I was stunned this morning to read about the sudden closure of award-winning British studio Roll7 by parent company Take-Two, as I’m sure so many of you were. It hasn’t been officially confirmed by either company yet but there are reports out there and people talking in all-but-confirmation tones on social media. It seems beyond doubt.
But it was barely a blink of an eye ago – November 2023 – when I was sitting with studio co-founder John Ribbins, and creative director Andreas Yiannikaris, to talk about 15 years of Roll7 and what was coming next. They were each excited about new games they were directing there, with Ribbins hopeful we’d learn more about his one this year. But those games, I expect, are now cancelled. To me at the time they looked as comfortable and content as anyone in game development could be. Belonging to a big company like Take-Two, via its publishing label Private Division, looked good on them.
It makes me cringe to think we even talked about the layoffs ravaging the games industry, which have evidently continued well into this year. I didn’t put this quote in my piece but it’s pertinent now: when asked about layoffs and whether they’d affected Roll7, Ribbins said, “I don’t think anyone feels safe, but I feel very fortunate that we became part of the Take-Two family when we did, and also very fortunate that they still back what we want to do. Obviously there’s stuff we’re doing we can’t really talk about at the moment, because it’s early, but to be in a position where that is happening when lots of places around us are struggling – in a position to keep doing what we’re doing with the people that were doing it with: we’re really lucky to be in that position.”
That doesn’t sound like someone who foresaw this, and it must be such a blow. It goes without saying that our thoughts at Eurogamer are with the team and everyone affected.
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It’s a double-blow because of what Roll7 represented and which we’re now apparently losing. Roll7 made startlingly original games, and it brought a sense of independent experimentation and imagination to a high-end market. You only have to look at 2022’s OlliOlli World and Rollerdrome to see what I mean. Both games are dazzlingly bright and creative. OlliOlli World took the 2D skateboarding concept pioneered by the studio to fever dream-levels – to alien worlds and bright pink colour-drenched playgrounds. Rollerdrome was even wilder: a rollerskating game but also an arena combat game, with a trick mechanic that slows time so you can aim at enemies, and that reloads your guns. These aren’t just new games, they’re new ideas. That’s the output we’re losing here.