Take Two Interactive (Rockstar, 2K, Private Division) canceling games, ending projects and laying off 5% of its workforce

[GGG-GoodGuyGreg]

No offense, but if it turns to be true, it isn't like they were constantly updating the game in a hurry to begin with. I still don't consider KSP2 a worthy sequel, even considering it's an EA (which it barely is in my opinion).

Edited May 1 by GGG-GoodGuyGreg

[Meecrob]

7 minutes ago, DeadJohn said:

Maybe KSP2 is safe. Maybe it's not.

Lol, I wouldn't put it past Take Two to invade our hard drives and delete our copies of KSP2 just to erase its failure from the media's collective memory.

Edit: Jokes aside, I'm guessing they mean that Take Two will release whatever the dev team gets complete in the next 60 days as well as keep the dischord and forums going, and stuff like that, but I doubt we are seeing much more.

Edited May 1 by Meecrob

[Yakuzi]

3 minutes ago, NexusHelium said:

First of all. Did you see that thing that said they were working at intercept from January 2023 to present.

Second: Why ask the question if you don't want to take the facts laid out. The image shown on reddit is extremely old

IF it is indeed IG that's being shut down, that means that everyone can still work there until 2024-06-28 when the office will be closed permanently (as noted on the Washington State website).
There are (state) laws that require employees to be informed ~60 days before they're laid off, which gives them the opportunity to find new employment. This is what we may be observing now.

Not sure what 'facts' you're imagining... I took that screenshot ~9 hours ago and posted it on the subreddit and here with a link to the respective linkedin page. Why would include a link if it was a bogus story? You're free to believe what you want, but saying nothing happened cause you were too late to the party sure as hell arent facts.

[GGG-GoodGuyGreg]

If it's true, please don't say it's my fault or the fault of people like me.

[NexusHelium]

1 minute ago, Yakuzi said:

Why would include a link if it was a bogus story? You're free to believe what you want, but saying nothing happened cause you were too late to the party sure as hell arent facts.

I just find it hard to believe Dakota would have changed their status back to hired if they truly were out of a job. There is no reason to believe that if they really were in need of being hired, they would change that status.

Just now, GGG-GoodGuyGreg said:

If it's true, please don't say it's my fault or the fault of people like me.

It's your fault and the fault of people like you  

(jk, you're good)

[TLTay]

12 minutes ago, DeadJohn said:

Thanks for the info.

Reading the text within that article doesn't quite say that KSP2 is safe, despite the headline. The article says that KSP2 will continue to get "support" but doesn't actually promise ongoing development. Support could be as small as one part-time staffer answering emails from EA customers. T2 is quoted making legalese and no-comment statements in that article.

Maybe KSP2 is safe. Maybe it's not. The only thing that seems clear from that article is that they have an attorney overseeing their statements.

I'm reading continued "support" as NOT being continued "development." 

They had 100% the opportunity to say that development will continue, and very clearly said "support" instead. No timeframe for "support" was mentioned.

That's as good as it gets for now. Looks like the article writer is the one who is making the claim KSP2 is safe, despite the legally clear and distinct statement.

[Scarecrow71]

5 minutes ago, Yakuzi said:

everyone can still work there until 2024-06-28 when the office will be closed permanently

Unless, of course, TT decides to do contract buy-outs and give severance packages and stuff to expedite the process of letting employees go.  Back in 2008, when I left one insurance company for a competitor, I was given 3 weeks off with 4 weeks of pay to not come into work any longer to prevent the potential for using my current system access to bring inside knowledge to the new company.  Not saying that will happen here, but it can.

1 minute ago, TLTay said:

legally clear

Legally clear.  That'd be the first instance in the history of law where something legal was clear.

[AtomicTech]

12 hours ago, DoomsdayDuck555 said:

there's around 70 people working on ksp 2, right?

Not any more, by the looks of it.

[Flush Foot]

Maybe news Soon.™?

Unless reading these posts is how he found out…

[TLTay]

7 minutes ago, Flush Foot said:

Maybe news Soon.™?

Unless reading these posts is how he found out…

They would have been in here right away to dispel any false ideas about studio closure. The fact that nobody fron the impacted studio has said anything official yet is telling enough. It's over. Just waiting on the legal-team approved Nate post.

