two redirect here . for other uses see take two disambiguation . take two interactive software inc. type public traded as nasdaq ttwo industry video games interactive entertainment founded 1993 ; 23 years ago 1993 founder ryan brant headquarters new york city new york united states key people strauss zelnick chairman and ceo karl slatoff president products bioshock series borderlands series civilization series grand theft auto series mafia series max payne series midnight club series mlb 2k series nba 2k series red dead series wwe 2k series xcom series revenue us 2.351 billion 2013 1 operating income us 406.24 million 2013 1 net income us 361.61 million 2013 1 total assets us 1.799 billion 2013 1 total equity us 801.81 million 2013 1 number of employees 2 933 2016 2 divisions 2k games rockstar games subsidiaries firaxis games visual concepts 2k sports rockstar north double take comics website www.take2games.com take two interactive software inc. commonly referred to as take two interactive abbreviated as take2 or t2 is an american multinational publisher developer and distributor of video games and video game peripherals . take two wholly owns publishers rockstar games and 2k games . the company s headquarters are in new york city with international headquarters in windsor united kingdom . development studio locations include san diego vancouver toronto and novato california . notable game series published by take two include grand theft auto civilization nba 2k bioshock and borderlands . as owner of 2k games take two publishes its 2k sports titles . it also acted as the publisher of bethesda softworks s 2006 game the elder scrolls iv oblivion . as of 2016 it is the third largest publicly traded game company after activision blizzard and ea in north america 3 contents 1 history 1.1 1993 2004 1.2 2005 present 2 games 3 subsidiaries 3.1 current 3.2 defunct 3.3 sold 4 references 5 external links history edit 1993 2004 edit take two was founded in 1993 by ryan brant the son of peter brant newsprint heir and co owner of interview . in march 1998 take two acquired the bmg interactive unit from bertelsmann ag for approximately us 14.2 million . 4 take 2 published a game called rats reservoir rat in 1998 developed by tarantula games . later bmg interactive was re formed into rockstar games in late 1998 . 5 in february 1999 take two published the game biosys through the company jumpstart interactive . the game is a point and click adventure which follows protagonist professor alan russell . it is set inside the fictional ecological facility biosphere four . in july 1999 take two published hidden & dangerous one of the pioneering tactical first third person shooters and its follow up hidden & dangerous 2 in 2003 . in 2004 take two paid us 22.3 million to infogrames for the rights to the civilization series . 6 7 2005 present edit in 2005 take two began a host of acquisitions spending more than us 80 million buying game developers . 8 it bought for us 32 million the development studios visual concepts and kush games for us 11.4 million gaia capital group and for around us 11.8 million the studio irrational games which developed freedom force vs the 3rd reich . take two formed the publishing companies 2k games and 2k sports to manage a group of newly acquired development studios and publishing deals with a variety of other well known studios . as part of the creation of 2k sports take two acquired from sega the rights to the espn 2k sports games created by visual concepts football and basketball and kush games baseball and hockey ; when announced take two renamed the franchise to omit espn from the titles . then in november take two acquired firaxis for us 27 million including possible performance bonuses . 9 at the annual meeting on march 29 2007 take two investors ousted five of six board members . 10 in february 2007 ryan brant pleaded guilty to falsifying business records . he faced up to four years in prison and received a lighter sentence by agreeing to cooperate in a plea agreement to cooperate with prosecutors . 11 the charges stemmed from 2005 when the u.s. securities and exchange commission alleged in a lawsuit that brant the company s head of sales robert blau and its former chief financial officers larry mueller and james david jr. inflated revenue in fiscal years 2000 and 2001 . in march 2007 zelnickmedia staged a takeover of the company together with some of take two interactive s largest investors . 12 on may 22 2007 oasys mobile signed a deal to bring several of the sid meier licenses to the mobile market . the original sid meier games are developed by take two s company firaxis games . oasys was to bring these games to the mobile market some time in 2008 . 13 in march 2007 take two filed a lawsuit against jack thompson to prevent him from filing a public nuisance complaint in florida court as he did with bully . in mid february 2008 rival game company electronic arts ea made a us 25 per share all cash transaction offer worth around us 2 billion 14 to the board of take two subsequently revising it to us 26 per share after being rejected and making the offer known to the public . 15 rumors of a buyout had been floating around the internet several weeks prior . 16 stocks went up by 54 % on monday following the sunday announcement closing over the us 26 offer price whilst ea s own stock prices went down by 5 % the largest loss in over a year . 