Rollerdrome Dev Ask Fans To Pirate the Game

Highlights

• One of Rollerdrome’s developers is asking fans to pirate the game, as none of the original developers are working on it anymore.
• Rollerdrome, a roller skating shooting game, received positive reviews for its quick action gameplay and inventive ideas.
• Take-Two Interactive reportedly shut down developer Roll7, adding to the massive layoffs the gaming industry has seen in 2024.

One of the developers behind Rollerdrome has commemorated the game’s second anniversary by asking fans to pirate the action title. Rollerdrome was developed by Roll7, a British game studio that was allegedly shut down by Take-Two Interactive earlier this year.

Rollerdrome was originally released in 2022 as a PlayStation console exclusive. In the following year, Rollerdrome was added to Xbox Game Pass. Rollerdrome combines roller skating with shooting, and it received positive reviews from critics due to its quick-paced action gameplay, aesthetics, and inventive ideas.

Now, Anisa Sanusi, who worked as the user interface/experience designer for Rollerdrome, has congratulated the game on its second anniversary, and asked fans to pirate the game, as none of the developers who made the action title at Roll7 is still working there. Sanusi’s request is unusual, but it’s understandable considering what happened to the Roll7 studio earlier this year. Back in May, Take-Two Interactive reportedly shut down Roll7 and Intercept Games, essentially laying off everyone who worked on Rollerdrome.

Rollerdrome Developer Asks Fans To Pirate The Game During Its 2-Year Anniversary

The situation was especially awkward considering that Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick had increased his own pay by $26 million earlier this year and that Roll7 had a track record of shipping commercially successful games, including its previous OlliOlli World. To make matters even more complicated, Take-Two officially denies that the studios were shut down. However, reports from the time indicate that essentially all workers from these places were laid off.

Overall, 2024 has been a very difficult year for the gaming industry. The cost of making games keeps increasing, profits do not seem to be growing for some companies, and this has led to a massive number of layoffs in multiple studios, with over 11,500 jobs lost so far. Companies that laid off employees include Microsoft, Sega, Twitch, Embracer Group, Unity, Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, Epic Games, Sony, and many others.

However, even in the middle of such a troubled time, some positive surprises can still happen. Recently, the PUBG publisher Krafton acquired Tango Gameworks, which was previously shut down by Microsoft back in May. The company has recently re-hired around half of the original team who worked on Hi-Fi Rush, acquired the rights to publish the next game in the franchise, and is reportedly set to start working on the popular series again. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that the same situation will happen with Roll7 or Rollerdrome, or to most of the other studios that were shut down or lost most of their workforce this year.