Edited May 1 by TLTay

[steveman0]

51 minutes ago, TLTay said:

They would have been in here right away to dispel any false ideas about studio closure. The fact that nobody fron the impacted studio has said anything official yet is telling enough. It's over. Just waiting on the legal-team approved Nate post.

This is assuming they have the informatiom and permission to post it. A big news break like this might have communication on lockdown until they get everything in order.

[PDCWolf]

48 minutes ago, steveman0 said:

This is assuming they have the informatiom and permission to post it. A big news break like this might have communication on lockdown until they get everything in order.

It's only a big news break if they're actually affected... Back when paul furio got the boot, and then the second round of t2 layoffs happened, we got clarification almost instantly.

[steveman0]

16 minutes ago, PDCWolf said:

It's only a big news break if they're actually affected... Back when paul furio got the boot, and then the second round of t2 layoffs happened, we got clarification almost instantly.

There's a whole spectrum of possibilities that could be included under "affected". Clearly some have been laid off, we don't know the scope, and they might not either and policy might be let HR notify all affected before commenting.

[MARL_Mk1]

The fact that CMs are aware of the situation and that members of the team on either PD/IG haven't said anything at all, like ANYTHING, ZERO, radio silence, only makes me think this is actually it.

There hasn't been a single attempt to communicate with the community over the course of the day, not even a slightest "Hey everyone, we are aware of the current situation and we'll let you know about the ongoing situation in the next few hours/days". 

Nada.

Truly a shame.

[TLTay]

12 minutes ago, MARL_Mk1 said:

The fact that CMs are aware of the situation and that members of the team on either PD/IG haven't said anything at all, like ANYTHING, ZERO, radio silence, only makes me think this is actually it.

There hasn't been a single attempt to communicate with the community over the course of the day, not even a slightest "Hey everyone, we are aware of the current situation and we'll let you know about the ongoing situation in the next few hours/days". 

Nada.

Truly a shame.

Ended how my first launch started: by flying into the ground.

Edited May 1 by TLTay

[Yakuzi]

3 hours ago, NexusHelium said:

I just find it hard to believe Dakota would have changed their status back to hired if they truly were out of a job.

Your argument so far have been:

1. Now == Before
2. Beliefs == Facts

The forums haven't been the same since the KSP2 EA release, but this is a level of epistemological bankruptcy I haven't seen before. Whatever the etymology, your comments do not merit any serious consideration. Best of luck, I won't reply to you anymore.

3 hours ago, Scarecrow71 said:

Unless, of course, TT decides to do contract buy-outs and give severance packages and stuff to expedite the process of letting employees go.  Back in 2008, when I left one insurance company for a competitor, I was given 3 weeks off with 4 weeks of pay to not come into work any longer to prevent the potential for using my current system access to bring inside knowledge to the new company.  Not saying that will happen here, but it can.

Legally clear.  That'd be the first instance in the history of law where something legal was clear.

Sure, likely there's several more scenarios that could unfold. As it stands now though, a Seattle based Take Two company that employs ~70 people  will be closed permanently by the end of June.

[Pulstar]

33 minutes ago, MARL_Mk1 said:

The fact that CMs are aware of the situation and that members of the team on either PD/IG haven't said anything at all, like ANYTHING, ZERO, radio silence, only makes me think this is actually it.

Pretty much, I've seen my fair share of game shutdowns and cancellations unfolding online over the years and I also have over a decade of experience working for large multinational corporations that did their share of mergers, layoffs, restructurings, criminal investigations, legal squabbles, whistleblowers and other bad news(tm) etc. in my professional career, even managed to dodge one mass layoff by correctly seeing a major red flag for what it was, and I saw how PR/internal communication was done in all those cases.

My personal experiences sadly force me to join the pessimists on this one, as much as I don't want to. This rings too many familiar bells, the dementi would have been very clear and swift from PR if it wasn't at least partially true.

Edited May 1 by Pulstar

[AtomicTech]

Just now, Pulstar said:

Pretty much, I've seen my fair share of game shutdowns and cancellations unfolding online over the years and I also have over a decade of experience working for large multinational corporations that did their share of mergers, layoffs, restructurings, criminal investigations, legal squabbles, whistleblowers etc. in my professional career, even managed to dodge one mass layoff by correctly seeing a major red flag for what it was, and I saw how PR/internal communication was done in all those cases.

