Take-Two took a $53M charge for an unannounced Hangar 13 game it chose to cancel

In its earnings report on 3 November 2021, Take-Two Interactive said its cost of goods sold included a $53 million impairment charge 'related to the Company's decision not to proceed with further development of an unannounced title in its pipeline'. The report did not name the title or the studio.

A Bloomberg report, cited by The Verge, said the cancelled game came from Hangar 13, the California developer of Mafia III that also released Mafia: Definitive Edition in 2020. Bloomberg's sources at the studio said the game was codenamed Volt and suffered from setbacks related to the pandemic and constantly shifting development focus.

The same earnings report brought other bad news: Firaxis Games delayed its Marvel title Midnight Suns to the second half of 2022 from March 2022.

$53M impairment charge in cost of goods sold for the cancelled title.

Take-Two decided not to continue development of an unannounced title after significant spending had already been booked.

Bloomberg's sources said the project, codenamed Volt, was hit by pandemic-related setbacks.

The same sources said its development focus kept shifting, which lengthened the project without producing a shippable game.

Long game pipelines hide sunk costs until a cancellation forces a write-off. A project that keeps shifting focus gets more expensive to cancel each quarter.

The Verge noted that it was unclear whether the cancellation would lead to layoffs at the studio. Take-Two did not name the game or studio in its own report; the identification as Hangar 13's Volt came from Bloomberg.