Big Tech Lied About AI Layoffs, Take-Two CEO Says

"The big tech companies who laid off thousands of people and said it was because of AI were not telling the truth." That's Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, speaking to GamesIndustry.biz at the iicon conference, making the kind of blunt accusation you almost never hear from a CEO of a publicly traded company.

Zelnick's argument is straightforward. The waves of layoffs that swept through tech and gaming over the past few years weren't driven by artificial intelligence replacing workers. They were the hangover from pandemic-era hiring binges. "It was because they overhired in the pandemic and they were sloppy about it and they haven't addressed their headcount issues," he said. No hedging, no diplomatic phrasing. Just a direct accusation that some of the biggest companies in the world used AI as convenient cover for their own workforce mismanagement.

I've been covering this industry long enough to remember the whiplash. Studios and tech firms ballooned their headcounts during COVID when everyone was stuck at home playing games and buying software. Then when spending normalised, the cuts came, and suddenly every earnings call featured some variation of "AI efficiencies" as the justification. Zelnick is saying what a lot of people in the industry have been thinking privately: it was a convenient narrative that let executives avoid accountability for reckless hiring.

Zelnick's Line on AI in Games

He's not anti-AI, though. Take-Two currently has "a couple hundred projects across the company" exploring how AI tools can improve production. But Zelnick draws a sharp distinction between using technology to make development more efficient and believing it can replace the people doing the work. "For those who believe you'll press a button and make a competitive game, good luck. Technology doesn't do that. Technology doesn't create. Technology enables human beings to create."

He also took a shot at market predictions that AI will wipe out entire categories of software companies. "The market believing that all SaaS companies will go out of business because of AI; the market's completely incorrect," Zelnick said. He framed this as an investment opportunity rather than a crisis, adding, "And if the market weren't incorrect now and then, how could you invest in it?"

What makes this interesting is who's saying it. Zelnick isn't some indie developer with nothing to lose. He runs the company behind GTA, which is about to attempt the biggest entertainment launch in history this November. He's been Take-Two's CEO for 19 years. When someone in his position calls out the rest of the industry by name, it carries weight, even if his own company isn't immune to the pressures he's describing. Take-Two laid off staff after acquiring Zynga, after all. But his willingness to say plainly that AI was a scapegoat, not a cause, is a rare moment of honesty from the executive class. Whether other CEOs follow his lead or quietly distance themselves from the comments will tell you a lot about how seriously the industry takes its own AI narrative.

Zelnick also confirmed during the same round of interviews that GTA 6 remains on track for its November 19 launch date and that a "very significant broad-based marketing campaign" will ramp up over the summer, though he offered no specifics on timing for a third trailer or pre-orders.