My personal experiences sadly force me to join the pessimists on this one, as much as I don't want to. This rings too many familiar bells, the dementi would have been very clear and swift from PR if it wasn't at least partially true.

Man

[chefsbrian]

7 minutes ago, Pulstar said:

My personal experiences sadly force me to join the pessimists on this one, as much as I don't want to. This rings too many familiar bells, the dementi would have been very clear and swift from PR if it wasn't at least partially true.

Yup. If the studio was still in some level of operation, the first thing they'd do is send someone to post some kind of "We're still alive, please stay tuned" message, even if they have no details beyond that. The fact they're not doing so indicates that there is either nobody left to do so, or they are under explicit instruction to not do so. The latter is no better, as you'd usually only do that if you felt there might be a need to be able to suddenly be not dead, if it turns out the backlash was way worse than you expected. That latter case is also pretty unlikely if you're terminating the entire team already, it'd take an investor revolt level of backlash to undo that at this stage.

Edit: Just to elaborate on the whole "But the mass layoff takes 60 days notice" thing and how it applies to the "Nobody left" option, you don't keep the team working for that 60 days if your shuttering all operations. You pay them as if they were, and still lock them out of everything to prevent someone from sabotaging it on the way out. Its much easier to stomach two extra months of payroll instead of dealing with "whoops the entire source code leaked how'd that happen, sorry".

Edited May 1 by chefsbrian
Amendments

[obney kerman]

4 hours ago, pk9sp said:

https://www.eurogamer.net/kerbal-space-program-2-studio-reportedly-shut-down-by-take-two

an article just hit eurogamer 

Can I just say how incredibly disingenuous this article is for having "reportedly shut down" in the headline but then later in the article mentioning how the actual studio has said they still plan to support the game? Like... wow.

[NexusHelium]

3 minutes ago, obney kerman said:

Can I just say how incredibly disingenuous this article is for having "reportedly shut down" in the headline but then later in the article mentioning how the actual studio has said they still plan to support the game? Like... wow.

Articles be like

[Superfluous J]

4 hours ago, pk9sp said:

https://www.eurogamer.net/kerbal-space-program-2-studio-reportedly-shut-down-by-take-two

an article just hit eurogamer 

"Reportedly"

AKA "Someone said it. Who cares who that was or how much inside info they have."

Reporting sucks these days. Video Game Reporting doubly so.

[chefsbrian]

5 minutes ago, obney kerman said:

Can I just say how incredibly disingenuous this article is for having "reportedly shut down" in the headline but then later in the article mentioning how the actual studio has said they still plan to support the game? Like... wow.

Because studios have never mislead people about their development plans, capacity, or existence. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to reinstall the Anthem 2.0 version that Bioware promised, and play that to remember the potential for the future. 

But seriously and with less sarcasm, The article is entirely accurate - They are getting reports of the studio being shuttered, and also tell people that they have messaging from them saying that no, its still ok don't worry. It would be disingenuous if they concealed that latter fact. But as it stands, the line between truth and fiction is covered by that lovely brown fog that occurs when the defecation hits the oscillation, and it'll be a bit until its cleared enough to see what's what.  

[Flush Foot]

2 minutes ago, chefsbrian said:

reinstall Anthem 2.0 version that Bioware promised

Way to kick me again when I'm already down  :-p

[obney kerman]

1 minute ago, chefsbrian said:

Because studios have never mislead people about their development plans, capacity, or existence. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to reinstall the Anthem 2.0 version that Bioware promised, and play that to remember the potential for the future. 

But seriously and with less sarcasm, The article is entirely accurate - They are getting reports of the studio being shuttered, and also tell people that they have messaging from them saying that no, its still ok don't worry. It would be disingenuous if they concealed that latter fact. But as it stands, the line between truth and fiction is covered by that lovely brown fog that occurs when the defecation hits the oscillation, and it'll be a bit until its cleared enough to see what's what.  

You'll never catch me trusting what a company says at face value, granted. But I just think that saying the studio was shut down entirely in the headline was pretty misleading in reference to a situation that nobody seems to know much of anything about at the moment. Just something like "Intercept Games reports layoff of 70 employees" would've been a lot truer to the facts we have right now.