In a reasonably uncommon merging of two utterly separate reported tales from final yr, the previous employees of Annapurna Interactive are seemingly getting ready to take over the portfolio of shuttered indie label Non-public Division. A minimum of a number of the remaining Non-public Division workers are anticipated to be laid off within the course of.
That is in response to a report from Bloomberg, which states {that a} presently unnamed firm staffed by former Annapurna Interactive workers has reached a cope with personal fairness agency Haveli to take over the distribution of Non-public Division titles. Bloomberg stories and IGN can independently affirm that Haveli is the corporate that bought Non-public Division from Take-Two Interactive final yr for an undisclosed quantity.
The portfolio contains each present and upcoming Non-public Division titles, corresponding to Tales of the Shire, which releases March 25. It additionally contains Venture Bloom, a AAA action-adventure recreation developed by Sport Freak that was introduced again in 2023 with nothing greater than an idea artwork teaser.
As Bloomberg stories, Haveli’s buy of Non-public Division included not simply the portfolio, however 20 workers who remained with the label following Take-Two-implemented layoffs final spring. Remaining workers have reportedly been instructed to discover different employment choices, with the expectation that at the very least a few of them might be laid off as a part of the cope with the unnamed new writer.
Non-public Division was previously Take-Two’s publishing label, which the corporate based again in 2017. It was meant to help unbiased video games that have been smaller than the fare usually supported by the Grand Theft Auto writer. Over time, Non-public Division produced titles corresponding to The Outer Worlds, OlliOlli World, and Kerbal Area Program 2, however recreation gross sales repeatedly fell wanting Take-Two expectations. Early final yr, we reported that Take-Two was slowly shuttering operations at Non-public Division, first by winding down operations at its supported studios after which by promoting off the label.
The brand new homeowners of Non-public Division’s portfolio are a bunch of former workers of Annapurna Interactive that collectively resigned final yr following a management dispute at Annapurna. We reported final fall on the messy circumstances, which left Annapurna looking for to restaff a complete publishing group to cowl its quite a few obligations and roughly 25 people looking for new employment.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You could find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Received a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.
