There's a quieter, nastier story unfolding in the studio corridors: Visual Concepts' layoffs didn’t fall evenly. The creators behind WWE 2K took the brunt, while the NBA 2K crew came away mostly intact — WWE team vs. NBA team, and the outcome was stark.
Even more surreal: the squad that shipped the Netflix tie-in was cut, too. That game performed well — downloads and reviews looked good — yet the streamers apparently wanted something else, e.g., an aggressively monetized, pay-to-win mobile model. It wasn’t that kind of project, i.e., it didn’t bend to those expectations, so Netflix pulled the plug after it climbed the charts and canceled any follow-ups.
And then there’s management theater: Take-Two kept telling staff everything was fine right up to the moment it wasn’t, leaving people suddenly unemployed while corporate decisions catered to outside appetites rather than the teams who made the games.