Take-Two Interactive mentioned in November 2024 that it had offered Non-public Division, the “high-end indie” publishing label it launched in 2017, to an undisclosed purchaser, together with “considerably all of Non-public Division’s stay and unreleased titles.” The id of the customer was not revealed, however a brand new Bloomberg report (through Recreation Developer) says the division’s “video games and franchises” will likely be taken over by former staff of Annapurna Interactive, the gaming-focused subsidiary of Annapurna Photos that collapsed in September 2024 after its whole employees and senior management group resigned.
The previous Annapurna Interactive staff weren’t the consumers of Non-public Division themselves, based on the Bloomberg report: Haveli Investments, a non-public fairness agency, made the acquisition and subsequently did a cope with the ex-Annapurna staffers to take management of the video games. It sounds just like the Non-public Division label is not going to be retained, because the newly-formed firm doesn’t but have a reputation, and a number of the roughly 20 staff of Non-public Division will likely be laid off.
Annapurna Interactive was based in 2016 and shortly established a popularity for publishing offbeat however wonderful video games together with Kentucky Route Zero, Outer Wilds, Sayonara Wild Hearts, What Stays of Edith Finch, Telling Lies, Neon White, and Stray. However the employees resigned wholesale final yr after a management shakeup and the collapse of negotiations to spin the division off right into a standalone firm. Annapurna Interactive continues to function below new management and employees.
As for Non-public Division, it apparently simply wasn’t sufficiently big for Take-Two Interactive to trouble with. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick mentioned Non-public Division’s largest video games “weren’t huge within the context of our core mental properties at 2K and Rockstar” when the sale was revealed, which was not a superb match for Take-Two’s standing as “being a top-ten participant.”
The Bloomberg report says the brand new firm will take management of video games together with Tales of the Shire, which is ready to launch on March 25, and possibly extra curiously, the Kerbal Area Program sequence. Kerbal Area Program 2 was anticipated to be Non-public Division’s flagship recreation when it launched into early entry in 2023, but it surely flopped badly and hasn’t been up to date since June 2024, main many to imagine it has been deserted.
I’ve reached out to Haveli Investments for remark and can replace if I obtain a reply.
