Former Annapurna staff are reportedly taking over Private Division’s portfolio
Private Division games like Kerbal Space Program will have a new publisher
The identity of the company who purchased former Take-Two indie publishing label Private Division has seemingly been revealed.
Following months of speculation, Take-Two announced in November that it had sold Private Division, including most of its existing and unreleased titles, but it didn’t disclose who had acquired the label or for how much.
According to Bloomberg’s sources, the buyer was Haveli Investments, a private equity firm based in Austin, Texas.
The publication claims that Haveli intends to launch a new company that will publish Private Division’s games, including Tales of the Shire in March, the Kerbal Space Program series, and an unannounced title from Pokémon developer Game Freak.
The company will reportedly be staffed by former employers of the indie game publisher Annapurna Interactive, who resigned en masse last summer following a dispute with the group’s owner, Megan Ellison.
Private Division employed around 20 staff when it was acquired by Haveli, some of whom will be laid off as part of the plans, it’s claimed.
Take-Two established Private Division in 2017 to “publish games from top creative talent in the growing independent development landscape”.
Its published titles include Panache Digital Games’ Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds, Piccolo Studio’s After Us, Die Gute Fabrik’s Saltsea Chronicles, and Evening Star’s Penny’s Big Breakaway.
Private Division announced in May 2023 that it had signed a new action-adventure IP from Game Freak, codenamed Project Bloom, which was expected to be released during Take-Two’s fiscal year ending in March 2026.
