(Bloomberg) — Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.’s 2K Games has canceled an unannounced project from developer Hangar 13, according to people familiar with the decision.
The company, in its earnings statement Wednesday, said it had taken a charge of $53 million, for ending “further development of an unannounced title in its pipeline.”
The project, which was code-named Volt, had gone through multiple iterations since it was first conceived. The current version struggled due to reboots, technological hiccups and challenges caused by Covid-19, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. Take-Two didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The game, which has been in development in various forms since 2017, was set to feature superheroes competing in online game play. It was set to be a new intellectual property for Hangar 13, but 2K executives didn’t see it as a worthwhile investment because of the amount of time needed in development before it became a finished product, the people said.
Employees of Hangar 13, which is owned by Take-Two and based in Novato, California, met Thursday to discuss next steps for the studio. They were told no one would lose their jobs for now and that employees who worked on Volt will be transferred to existing projects within the studio or elsewhere at 2K, said the people familiar with the discussions.
(Updates with staff meeting in the last paragraph. A previous version corrected the location of Hangar 13 in the fifth paragraph.)
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