Rockstar Games and Zynga’s parent company Take-Two has reportedly fired the head of its AI division and an unspecified team member.
“It is with great sadness that I have to share with you that my time at T2, and that of my team, has come to an end,” it read. LinkedIn Post Luke Dicken wrote this yesterday. His title is former head of AI at Take-Two Interactive.
Take-Two declined to comment when contacted for clarification.
Dicken added that he plans to post more reflections on his time with Zynga and Take-Two within the week. In the meantime, “we appreciate your help in finding new positions for these wonderfully talented people,” he said, listing seven different areas of expertise that grouped the firing allegations.
“We’ve been developing cutting-edge technology to support game development for seven years. These people know how to combine innovation and fresh problem-solving approaches with strong product design chops to create systems that empower people throughout the development workflow,” continued Dicken.
According to his profile, he has worked at Zynga for over 10 years, most recently serving as senior director of applied AI. He then worked as Head of AI at Take Two from January 2025 to April 2026.
“Over the past six years, first leading Zynga’s game services division in Central Technology and then spending the last two years building Take-Two’s AI team, we pushed the boundaries of what was possible and applied new technologies to real-world game development problems,” said Take-Two’s Senior Director of AI Development. I wrote. “That chapter ended because a change in priorities from senior management affected my team and me.”
At least four more people made similar posts on social media sites. This includes: AI research director, SRE Senior Managerand two senior data scientist. A message from one of them read, “My team was recently laid off.”
In February, during an earnings call with investors, Take-Two President Karl Slatoff said the following about Google’s AI tool Genie: shouldn’t be compared Even traditional video game engines. Despite his skepticism, the company has been vocal about its support for generative AI tools, with the company president explaining that Take-Two is “aggressively adopting” the technology to “improve efficiency” and “reduce costs.” genAI is Generally negative reaction from developers In recent years, many have argued that it has had a corrosive effect on the industry.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick told investors on the company’s latest earnings call that he hopes generative AI will one day become a creative force. “Just to be clear, our strategy is three-fold: be the most creative, be the most innovative, and be the most efficient company in the entertainment business. And generative AI really falls into the innovation category and is already moving into the efficiency category,” Zelnick said.
On the other hand, Take-Two Reported an “excellent” quarterAccording to the company’s third quarter financial report, net bookings for the third quarter ended December 31, 2025 were $1.76 billion. Related to reported layoffs, Zynga was one of the main drivers in the quarter. toon blastis a mobile title developed by Zynga-owned Studio Peak that grew 43% year-over-year with lifetime net bookings of over $3 billion.
“Our performance throughout fiscal 2026 has been exceptional, and as of November 19, Grand Theft Auto VI Rockstar’s launch marketing is expected to begin this summer,” Zelnick added.
