One of Take-Two Interactive’s publishing labels, Private Division, is setting its sights on expanding with its very first studio acquisition, OlliOlli World developer Roll7. Although the terms of the acquisition deal were not revealed, Private Division had already been scheduled to publish Roll7’s upcoming game and the companies were well-known to each other.
Now formerly indie studio Roll7 was formed back in 2008 by trio Simon Bennett, John Ribbins, and Tom Hegarty. Their early years were spent making a variety of mobile and PC titles, including a game called Focus Pocus that helped improve behavior in 7-13 year old children with ADHD. Roll7 made its console debut in 2013 with OlliOlli, following up two years later with the sequel OlliOlli 2: Welcome to Olliwood. There was also cover-based shooter Not a Hero and multiplayer battle arena game Laser League. Now Roll7 is returning with a different perspective on its popular skateboarding franchise in the form of OlliOlli World, which is due to be released in between January and March 2022.
Private Division is publishing the upcoming OlliOlli World, which will come with new “neon candy dream” cartoon-ish graphics, character customization, and improved gameplay that includes new trick opportunities. Roll7’s Bennett said of the deal:
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. 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 videogames developer.
Executive Vice President and Head of Private Division Michael Worosz was similarly as complementary:
We’re thrilled to welcome Roll7 to the Private Division family. As a team passionate about action sports ourselves, seeing how Roll7 combines the thrill of competition with the zen of achieving flow-state in a videogame is remarkable, and we can’t wait to show the world this phenomenon with our release of OlliOlli World this winter.
The acquisition is in effect now, and OlliOlli World is set for release sometime before the end of March 2022.
[Source: Take-Two Interactive]
