x the first installment. To boost chances of success, gaming companies have mirrored Hollywood by leaning on successful IPs (think: “Star Wars,” Marvel). Ubisoft has put ~3K devs to work on its “Assassin’s Creed” franchise. But gaming execs say standard game prices (now $70, but the $60 price point held on for 15 years) aren’t covering costs. Stalling demand isn’t helping: US game sales hit $57B last year, up just 1% from a year earlier (and down from lockdown-boosted 2021).