Private Division

Private Division is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The brainchild of Take-Two Interactive's Michael Worosz, the subsidiary was founded by Worosz and Allen Murray, and officially announced on December 14, 2017. Private Division is Take-Two Interactive's third publishing label, following Rockstar Games and 2K.[1] Private Division funds and publishes indie games developed by small to mid-sized studios. This includes taking over Kerbal Space Program, which was developed by Squad and previously acquired by Take-Two Interactive, as well as publishing future titles from Obsidian Entertainment, The Outsiders, Panache Digital Games, and V1 Interactive.[2]

Private Division
Subsidiary
IndustryVideo games
FoundedDecember 14, 2017 (2017-12-14)
Founders
  • Michael Worosz
  • Allen Murray
Headquarters
New York City, New York
,
U.S.
Number of locations
4 offices (2018)
Key people
  • Michael Worosz
  • (head of label)
  • Allen Murray
  • (VP of production)
  • Tom Bass
  • (VP of marketing)
ProductsKerbal Space Program, The Outer Worlds
ParentTake-Two Interactive
SubsidiariesIntercept Games
Websiteprivatedivision.com

In addition to offices within Take-Two's headquarters in New York City, Private Division also has offices in Seattle, Las Vegas and Munich.[3]

History

Take-Two's prior publishing model has been focused on its two internally-owned labels, Rockstar Games which is used for its action-adventure games like Grand Theft Auto, and its 2K label that includes 2K Games and 2K Sports for other games. All such games are developed principally through internal development studios or from large third-party triple-A studios (such as Firaxis Games with Civilization IV or Gearbox Software for the Borderlands series).

Take-Two formed Private Division as a new publishing label to help smaller and independent studios. The label looks to provide funding and publishing for "triple-I" games such as Ninja Theory's Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, those that fell into the middle ground between triple-A games by large studios, and indie games created by relatively new and small indie studios. The formation of Private Division was led by Take-Two's head of corporate development and independent publishing Michael Worosz. Worosz, in evaluating potential games to publish under Take-Two's name, found a number of mid-sized studios founded by developers that had prior triple-A development experience but wanted to create less ambitious games. Worosz learned that these studios struggled with funding, as they did not fit into the types of studios backed by indie game publishers like Devolver Digital, and their projects were too large to be backed through self-funding or crowdfunding.[4] About two and a half years prior to the label's announcement Worosz pitched the idea of Private Division to Take-Two's CEO Strauss Zelnick, who greenlit the creation of the label and they hired Allen Murray in late 2015 to run the production side, begin recruiting developers and build their team and infrastructure.[5] The label aids in the development process and works with the developer to create project timelines and milestones, and will help the publish and distribute the games when completed, but does not seek to own the intellectual property of the developers.[5]

With the label's formation on December 14, 2017, Take-Two announced four games already in the works to be published under the label: The Outer Worlds from Obsidian Entertainment, Darkborn (originally as working title Project Wight) from The Outsiders, an unannounced first-person shooter from V1 Interactive, and Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey from Panache Digital Games. Additionally, Kerbal Space Program, acquired earlier by Take-Two, will be re-published under the Private Division label.[6][5] In the case of Darkborn, some time in 2018, Private Division and The Outsiders decided to go separate ways, with Private Division stating that they continued to support The Outsiders for several months after the termination of the contract.[7]

In February 2020, Take-Two established a yet-named studio within Private Division located at Seattle for development of Kerbal Space Program 2, later named Intercept Games, with several of Star Theory Games staff, including Jeremy Ables and Nate Simpson, joining the new studio.[8][9]

Private Division announced publishing deals with Moon Studios, League of Geeks and Roll7 for yet-unannounced games in July 2020.[10]

Games published
Year Title Developer(s) Platform(s)
2018 Kerbal Space Program: Enhanced Edition BlitWorks, Squad PlayStation 4, Xbox One
2019 Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey Panache Digital Games Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
The Outer Worlds Obsidian Entertainment Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
2020 Disintegration V1 Interactive Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
2021 Kerbal Space Program 2 Star Theory Games, Intercept Games Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
TBA Unannounced title Moon Studios TBA
Unannounced title League of Geeks
Unannounced title Roll7
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References
  1. "Take-Two launches high-end indie label Private Division". PCGamer. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 26, 2018. Retrieved December 24, 2017.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Makuch, Eddie (December 14, 2017). "GTA Company Will Publish New Games From Assassin's Creed, Halo, Fallout Developers". GameSpot. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  4. Calvin, Alex (April 10, 2019). ""We see ourselves in some ways as risk-takers": Where Private Division fits into Take-Two's games strategy". PCGamesInsider.biz. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  5. Bertz, Matt (December 14, 2017). "The Inside Story Of Take-Two's New Publishing Label, Private Division". Game Informer. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  6. Handrahan, Matthew (December 14, 2017). "With Private Division, Take-Two wants to empower a new breed of indie developer". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  7. Makuch, Eddie (July 15, 2019). "GTA Parent Company's Indie Label Ends Publishing Deal For New Game From Battlefield Dev". GameSpot. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  8. Robinson, Andy (February 20, 2020). "Take-Two forms new studio for KSP2, with original developer's role unclear". Video Games Chronicle. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  9. Schreier, Jason (June 3, 2020). "Game Publisher Cancels Contract With Developer, Then Tries to Poach Its Entire Team". Bloomberg News. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  10. Valentine, Rebekah (July 29, 2020). "Private Division signs publishing deals with Moon Studios, League of Geeks, and Roll7". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
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