Take-Two, the proprietor of Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar Video games, has seemingly laid off the pinnacle of its AI division, Luke Dicken, and a number of other employees members working below him. “It’s really disappointing that I’ve to share with you that my time with T2 — and that of my group — has come to an finish,” Dicken shared in a LinkedIn put up noticed by Recreation Developer.
When requested to substantiate the layoffs in its AI division, Take-Two declined to remark.
Dicken writes that his group was “creating innovative expertise to help recreation growth” and his put up particularly notes that he is looking for roles for employees with expertise in issues like “procedural content material for video games” and “machine studying.” It is unclear how many individuals apart from Dicken have been impacted by these layoffs, however the timing does appear a bit uncommon for Take-Two.
Like another giant recreation publishers, Take-Two has “actively embraced” generative AI instruments to “drive efficiencies” and “scale back prices.” Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has even framed AI as having a constructive impact on employment, noting that generative AI “won’t scale back employment, it’ll enhance employment,” as a result of “expertise at all times will increase productiveness, which in flip will increase GDP, which in flip will increase employment.”
It is too early to characterize these layoffs as some kind of tide turning towards AI — like different massive recreation corporations, Take-Two additionally simply does plenty of layoffs — however it’s attention-grabbing they’re occurring now, whereas the corporate is dashing in the direction of the discharge of Grand Theft Auto VI. The sequel is predicted to be a giant hit, one that ought to give Take-Two loads of monetary wiggle-room to experiment with new expertise.
