Take-Two Interactive has executed a precise cut to its AI division, booting head Luke Dicken and an unknown number of team members. LinkedIn posts from April 2 confirm the departures, with Dicken—who helmed the group since January 2025—noting a seven-year team effort now ended due to 'shifting priorities from upper management.'

Dicken's tenure followed a decade-plus at Zynga building applied AI for games. Jason Leon, another affected, called it a chapter closed by executive decisions. Take-Two declined comment, but CEO Strauss Zelnick has framed generative AI as key to innovation and efficiency—while insisting it can't birth blockbusters like GTA VI, due November 19, 2026.

This follows Take-Two's 2024 reduction of 5% of staff (around 600 people) and comes amid industry-wide cost controls. On X, outlets like Engadget and GameRiv highlighted the surprise, given Zelnick's recent AI embrace. Reddit threads in r/technology and r/GTA6 buzz with irony over the timing.

With GTA VI as the fiscal anchor, these layoffs signal a pivot from bespoke AI R&D to whatever efficiencies genAI promises externally. Priorities realigned, talent be damned.