17 according to the april 2008 issue of game informer ea ceo john riccitiello said that ea considered a deal for take two in the previous spring but axed it at the last minute . take two s board of directors declined the cash deal . however ea was still pursuing the acquisition of take two stating in a letter if you are unwilling to proceed on that basis however we may pursue other means including the public disclosure of this letter to bring our offer and the compelling value it represents to the attentions of take two s shareholders . later take two released a statement explaining why the company has rejected the offer in addition to undervaluing key elements of our business ea s proposal fails to recognize the value we are building through our ongoing turnaround efforts which will further revitalize take two . take two offered to discuss the offer after grand theft auto iv s release on april 29 2008 . an acquisition would have ended ea s main competition in sports video games . 18 the bid expired may 15 2008 however ea extended the offer until june 16 2008 at the same price of us 25.74 per share . take two s position did not change and on september 14 2008 ea announced that they decided to let the us 2 billion offer to buy take two expire . on september 8 2008 they entered into an outsourcing agreement with ditan distribution llc . ditan assumes the responsibility for the pick pack ship and warehousing functions for take two s publishing and distribution businesses previously handled by take two s jack of all games subsidiary . the agreement allows jack of all games to primarily sell third party products to focus on purchasing sales and service for their customers . 19 in september 2009 following a lawsuit take two interactive were forced to pay a us 20 million settlement for an inclusion of a sex mini game that was included in grand theft auto san andreas . on december 21 2009 they sold jack of all games to synnex corporation . 20 in may 2007 the ufc filed a lawsuit against the company over the video game they created for the organization . 21 in 2010 ben feder stepped down as ceo and was replaced by executive chairman strauss zelnick . 22 in january 2013 while being dissolved thq sold the rights of the wwe wrestling games series to take two . 23 in march 2013 karl slatoff chief operating officer of take two interactive revealed that the company has an extensive pipeline of unannounced titles in development along with the announced grand theft auto v and agent games in development . while he did not share any further information regarding the game he did mention that the bully red dead bioshock mafia borderlands l.a. noire and max payne franchises as being important to the company . 24 on december 2013 former marvel editor in chief bill jemas announced that he had joined take two to start a graphic fiction imprint . 25 games edit main article list of take two interactive video games subsidiaries edit current edit 2k games in novato california founded in january 2005 labels include 2k games founded in january 2005 ; 2k play founded as global star software in toronto in 1992 acquired in 1999 name changed september 10 2007 ; and 2k sports founded in january 2005 26 2k czech in brno czech republic founded in 1997 as illusion softworks acquired in 2007 27 2k marin in novato california founded in 2007 28 2k vegas in las vegas founded in 2010 as 2k west qa testing in los angeles renamed in april 2013 29 30 cat daddy games in kirkland washington founded in 1996 firaxis games in sparks maryland founded in 1996 acquired in 2005 hangar 13 in novato california founded in 2014 31 irrational games in quincy massachusetts acquired on january 9 2006 visual concepts in novato california acquired from sega in january 2005 . published by 2k sports label . visual concepts china in shanghai visual concepts korea in seoul double take comics in new york city founded 2014 double take universe imprint founded 2014 rockstar games in new york city founded in 1998 rockstar india in bangalore founded in 2016 rockstar leeds in west yorkshire england founded as mobius entertainment in 1997 rockstar lincoln in lincolnshire england founded in 1997 as tarantula studios rockstar london in london founded in 2005 rockstar new england in andover massachusetts founded in 1999 as mad doc software acquired in 2008 rockstar north in edinburgh founded in 1988 as dma design acquired from infogrames in september 1999 rockstar san diego in san diego founded in 1984 as angel studios acquired november 2002 rockstar toronto in toronto founded as rockstar canada in 1999 renamed in 2002 defunct edit 2k australia in canberra founded in 2006 closed in 2015 32 2k china in shanghai founded in 2006 closed in 2015 33 frog city software in san francisco california founded in 1995 acquired by gathering of developers in 2004 consolidated into firaxis games in 2006 gathering of developers in texas founded january 1998 acquired may 2000 closed september 2004 ; brands merged into rockstar and 2k gotham games started in 2002 eventually closed indie built inc. in salt lake city utah founded as access software in 1983 acquired from microsoft in 2004 ; closed april 28 2006 kush games in camarillo california closed in 2008 mission studios in schaumburg illinois acquired in september 1996 closed in 2001 pam development in paris france founded in 1997 acquired in 2006 ; closed in 2008 poptop software in st. louis missouri founded in 1993 merged into firaxis games in 2006 rockstar japan in tokyo founded in 2005 rockstar vancouver founded in may 1998 as barking dog studios acquired august 2002 merged with rockstar toronto in july 2012 rockstar vienna founded january 4 1993 as neo software closed may 11 2006 take two licensing founded on september 11 2000 as tdk mediactive acquired in december 2003 ; 34 folded into 2k talonsoft in baltimore maryland founded in 1995 acquired in 2000 closed in 2005 ; most brands