{"id":1864465,"date":"2026-04-03T18:28:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T15:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1864465"},"modified":"2026-04-03T18:28:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T15:28:24","slug":"take-two-laid-off-the-head-its-ai-division-and-an-undisclosed-number-of-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1864465","title":{"rendered":"Take-Two laid off the head its AI division and an undisclosed number of staff"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/QTpg3nqbZ1oyIoIJ17vfUQ&#8211;\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02NzU-\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/jason_and_lucia_02_with_logos_landscape_4147.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article id=\"article-380688fc-1eb4-4d94-bfae-54cd086b38f6\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"mx-auto md:px-10 md:max-w-[1220px]\">\n<nav class=\"prestige-breadcrumb relative mx-4 md:mx-0\" aria-label=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<ol class=\"no-scrollbar overflow-scroll whitespace-nowrap text-battleship\">\n<li class=\"inline\">\n<li class=\"inline-block cursor-default last:pr-10 md:last:pr-20 font-bold\">Gaming<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/nav>\n<header class=\"mb-4 px-4 md:mb-6 md:px-0\">\n<h1 class=\"layout-h1 my-2 font-bold leading-tight\">Take-Two laid off the head its AI division and an undisclosed number of staff<\/h1>\n<h2 class=\"my-2 text-[18px] font-light leading-5 md:max-w-[660px] md:text-[20px]\/[28px]\">The team was working on AI tools to support game development.<\/h2>\n<div class=\"flex-col items-start lg:flex lg:flex-row lg:items-center lg:justify-between mt-6\">\n<div class=\"relative md:mr-[10px]\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center\">\n<div class=\"flex mr-2\">\n<div class=\"shrink-0 cursor-pointer inline-block size-[42px] lg:size-[48px]\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt role=\"img\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full rounded-full object-cover object-center shadow-[0_0_0_2px_#ffffff]\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/z0DGTUGhtSngJHwR4_52VQ--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTgwO2g9ODA-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2024-12\/104d0e40-b283-11ef-80fd-c7df9234dfe5\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"inline-block\">\n<div class=\"w-max text-sm\/5 font-semibold lg:!flex flex items-center\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col\">\n<div class=\"flex w-max items-center\">Ian Carlos Campbell<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"font-normal sm:before:inline-block\">Contributing Reporter<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"lg:hidden\">\n<div class=\"text-xs text-dolphin dark:text-shark md:text-sm\/5 pt-4\">\n<div class=\"inline-block\"><time datetime=\"2026-04-03T18:28:24.000Z\">Fri, April 3, 2026 at 6:28 PM UTC<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ml-0 mt-4 flex items-center lg:ml-3 lg:mt-0\">\n<div class=\"ml-0 mr-2\">\n<div class=\"relative flex\">Add Engadget on Google<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden lg:block\">\n<div class=\"text-xs text-dolphin dark:text-shark md:text-sm\/5 pt-4\">\n<div class=\"inline-block\"><time datetime=\"2026-04-03T18:28:24.000Z\">Fri, April 3, 2026 at 6:28 PM UTC<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-1 gap-x-8 lg:gap-x-0 mx-auto md:px-10 md:max-w-[1220px] md:grid-cols-[[main-start]_1fr_[main-end_right-start]_min-content_[right-end]] lg:!gap-x-8\">\n<div class=\"md:col-main\" data-i13n-boundary=\"true\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-[[fullbleed-start_body-start]_minmax(auto,750px)_[body-end_fullbleed-end]]\">\n<figure class=\"relative col-body mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative overflow-hidden fig-image-round left-1\/2 w-screen -translate-x-1\/2 md:left-0 md:w-auto md:translate-x-0\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt class=\"object-cover object-center\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/Psv3PgQ8SbTVRwAWj8TvKw--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02OTk-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/uu\/api\/res\/1.2\/7714n_B7z2guc0Is1Z3lvQ--~B\/aD0yMTYwO3c9Mzg0MDthcHBpZD15dGFjaHlvbg--\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/jason_and_lucia_02_with_logos_landscape_4147.jpg\"><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-[0.875rem]\/[1.25rem] figure-caption mt-1 line-clamp-2 mt-2.5 md:mt-2 pr-2.5\">\n<div><span>Rockstar Games<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-article-mobile md:grid-cols-article lg:max-w-[750px] drop-cap\" data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Take-Two, the owner of Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar Games, has seemingly laid off the head of its AI division, Luke Dicken, and several staff members working under him. &#8220;\u200b\u200bIt\u2019s truly disappointing that I have to share with you that my time with T2 \u2014 and that of my team \u2014 has come to an end,&#8221; Dicken shared in a LinkedIn post spotted by <em>Game Developer<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">When asked to confirm the layoffs in its AI division, Take-Two declined to comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Dicken writes that his team was &#8220;developing cutting edge technology to support game development&#8221; and his post specifically notes that he&#8217;s trying to find roles for staff with experience in things like &#8220;procedural content for games&#8221; and &#8220;machine learning.&#8221; It&#8217;s unclear how many people other than Dicken have been impacted by these layoffs, but the timing does seem a bit unusual for Take-Two.