Support NeoGAF

[Bullet Club]

Private Division has acquired OlliOlli developer Roll7​

Private Division is the publishing label owned by Take-Two Interactive.

Take-Two Interactive has acquired OlliOlli developer Roll7 through its Private Division publishing label for an undisclosed fee.

Priviate Division said it intends to "empower" the UK studio to continue creating the "flow state gaming" experiences that have become its signature.

Based in London, Roll7 was established in 2008 and is best known for working on skateboarding series OlliOlli. The company is currently developing the next-entry in the franchise, OlliOlli World, alongside other unannounced projects.

Private Division had already agreed to publish OlliOlli World, and Roll7 co-CEO Simon Bennett said the two companies quickly established a positive working relationship.

"Private Division has been an incredible publishing partner for OlliOlli World, and we’re elated to continue to grow as a studio as part of the label," said Bennett in a press release.

"Private Division has empowered our amazing team to raise the bar on our creativity and scope for OlliOlli World. Joining the label puts us in a great position to continue to grow and to set our sights on achieving our ambition to become a pre-eminent global video game developer."

Source: Game Developer

 

[nush]

Get ready for a cell shaded Tony Hawks.

 

[CamHostage]

Weird that Private Division is acquiring developers now...

The company's original mission was to be a label for Take-2 that published indies, just as a support studio shepherding projects in the developer's vision and funding mid-size titles. It was almost the old publishing model (minus the big franchises, it seemed similar to how developers would pitch titles hoping to get a contract to have their game picked up and published,) in the new indies market. But things went weird with Kerbal Space Program, and Outer Worlds was their flagship launch project which immediately got co-opted by Microsoft (albeit there was nothing bad in it for Private Division, aside from that they could not help build upon the success of OW in a sequel or further Obsidian partnership,) now they're buying developers and forming development studios...

I guess it's all corporate finagling that GAF might not be interested in, but Private Division has never really been able to be what it seemed like it was supposed to be. I remember being intrigued in this label when they announced themselves with The Outer Worlds, Darkborn, Disintegration, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, I thought it was a good way to take Take-2's money and just throw it back into the game development pool without becoming another big boss in publishing. Ultimately, though, I'm not sure that they won't end up farming indies to help raise another Take-2 branch. They have done and will continue to do some good titles (in addition to titles mentioned, Hades and OlliOlli World were theirs, they also have projects with Ori's Moon Studios and Armello's League of Geeks,) and I've not heard anything bad about their handling of studios so it's not a negative that Private Division is hands-on and absorptive, but it has moved in a different direction than I assumed Private Division would take.

 

[RoboFu]

They going to get them to remaster the next three GTAs?