In today's Take-Two third quarter earnings, the company said it's "currently working on a significant cost reduction program across our entire business to maximize our margins." With the way the gaming industry's been lately - with layoffs this year alone already reaching the thousands - it's only natural to wonder if job cuts will be a part of that.
When asked if that plan would indeed include layoffs, Take-Two chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick told IGN ahead of the earnings call that the company has "no current plans" for that, although they're still working out the specifics.
"We haven't put any meat on the bones of that yet," Zelnick said of the cost reduction plan. "I would just note that our biggest line item of expense is actually marketing. We do think we can optimize that. We also have third-party expenses, software, other vendors, supply services. And we always find opportunity there. The hardest thing to do is to lay off colleagues, and we have no current plans."
Previously, Zelnick sounded optimistic about the state of the company, thanks in no small part to the upcoming release of GTA 6. In November, he told IGN that he was actually anticipating a surge in the coming years.
"We've already gotten through the right-sizing we felt we needed to do, and we expect to be in growth mode going forward," he said at the time.
It's worth noting, though, that Take-Two previously underwent layoffs in the midst of a cost-reduction program. Last February, after the company missed sales guidance, Zelnick told GamesIndustry.Biz that they didn't "expect any kind of broad-based reduction in force. We are going department by department and trying to drive efficiency."
The following month, Take-Two had a round of layoffs including at indie publishing label Private Division.
Elsewhere on the earnings call, Zelnick also confirmed that No Rest for the Wicked's early access launch has been delayed for a few months, and commented on that big GTA 6 trailer leak.
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