Earlier this year, unconfirmed reports came in that Take-Two Interactive was going to shut down Intercept Games, the developer behind Kerbal Space Program 2. That team and that game are part of Take-Two"s Private Division publishing label, which was first launched in December 2017 with the plan to release smaller games from indie teams.
Now a report from IGN, citing unnamed sources, claims that Take-Two is in the process of shutting down the Private Division label, or perhaps selling it off to another company. The story claims that in late April, Take-Two told Private Division employees it would no longer support the label and nearly all of its employees were laid off.
The story adds that a small team is still around to support the remaining games that will be published by Private Division. That includes the recently released No Rest for the Wicked, which is currently in early access for the PC. Two more upcoming games will also be released. One is Wētā Workshop"s Tales of the Shire, a cosy-style game set in The Lord of the Rings universe that will launch later in 2024. The other is a unnamed title from Game Freak, the Japanese developer best known for its Pokemon games.
IGN reports that two games that were to be published by Private Division will no longer be handled by that label. One was in development at Bloober Team which is also working on the upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake for Konami. The other is an unannounced game from One More Level, the makers of the Ghostrunner games.
The story says Take-Two tried to sell the rights to the Kerbal Space Program games to Paradox Interactive but those talks ended without a deal. Take-Two is reportedly in talks with a private equity firm to sell off Private Division completely. Take-Two has so far not commented on these reports.