Remember how in February publisher Take-Two--who, thanks to Grand Theft Auto, have more money than you or I could ever conceive--had no current layoff plans, then two months later went out and laid off 600 people? We've learned today via Bloomberg that among those 600 people are everyone at two of the company's studios: Intercept Games (Kerbal Space Program 2) and Roll7, which are both being closed.
While it's still unclear what the future will hold for Kerbal Space Program 2--a game that hasn't had the best time since launching last year, but will apparently still be receiving "updates"--I had a particular fondness for Roll7, a studio that was only bought by Take-Two in 2021! It had been around in some form since 2008, and in that time had developed a ton of very cool video games, from the side-scrolling skateboarding series OlliOlli to rollerskate murder simulator Rollerdrome to the much-expanded OlliOlli World.
These were all good, successful video games, games that defined the studio and even won awards. OlliOlli World won Best Sports Game at the DICE Awards in 2023, and Rollerdrome won Best British Game at the BAFTAs last year as well.
Going beyond official recognition, I also honestly believe the OlliOlli titles are some of the best skateboarding games ever made, and that the studio should be applauded for the work they put into making their games look amazing as well; Roll7 games had such a unique and vibrant style that in a previous life I wrote art features on both OlliOlli World and Rollerdrome in the same year.
But now two entire studios are toast, all because a company with revenue in the billions woke up one day and decided it didn't need to keep them around anymore. And why would they, when all they really care about is shaking people down for spare change every second minute they're playing Grand Theft Auto Online or NBA 2K?