Take-Two is closing two game studios under their Private Division label, with Kerbal Space Program 2 developer Intercept Games shutting down (as we already knew) and OlliOlli and Rollerdrome studio Roll7 following them into the twilight.
The latest reporting comes from Bloomberg, citing a note sent to staff.
Intercept Games’ closure had previously been revealed by a WARN notice in Washington State at the end of April, but Roll7’s closure is a new development. It’s truly rubbish news for both studios, but London-based Roll7 hits harder for us, given the catalogue of innovative indie games that they released over the past decade.
Roll7 really made a name for themselves with OlliOlli, a side-scrolling skateboarding game that was initially launched as a PS Vita exclusive. They followed it up with a direct sequel that improved and refined the concept before exploring other ideas like Not a Hero and future sports title Laser League. The team was acquired by Private Division in late 2021, a few months before the release of OlliOlli World, and leading into the rather enjoyable Rollerdrome.
Intercept Games, meanwhile, was the team behind Kerbal Space Program 2. This was announced back in 2019 with Star Theory Games (formerly Uber Entertainment) at the helm, taking over the franchise from the original developer Squad under Take-Two’s ownership of the IP. Some tumult occurred in 2020 when Take-Two reconsidered a move to acquire Star Theory, instead setting up Intercept Games and hiring a bunch of the team from Star Theory to this new studio. Delays followed, with the game pushed back first to 2022, then 2023, and then eventually resulting in an early access release in February 2023.
Despite the closure, Take-Two asserted in the last few days that “The label [Private Division] continues to make updates to Kerbal Space Program 2”. We’ll see how that works out when there’s no dev team on the game anymore…
All of this is because of Take-Two’s cost-cutting measures that will see around 5% of their total workforce laid off and a variety of games cancelled.
via Bloomberg
