Another Hit To The Seattle Gaming Community, and the World!

The Seattle, Washington arm of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. will be closing its doors, not only striking blow to the gaming industry, but to the Seattle employment community as well.

The notice of closure was announced on Monday, April 29th, 2024.

In a listing of the Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD), the permanent closure of the video game company looks to start June 28th, with the layoff of its 70 employees.

This comes just 2 months after Electronic Arts (parent company and publisher of several fan-favorite studios as well as video game series (Mass Effect, Burnout, Apex Legends, The Sims, and Star Wars Battlefront, to name a few)) announced the the closure of one of their Seattle studios, Ridgeline Games (read more about that here).

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Take-Two Interactive, best known for their two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games (Grand Theft Auto video game series) and 2K (BioShock, Borderlands, many 2K sports titles) announced last month that it would be laying off 5% of its workforce.

It would appear the Seattle branch, Intercept Games, is included in that shutting down process.

Why Are These Video Game Companies Closing Down?

A series of massive layoffs have been hitting the gaming industry as of late, with over eight thousand employees losing their jobs this year.

Rising costs of game development, labor issues, market saturation, market correction and continued fallout from the pandemic does not help matters.

Let's hope that the employees who lost their jobs are able to bounce back fast, and continue making the art that we love!

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