"Please pirate it because none of us work at the company that owns this anymore": Dev of stylish skating shooter marks its 2-year anniversary with a call for piracy

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Rollerdrome dev Roll7 was reportedly shut down by Take-Two earlier this year, though the publisher denies doing so

Rollerdrome screenshot
(Image credit: Roll7)

It's Rollerdrome's second anniversary, and one of its developers has encouraged new players to pirate it instead of giving money to the publisher that reportedly shut down the studio.

Rollerdrome, if you're unfamiliar, is an absolute rollercoaster in all the best ways - part skating platformer, part third-person shooter, it effortlessly carved out a space in 2022 as one of the coolest games of the year. The studio behind the effort, OlliOlli series developer Roll7, was allegedly shuttered earlier this year in May by Take-Two, as its CEO received a $26 million pay rise.

Now, user interface/experience designer Anisa Sanusi marks Rollerdrome's two-year anniversary by requesting people pirate the critically acclaimed game rather than buy it. Why? It's simple: every Rollerdrome sale sends money straight to Take-Two rather than the developers who actually made the game. 

When news first broke of Roll7's closure earlier this year, there was widespread anger throughout the industry, and not just because of Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick's bloated pay package and the job losses. Developers decried it as "a completely cruel and baffling decision" and pointed to the developer's track record of commercial successes.

Roll7's shuttering by Take-Two is even more egregious considering the money the publisher stands to make next year when GTA 6 rolls around. GTA 5 has consistently been one of the best-selling games of the past decade, which basically guarantees GTA 6 is going to print money for everyone involved. Why, then, couldn't GTA 6's publisher afford to keep a small studio open is still an unanswered question.

What makes the situation more bizarre is that Zelnick insists that Roll7 hasn't actually been shut down. Speaking to IGN back in May, Zelnick says that "we didn't shutter those studios, to be clear," speaking of Roll7 and Kerbal Space Program 2 developer Intercept Games, which was also reportedly shut down. The situation has remained largely undressed since then.

Elsewhere earlier this year, Baldur's Gate 3's lead told layoff-happy publishers to stop trying to "double" their money and instead "respect the people making the games."

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.

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