Take-Two Interactive Software has announced they have sold off their indie publishing label Private Division.

The news was revealed during the company’s latest financial results briefing, stating that Take-Two sold Private Division to an “undisclosed buyer”. The move is part of Take-Two’s shift in focus towards larger projects. The undisclosed buyer has acquired the label alongside all of its live and unreleased projects. In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, Take-Two Interactive Software CEO Strauss Zelnick had this to say:

“We made this strategic decision so that we could focus all of our resources on growing our core and mobile businesses for the long term, we’re really best at these big AAA experiences. We have the biggest intellectual properties in the interactive entertainment business, some of the biggest intellectual properties in the overall entertainment business and to make sequels to existing beloved franchises as well as to create new hit intellectual properties is our mission.”

“The team of Private Division did a great job supporting independent developers and, almost to a one, every project they supported did well. However, the scale of those projects was, candidly, on the smaller side, and we’re in the business of making great big hits.”

This acquisition was not without its casualties. Take-Two stated that some of the label’s studios such as Roll7 (OlliOlli World) and Intercept Games were shut down prior to the acquisition. Private Division was reportedly working with Pokemon developer Game Freak on a title codenamed Project Bloom, and it is not known if this has also been affected.

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