What are Take-Two Interactive working on... A look at their studios
Take-Two Interactive had quite a productive 2025, they released their usual line up of sports games, but slotted in some PGA Tour as well. Borderlands, Civilization and Mafia all got new releases as well, which many were happy with.
In fact, in terms of games released that were original versus remasters/remakes/ports, this group had the most original line up out of any publisher. You can see what we mean by checking out the games that were published in 2025, with those titles that are bolded being original releases:
Civilization VII - Mac, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
PGA Tour 2K25 - PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
WWE 2K25 - Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
Mafia: The Old Country - PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
NBA 2K26 - Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
Borderlands 4 - PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Red Dead Redemption - Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Android, iOS
Sadly, there were also some studio closures for this group as well, these are the studios that were closed in 2025:
Echtra Games
In addition to the studio above being closed, the group also saw layoffs at Cloud Chamber and Firaxis, though no firm headcounts were ever disclosed.
If you are curious to see how we did in years past, you can find our 2025, 2024, 2023 and 2022 Previews here.
2K
31st Union
Locations: San Francisco, USA | Valencia, Spain
Known for: None | Last game released: None
Honestly, I am tempted to just remove this group from the list. They have existed as a studio for 6 years, in fact next month makes it 7 and in that time they have not shipped a single game. Project ETHOS was announced way back when the studio was and apart from some playtests, there is nothing else happening with the game. The studios official website has a news page, but it is all about life at the studio, their summer event, charity events and such, nothing about the game, at least publicly.
The game held a playtest in 2024 and they said they would be taking feedback on board, which is all well and good, but their only official update in the last 18 months is this.
“Your feedback during our first playtest has been vital to shaping the future of the game. We want to be thoughtful and take the necessary time and care to get Project ETHOS to its next transformation“
That message was posted to Discord, where the games channel had all of 150 members. They also said that they would not say anything, until they had something to say, which is usually how these things go. My only issue now is that the game has been in development for almost 7 years and they have nothing to show for it and as we will see below, they are not the only ones.
CAT DADDY GAMES
Known for: NBA 2K Mobile, WWE SuperCard | Last game released: NFL 2K Playmakers
2025 saw this group continue to release updates for both NBA 2K Mobile and WWE SuperCard, which have been going strong for a number of years now. In 2024 the studio released NFL 2K Playmakers, which was a brand new game for them and I expected that to keep going across the year, as more content was released. But nope, without any real notice the game was killed off back in May 2025.
Given they have no open roles and the games they have still alive are the same they have had for years now, I don’t expect much from them in 2026.
Cloud Chamber
Locations: Novato, USA | Montreal, Canada
Known for: None | Last game released: None
I could really just copy the text from 31st Union and place it here and nothing would be really noticeable about the differences. Well, that is not entirely true, as we know for a simple fact that this studios first game will be, Bioshock 4, name not confirmed. Now last year did see quite a bit of change at the studio, as reports came in that they had failed yet another milestone, which lead to 2K deciding to lay off a number of staff. The exact number was not told at the time, but reports put it down to around 80 folks, which is a decent number, but it was confirmed that Rod Fergusson was coming in to right the ship, so to speak.
Rod, for those who are not aware, was the man overseeing Gears of War at Epic Games many years ago, then he kept that job when he joined The Coalition and produced a few Gears of War games there. After leaving them, he went to Blizzard to get Diablo back on track and given folks love Diablo IV, I would say he did a good job. The problem that we now have is that we don’t know where the game is, I mean when the line “rework certain aspects that are core to a BioShock game“ comes into play, that does not bode well for a release any time soon. The only silver lining is that we never got to see any of the game before they opted to rework things, so we can’t really be disappointed in whatever is delivered now.
FIRAXIS GAMES
Known for: Civilization, XCOM | Last game released: Sid Meier's Civilization VII
2025 saw Sid Meier's Civilization VII release from this group, onto PC and all consoles, a VR variant came to Meta Quest devices as well later in the year. The studio did release quite a number of updates across the year as well, locking folks in to just one more turn. Sadly, the group was hit with layoffs last year, official numbers were not given but reports show over a dozen.
As for 2026, the game is soon coming to Apple Arcade, complete with touch controls for those on iPhone or iPad. The game will continue to get content for the rest of the year, the amount of which has not been revealed. This is a given, when you remember that all past games have been given a lot of DLC, in fact Civilization VI got years of support. Now, the bigger question, will they have anything else going on? Honestly, no or at least not publicly. The studio tends to produce a game every 3 or 4 years, their last game before Civ 7 was Midnight Suns and a few years before then was XCOM: Chimera Squad. Given they have a release cadence, and they just released a game, hearing about the next game will take years. For 2026, expect more DLC for Civilization VII and nothing else.
Gearbox Software
Locations: Frisco, USA | Montreal, Canada | Quebec, Canada
Known for: Brother in Arms, Borderlands | Last game released: Borderlands 4
2025 saw Gearbox release Borderlands 4 and their publishing group continued to deliver content for Risk of Rain 2. The launch of Borderlands 4 was not perfect, many PC players reported issues, even on the most up to date hardware around, which soured the experience. Players waiting for the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game were given the short end of the stick, when it was delayed indefinitely, just a week and change before it was meant to release.
