Justin Roiland quits High on Life developer Squanch Games as he faces domestic abuse charges

High on Life developer Squanch Games has announced that co-founder Justin Roiland has quit the company. Roiland, most famous as the creator of the Rick and Morty animated series, is facing domestic abuse charges in California.

Squanch Games writes:

On January 16, 2023, Squanch Games received Justin Roiland’s resignation.

The passionate team at Squanch will keep developing games we know our fans will love while continuing to support and improve High on Life.

Roiland has also been dismissed by Adult Swim, the cable TV network that hosts Rick and Morty, with his roles to be recast for future series. There has not yet been a response from Hulu, the streaming platform that hosts his other show Solar Opposites.

While it’s only just been publicly revealed, Roiland’s resignation came four days after the news of his domestic abuse charges broke on major US news sites. The charges against Roiland stem from an incident that took place in January 2020, accusing him of domestic battery with corporal injury and false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud and/or deceit against an unidentified woman who was in a relationship and living with him at the time. Felony criminal charges were filed against him in May 2020, and he pled not guilty later that year, but the case has not yet made its way to trial.

Roiland’s attorney states that “we also have every expectation that this matter is on course to be dismissed once the District Attorney’s office has completed its methodical review of the evidence.”

If convicted, Roiland could face up to seven years in prison.

This will undoubtedly have a massive impact on Squanch Games, which Roiland founded in 2016. The studio has produced a number of games with Roiland’s writing and humour front and centre, including Accounting, Trover Saves the Universe, and High on Life, which was a major success at the end of last year and was the biggest Xbox Game Pass launch of 2022. We hope that they are able to adjust and find new success on their own merits going forward.