Take-Two is reportedly looking to either sell or close its Private Division publishing label

An IGN report says Take-Two Interactive is looking to either sell or close Private Division, the indie-focused publishing label launched in 2017, and that most of the staff at Private Division have already been laid off.

It was reported earlier this month that Kerbal Space Program 2 developer Intercept Games and Rollerdrome studio Roll7 were being closed as part of a cost-cutting plan at Take-Two; CEO Strauss Zelnick later said Take-Two "didn't shutter those studios," throwing the matter into some confusion. Earlier this week, however, multiple employees at Intercept Games confirmed that layoffs are coming in June, although the ultimate fate of the studio remains unclear.

Both of those games are currently published by Private Division, and the IGN report says the layoffs come as part of Take-Two's effort to either sell or shutter the label entirely. Employees at Private Division were reportedly told in February that layoffs were coming, and then in April most of the staff was let go, after Take-Two said it would no longer support the label.

Private Division has also recently backed out of at least two existing publishing deals, according to the report: One with Silent Hill 2 remake studio Bloober Team, and the other with One More Level, the developer of Ghostrunner.

Take-Two was reportedly negotiating the sale of Kerbal Space Program, with or without developer Intercept Games, to Paradox, but those talks fell through. It's also said to be in talks with a private equity firm about selling Private Division, but those efforts have yet to produce any results. The talks are being «facilitated» by people connected to Moon Studios, developer of the Ori games and No Rest for the Wicked, according to the report. Private Division is the publisher of No Rest for the Wicked.

Purely speculatively, a recent tweet by Moon Studios CEO Thomas Mahler could be seen as hinting that something is going on, although—timing aside—it also works as idle musing about the general state of the