Annapurna Interactive Team Steps Up to Manage Inner Most Division Portfolio After Clutch-Two Acquisition

Departed Annapurna Interactive personnel – who left the esteemed game studio last September amid a “mass exodus” – are reportedly forming a new company and may be taking on indie label Private Division’s catalogue, which was acquired by Take-Two last year.

Annapurna’s entire game division – responsible for bringing to market popular titles such as Cocoon, Outer Wilds, and Sayonara Wild Hearts – left the organization late last year, allegedly after a disagreement with owner Megan Ellison. At that time, there was speculation that all 25 former employees might reunite under a new banner, Verset, which was initially intended to be an Annapurna Interactive spin-off before discussions fell through.

Currently, Bloomberg reports that the former Annapurna Interactive team is indeed collaborating once more, as part of an undisclosed new company, which is believed to have acquired the games and franchises of Private Division – the indie-focused label behind titles like Kerbal Space Program 2 that was sold by Grand Theft Auto developer Take-Two Interactive in November.

At that time, Take-Two stated it made the choice to divest the label in order to concentrate its resources on “enhancing our core and mobile business for the long-term”, and that the unnamed purchaser had acquired rights to “almost all” of Private Division’s existing and unreleased projects – except for Moon Studios’ No Rest for the Wicked.

According to Bloomberg’s recent report – which references “individuals knowledgeable” about the matter – Private Division’s buyer was the Texas-based private equity firm Haveli Investments. Haveli has reportedly formed an agreement with former Annapurna staff to finance their new company and put them in charge of distributing the former Private Division titles. These include the Kerbal Space Program series, the upcoming Lord of the Rings farming game Tales of the Shire, and Pokémon studio Game Freak’s new action-focused IP.

Bloomberg further mentions that this new structure may result in a number of layoffs among the roughly 20 Private Division employees that Haveli acquired as part of its purchase, although details are reportedly still being finalized.

Regarding the remaining entity of Annapurna Interactive, the developer previously indicated it was seeking to fill positions vacated after last year’s mass exodus, and that it was