Rollingmedia Limited (

trade name A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...

: Roll7) is a British

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

based in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Founded in 2008 by Simon Bennett, Tom Hegarty, and John Ribbins, the company initially developed educational games on a contract basis before shifting to original

intellectual properties Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

in 2012. Roll7's ''

OlliOlli ''OlliOlli'' is a side-scrolling skateboarding video game developed and published by Roll7. It was released for PlayStation Vita on 21 January 2014 in North America, and on 22 January 2014 in Europe. The game received a port for Microsoft Windo ...

'', first released in 2014 for the

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...

, became highly successful and landed the company a publishing deal. Roll7 later developed '' OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood'' (2015), '' Not a Hero'' (2015), and '' Laser League'' (2018). Since May 2015, all employees are

remote work Remote work, also called work from home (WFH), work from anywhere, telework, remote job, mobile work, and distance work is an employment arrangement in which employees do not commute to a central place of work, such as an office building, ware ...

ers. Roll7 is part of

Private Division Private Division is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The brainchild of Take-Two Interactive's Michael Worosz, the subsidiary was founded by Worosz and Allen Murray, and officially announced on December 14, 2017. Private ...

since November 2021.

History

Roll7 was founded by friends Simon Bennett and Tom Hegarty, alongside

creative director A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...

John Ribbins. They had been working together at their "youth multimedia training company" RollingSound when the British television network

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

commissioned the production of a video game for its anti-

knife crime Knife legislation is defined as the legislation, body of statutory law or case law promulgated or enacted by a government or other governing jurisdiction that prohibits, criminalizes, or restricts the otherwise legal manufacture, importation, sale, ...

season "Disarming Britain". They decided to produce games under a sister venture to RollingSound, establishing Roll7 in 2008. Their game for Channel 4, titled ''Dead Ends'', was released on 25 June 2008. Roll7 continued creating educational games on a contract basis. One such project was ''Focus Pocus'', a game for children with

ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inapp ...

, which Neurocog Solutions released for

NeuroSky NeuroSky, Inc. is a manufacturer of brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies for consumer product applications, which was founded in 2004 in Silicon Valley, California. The company adapts electroencephalography (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) ...

's MindWave headset in February 2012. The studio expressed its desire to develop original

but devised that it needed to save up funds first. An

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

game, ''Gets to the Exit'', was released in July 2012. Although receiving favourable reviews, it was a commercial failure. With the intent of creating games for consoles and

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

s, Roll7 began developing several prototype games in 2012. They met with James Mardsen, the manager of the

indie game An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. ...

studio FutureLab, in July that year. Mardsen advised them to discuss these prototypes with Shahid Ahmad, a senior

business development Business development entails tasks and processes to develop and implement growth opportunities within and between organizations. It is a subset of the fields of business, commerce and organizational theory. Business development is the creation of ...

manager for

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

. At the time, Ribbins was working on an iOS prototype of a

skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a ...

game titled ''OlliOlliOlli'', which he pitched to Ahmad upon Hegarty's request. After playing the game for roughly half an hour, Ahmad requested the game be brought to Sony's

platform. While developing the game, Roll7 consisted of five people. The company released it as ''

'' for the PlayStation Vita in January 2014. The game became a surprise success and won the BAFTA award for the best

sports game A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport (s ...

in March 2015. This success led to a publishing deal with

Devolver Digital Devolver Digital, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Austin, Texas, specializing in the publishing of indie games. The company was founded in June 2009 by Nigel Lowrie, Harry Miller, Graeme Struthers, Rick Stults, and Mike Wilso ...

and the eventual release of a sequel, '' OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood'', in March 2015. During this time, the team grew to seven members. Another Roll7 game, '' Not a Hero'', was published by Devolver Digital in May that year. This project was largely developed by five

freelancers ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

who worked remotely. Bennett described this process as "thoroughly enjoyable" and, consequently, Roll7 shut down its

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...

offices in late May 2015 and shifted all company operations to remote work. Also in 2015, Roll7 began working with the publisher

505 Games 505 Games S.p.A. is an Italian video game publisher based in Milan. It was founded in 2006 as a subsidiary of Milan-based Digital Bros. History 505 Games was founded in 2006 in Milan as a subsidiary of Digital Bros. The company found its earl ...

on a game that would be "much bigger" than Roll7's forgone games and supported by the UK Games Fund. This was later announced as '' Laser League'' and released in May 2018. In August of that year, Roll7 transferred all development duties for ''Laser League'' to 505 Games, citing that it had to take a break from game development. The studio released ''RunMe'', a free puzzle video game largely developed by Ribbins, in April 2020. In July of that year, Roll7 signed with

for a "

flow state ''Flow State'' is the debut studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Tash Sultana, released on 31 August 2018, through their own record label, Lonely Lands Records (distributed by Sony Music Australia in Australia, and Mom + Pop elsewher ...

" game. The two companies announced ''OlliOlli World'' in April 2021, expecting to release it later that year. In November, Private Division's

parent company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

, Take-Two Interactive, acquired Roll7 and made it part of the publishing label. Being part of Private Division allowed the studio to stop seeking publishers for each project as it could stick to one partner with similar values.

Operations

Roll7 operates with via

work from home Remote work, also called work from home (WFH), work from anywhere, telework, remote job, mobile work, and distance work is an employment arrangement in which employees do not commute to a central place of work, such as an office building, war ...

with a few work days in its London offices per month and regular employee meetups elsewhere. The studio claims to provide a "no- crunch culture" and encourages employees not to work overtime. As of February 2023, Roll7 employs 55 people.

Games developed

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2008 establishments in England 2021 mergers and acquisitions British companies established in 2008 British subsidiaries of foreign companies Companies based in the London Borough of Lewisham Take-Two Interactive divisions and subsidiaries Video game companies established in 2008 Video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game development companies