The CEO and chair of Take-Two, Strauss Zelnick, has said that Roll7 and Intercept Games have not been closed.

Speaking to IGN, the exec denied reports that these two studios were being shut down that came via WARN notices and Bloomberg having access to internal communication to this effect. The company previously announced a cost-cutting program that would see five per cent of staff made redundant. 

"We didn't shutter those studios, to be clear," Zelnick said.

"And we are always looking at our release schedule across all of our studios to make sure that it makes sense. So we are being very judicious because we are in the middle of a cost reduction program that we've already concluded and are now fully rolling out. We've announced that we're saving $165 million in existing and future costs, but we haven't shuttered anything."

A PR rep added: "What we've said is, in the 8-K filing that we put out we talked about the cost reduction plan is approximately five per cent reduction in headcount worldwide, but we did not give a label-by-label breakdown of what that looks like."

While Take-Two has never confirmed or announced these studio closures, it is clear that something strange is afoot.

In a statement provided to GI.biz about the impact of Take-Two's cost-cutting measures on the Private Division label – under which Roll7 and Intercept Games sat – a rep for the company said: "Our entire organisation contributed to our cost reduction efforts, including Private Division. We refocused our pipeline within Private Division and are still planning to support an array of titles," they said, listing Moon Studio’s No Rest for the Wicked, Wētā Workshop Game Studio’s Tales of the Shire, and a title in partnership with Gamefreak.

"Additionally, the label continues to make updates to Kerbal Space Program 2. We will continue to opportunistically evaluate future projects that have the potential to meet our financial benchmarks."