Pixel P&L: Take-Two lays off its AI team, one month after its CEO backed the bet

Welcome to another Pixel P&L edition. This issue takes 5 minutes to read. If you only have one, here are the 5 most important things:

• Take-Two laid off its entire AI team, including its head of AI — even as CEO Strauss Zelnick told investors the company has "hundreds of pilots and implementations" across its studios.

• T1 Esports posted its first-ever operating profit, with revenue up 80% to $58.5M.

• Slay the Spire 2 sold 5.3 million copies in its debut month on Steam Early Access, generating $108M in March alone.

• LY Corporation (formerly LINE Yahoo) took a controlling stake in Kakao Games with a $198M investment.

• The Pokémon Company opened a free immersive experience in London, running through September.

Let's get into it.

Take-Two Lays Off AI Team Despite CEO's Push for Generative AI

Take-Two Interactive has laid off its head of AI and an undisclosed number of team members, even as CEO Strauss Zelnick publicly backs the technology.

Luke Dicken, who joined Take-Two as head of AI in early 2025 after a decade at Zynga, announced the cuts on LinkedIn. "It's truly disappointing that I have to share with you that my time with T2 -- and that of my team -- has come to an end," he wrote.

Much of Take-Two's AI group was built from Zynga's applied AI department, which the company absorbed when it acquired the mobile developer in 2022 for $12.7 billion. Take-Two has not yet commented on the layoffs.

The cuts come despite Zelnick telling investors the company has "hundreds of pilots and implementations" across its studios. He has positioned AI as a way to reduce costs and free developers from routine tasks.

T1 Esports Posts First Operating Profit as Merchandise Sales Drive 80% Revenue Surge

T1 Esports recorded its first-ever operating profit in 2025, posting operating income of ₩2.51 billion ($1.66 million) against a ₩8.85 billion ($5.84 million) operating loss a year earlier. Total revenue climbed 80% to ₩88.64 billion ($58.5 million).

Merchandise was the primary driver, generating ₩74.13 billion ($48.93 million), up 87% year-over-year and accounting for roughly 84% of total revenue. Sponsorship and advertising, including deals with fashion brand ABLY and Red Sea Global, contributed ₩14.51 billion ($9.58 million).

Net profit turned positive at ₩1.23 billion ($0.81 million). Despite the turnaround, T1 carries an accumulated deficit of ₩74.12 billion ($48.92 million) and a debt ratio exceeding 700%. The company raised ₩11.39 billion ($7.52 million) in fresh capital in March 2026 to shore up its balance sheet.

⚡️Quick Bytes

Slay the Spire 2 Sells 5.3 Million Copies in First Month on Steam

Mega Crit's Slay the Spire 2 sold 5.3 million copies in March, its debut month in Steam Early Access, generating $108 million on the platform, according to estimates from Alinea Analytics. Pearl Abyss' Crimson Desert ranked second overall on Steam for the month with nearly 2 million copies sold.

Pokémon Company Opens Free Pokopia Experience in London

The Pokémon Company has launched a free Pokopia-themed immersive space at The Mount in Acton, London, running through September 30. Developed with local businesses, the activation includes new Pokémon Go PokéStops and Gyms. The event coincides with a separate IKEA collaboration in Japan tied to the game, released in March.

LY Corporation Becomes Largest Shareholder in Kakao Games With $198 Million Investment

LY Corporation, formerly LINE Yahoo, has taken a controlling stake in South Korean developer Kakao Games through a roughly $198 million investment executed via special-purpose vehicle LAAA Investment. The deal, expected to close in May, includes existing share acquisition, new shares, and convertible bonds. Kakao Games plans to use the capital to expand into Japan and other international markets.

⚔️Side Quest

🤣Laugh:

📺 Watch: A former Riot Games hiring manager walks through why most game industry resumes get ignored in under ten seconds and what to do about it. The core advice is straightforward: stop listing tasks, start showing results, and back them up with numbers. The "so what?" method he describes, running every resume line through that filter until it says something that actually matters, is the kind of practical reframe that's easy to apply immediately. 

🎮 Play: Fishbowl is a visual novel from Indian developer imissmyfriends.studio about a 20-year-old named Alo who moves away from home, loses her grandmother, and then gets locked down by Covid a week into her new job. I really enjoyed its art and music, and the story it tells. A small, careful game that lands harder than you expect.

📚 Read: Rob Fahey for GamesIndustry.biz making the case that Epic's layoffs aren't just a Fortnite story, they're the bill coming due for an entire industry that spent a decade reorganizing itself around the dream of a single game that would own players forever. His argument is that the "forever game" concept was always more appealing to executives than it was sustainable in practice, and that Fortnite's decline matters less for what it means for Epic and more for what it means for every studio that greenlighted, cancelled, or pivoted based on chasing its numbers.

💡Did You Know

Donkey Kong almost had a very different name? Newly released documents from Universal Studios' landmark 1982 lawsuit against Nintendo reveal the names Shigeru Miyamoto pitched for his arcade game before it went to market. Among the contenders: "Kong on the Run," "Kong Chase," and "Attack of the Kong." One option didn't even include the word Kong — "Build On" made the list too. The name Donkey Kong ultimately came from a suggestion by Shinichi Todori. The documents, sourced from the case that Nintendo won decisively, were made public via the Internet Archive by Gaming Historian's Norman Caruso.

📜 Quote of the Day

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