<\/p>\n<div class=\"col-fullbleed mb-4 bg-marshmallow pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:invisible md:mb-0 md:h-0 md:overflow-hidden md:pb-0\">\n<div class=\"py-2 text-center text-xs uppercase\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_cd97b4ilfeiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-body mb-4 hidden pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:block\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_kd97b4ilfeiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Like some other large game publishers, Take-Two has &#8220;actively embraced&#8221; generative AI tools to &#8220;drive efficiencies&#8221; and &#8220;reduce costs.&#8221; Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has even framed AI as having a positive effect on employment, noting that generative AI &#8220;will not reduce employment, it will increase employment,&#8221; because &#8220;technology always increases productivity, which in turn increases GDP, which in turn increases employment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">It&#8217;s too early to characterize these layoffs as some sort of tide turning against AI \u2014 like other big game companies, Take-Two also just does a lot of layoffs \u2014 but it&#8217;s interesting they&#8217;re happening now, while the company is speeding towards the release of <em>Grand Theft Auto VI<\/em>. The sequel is expected to be a big hit, one that should give Take-Two plenty of financial wiggle-room to experiment with new technology.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"hidden flex-none md:block col-right\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full flex-col flex-nowrap\">\n<div class=\"flex-auto\">\n<div class=\"sticky flex flex-none\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_1pp7b4ilfeiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"md:col-main grid grid-cols-article-mobile md:grid-cols-article lg:max-w-[750px]\">\n<div class=\"no-scrollbar col-body mx-4 mb-8 mt-2.5 overflow-x-scroll whitespace-nowrap md:mx-0 md:max-w-[750px] md:overflow-x-visible\">\n<div class=\"mx-auto max-w-screen-sm\">\n<ul class=\"inline-flex text-xs md:text-sm\">\n<li class=\"mr-6\">About our ads<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-article-mobile md:grid-cols-article lg:max-w-[750px] drop-cap\" data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Take-Two, the owner of Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar Games, has seemingly laid off the head of its AI division, Luke Dicken, and several staff members working under him. &#8220;\u200b\u200bIt\u2019s truly disappointing that I have to share with you that my time with T2 \u2014 and that of my team \u2014 has come to an end,&#8221; Dicken shared in a LinkedIn post spotted by <em>Game Developer<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">When asked to confirm the layoffs in its AI division, Take-Two declined to comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Dicken writes that his team was &#8220;developing cutting edge technology to support game development&#8221; and his post specifically notes that he&#8217;s trying to find roles for staff with experience in things like &#8220;procedural content for games&#8221; and &#8220;machine learning.&#8221; It&#8217;s unclear how many people other than Dicken have been impacted by these layoffs, but the timing does seem a bit unusual for Take-Two.<\/p>\n<div class=\"col-fullbleed mb-4 bg-marshmallow pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:invisible md:mb-0 md:h-0 md:overflow-hidden md:pb-0\">\n<div class=\"py-2 text-center text-xs uppercase\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_cd97b4ilfeiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-body mb-4 hidden pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:block\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_kd97b4ilfeiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Like some other large game publishers, Take-Two has &#8220;actively embraced&#8221; generative AI tools to &#8220;drive efficiencies&#8221; and &#8220;reduce costs.&#8221; Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has even framed AI as having a positive effect on employment, noting that generative AI &#8220;will not reduce employment, it will increase employment,&#8221; because &#8220;technology always increases productivity, which in turn increases GDP, which in turn increases employment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">It&#8217;s too early to characterize these layoffs as some sort of tide turning against AI \u2014 like other big game companies, Take-Two also just does a lot of layoffs \u2014 but it&#8217;s interesting they&#8217;re happening now, while the company is speeding towards the release of <em>Grand Theft Auto VI<\/em>. The sequel is expected to be a big hit, one that should give Take-Two plenty of financial wiggle-room to experiment with new technology.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/gaming\/take-two-laid-off-the-head-its-ai-division-and-an-undisclosed-number-of-staff-182824338.html&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/QTpg3nqbZ1oyIoIJ17vfUQ&#8211;\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02NzU-\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/jason_and_lucia_02_with_logos_landscape_4147.jpg&#8221;] Gaming Take-Two laid off the head its AI division and an undisclosed number of staff The team was working on AI tools to support game development. Ian Carlos Campbell Contributing Reporter Fri, April 3, 2026 at 6:28 PM UTC Add Engadget on Google Fri, April 3, 2026 at 6:28 PM UTC Rockstar [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,63],"class_list":["post-1864465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-engadget-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1864465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864465\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1864465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1864465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1864465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}