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Industry News
2017/12

Take-Two Interactive Announces Indie Publishing Label Private Division

Don’t rule out the implementation of loot-boxes and microtransactions in a new batch of games on an indie scale given that Take-Two Interactive will be over a new indie publishing label called Private Division. The new company aims to empower “independent studios” to create games that they’re passionate about.

That’s right, the infamous Take-Two Interactive has announced that it will bring a new independent publishing division called Private Division under its belt, alongside Rockstar Games and 2K. The new publishing label headquarters is stationed in New York and will bring titles from “top independent developers” to market.

Described as a developer-focused publisher, Private Division has this notice explaining what the company aims to bring commercially and globally:

“Empowers independent studios to develop the games that they are passionate about creating, while providing the support that they need to make their titles critically and commercially successful on a global scale.”

The following games or projects that happen to be under development will all be published by this new division, Private Division, which is under Take-Two Interactive:

Project Wight – this game is an unannounced RPG from The Outsiders, a studio founded by ex-DICE developers (from Sweden) that includes David Goldfard and Ben Cousins.

An unannounced RPG – hailing from Obsidian Entertainment, this project is currently led by Tim Cain and Leon Boyarsky, the co-creators of Fallout.

An unannounced Sci-Fi first-person shooter – this game is under development by V1 Interactive, a studio founded by Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto.

Kerbal Space Program – Take-Two acquired this project back in May 2017, which is now going to be published by Private Division.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey – developed by Panache Digital Games, this studio is led by the creator of the Assassin’s Creed franchise Patrice Desilets. If you don’t know who Desilets is, here’s a requirement that he sent out about hiring people for Ancestors that sums him up nicely:

“On hiring female staff to work on his game: “If the candidate has a dick he’s not hired. I’m not telling the story of humankind only with guys. It didn’t happen that way. You need to make babies.”

If your interest and expectation of this publishing branch of Take-Two Interactive has fallen to zero, well the new announcement video has you covered. You can watch the new video here.

Lastly, it’s worth mentioning that besides Kerbal Space Program expansion, the above titles coming from Private Division will not release until after Take-Two Interactive’s fiscal year ending March 31st, 2018 and 2019.

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