Coming out of the shadows: how former Annapurna employees are taking over the management of Private Division assets
In September, we wrote that all employees had left Annapurna Interactive, which published Stray and other indie hits. And now we know what this team will do next.
Here's What We Know
A group of former employees of the video game publisher Annapurna Interactive, who suddenly left the company due to an internal conflict, announced the creation of a new company that will take over the portfolio of the Private Division studio. This is all happening against the backdrop of staff reductions at Private Division, which previously belonged to Take-Two Interactive.
The new company, which has no name yet, will inherit Private Division's games and franchises, including the upcoming Tales of the Shire game set in the Lord of The Rings universe, due out on 25 March 2025, as well as the popular Kerbal Space Program series and a new project by Game Freak, the developers of Pokémon.
Last November, Take-Two announced the sale of its Private Division for an undisclosed price. The new owner is Austin-based private equity firm Haveli Investments. According to sources, Haveli has entered into an agreement with former Annapurna employees to finance the new company and transfer the distribution rights to former Private Division titles to them.
Private Division was founded in 2017 to publish mid-sized games. Although the studio started out successfully with titles such as The Outer Worlds, it lost momentum and proved to be a poor fit for Take-Two Interactive, leading to closure and layoffs.
Now it's interesting to see what comes out of this whole story and what the future holds for the publisher and the group founded by Annapurna Interactive employees.
Source: Bloomberg