As for 2026, well Risk of Rain 2 will keep getting updates, as the game is doing quite well for itself, but Gearbox only publish the game, they don’t make it. As for Borderlands 4, well Nintendo Switch 2 players are going to be left waiting to see if there is a release date planned for this one, but who knows. It is still planned and will ideally launch with cross-save, but that was last year, we will wait and see what happens going forward. As for the game as a whole, C4SH is coming to the game soon and is one of the first expansion characters. The larger plans are not yet known, but we know that there are two new playable hunters coming, C4SH being one of them. I expect once the first story pack, Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned is released, we will learn what is next, which should happen in March at PAX East.
Hangar 13
Locations: Novato, USA | Brno, Czechia | Brighton, UK | Prague, Czechia
Known for: Mafia, Top Spin | Last game released: Mafia: The Old Country
Last year was a somewhat quiet year for this group, I mean they did release Mafia: The Old Country, which players seemed to enjoy, but that was really it. Given they have four locations and they also had a partner developer on the game, it seems to be a lot of quiet for so many folks. The game did get some post launch support via some updates, but there were no major DLC updates revealed for the game, which got people wondering, what is next?
The two Czechian studios tend to operate on their own from the others, they were the lead developers on Top Spin 2K25, which released back in April 2024 and got some fairly consistent updates over the next 12 months. But since then, there has been hardly anything updated from the game. Now normally I would think that Top Spin 2K27 would be likely, but I honestly don’t know if that will be it. The studio has a number of roles open and a few of them specifically call out a new open-world action-adventure game. Will this be Mafia 5 or something else entirely, honestly, I don’t think we will find out for a few years. Unless the studio has a new Top Spin to reveal, I don’t expect we will hear from them in 2026.
HB STUDIOS
Known for: PGA Tour, many other sports games | Last game released: PGA Tour 2K25
HB Studios have a release cadence of a game every 2 years and as they just dropped PGA Tour 2K25 and kept the seasons coming, that is it for them for a while. Season 4 launched back in October and Season 5 is on the way, in fact the studio released a special version of the game just the other week, which included all the past seasons worth of content. Outside of more seasons across the year, as seasons 6 through 8 are confirmed, we will hear from them again this year beginning with the Switch 2 release next month and the launch of Season 5.
VISUAL CONCEPTS
Locations: Novato, USA | Seoul, Korea | Shanghai, China | Orange County, USA | Austin, USA | Meridian, USA | Parksville, Canada | Budapest, Hungary | Irvine, USA | WWE Team, Remote
Known for: NBA 2K, WWE 2K | Last game released: NBA 2K26
Outside of Lego 2K Drive, the last time this studio made something that was not NBA or WWE was back in 2014 when they made NHL. In fact you need to go back to 2002, 3 years before 2K would buy the studio to find something not sports related.
I honestly don’t need to say this, but they have open roles for WWE and NBA, so expect those games again this year, because of course they will come out. WWE should be revealed soon, as they like to go for March releases and NBA will be in September, because it is always in September.
Ghost Story Games
Known for: None | Last game released: None
Judas has been in development for years now, but 2025 saw us getting more details about the game, with the last trailer back in 2024. In fact there were two developer updates last year, one in August and then another in December, which was nice to see. There is still no release date for the game, so who knows when its coming out, but at least it is showing up more frequently.
Rockstar Games
Locations: Dundee, Scotland | Bangalore, India | Santa Monica, USA | Leeds, England | Lincoln, England | London, England | Andover, USA | Edinburgh, Scotland | Carlsbad, USA | Oakville, USA |
Known for: Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead, Bully, Manhunt, Max Payne | Last game released: Red Dead Redemption 2
Last year we expected GTA VI to release, but it was delayed until this May and then got another delay to November 2026. Last year did start giving us a lot of details about the game, you can read some here, but there are surely a lot of mysteries left. While you might think Rockstar have been nothing but GTA VI focused for the last few years and a lot of them surely will have been, they were doing more. Of course, they brought Red Dead Redemption to Switch and PlayStation 4 a few years ago, then PC and then in December 2025, brought the game to Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and mobile devices. GTA Online has also been getting a lot of content updates across the past few years, with Safehouse in the Hills and Cayo Perico Survival, being two of the updates last year. Last year also saw them bring the Extended Edition for GTA V to PC players as well, which I am sure many were happy with.
So what about 2026? Well GTA VI for sure this November 19, right? RIGHT? Given the scope of the game and the years of development, another delay would not be out of the question for this one, if they decide they need more time. Max Payne 1 & 2 Remakes are also still coming, but Remedy Entertainment is working on those, with Rockstar overseeing them. Now statements from October confirm them to still be happening, but if GTA VI is locked for 2026, then Max will come in 2027. Honestly for now, I expect a lot of silence from Rockstar for anything that is not GTA Online, though if they want to bring Red Dead Redemption 2 to newer platforms, I would not say no.
Zynga
Zynga make mobile games, except when they don’t as after years of soft launching Star Wars Hunters, they finally released it in full at the start of 2024 and then killed it off barely a year later, though it hobbled to October before it finally died. The group make Farmville, Words with Friends, Merge Dragons and countless other free-to-play titles and they are not likely to stop any time soon. They have a new Game of Thrones game coming, which will tie into the upcoming tv series, but honestly, just expect more generic mobile game stuff.
So there we go, Take Two Interactive, or as most people know them as 2K. Do you think they will surprise you in 2026, or are you just expecting another year of the same stuff?
