Team17 is no longer publishing Observer Interactive’s debut title Rover’s Tale.
Although separating from a publisher before release is uncommon and risky, the Middlesbrough-based studio’s CCO and design director tells GamesIndustry.biz the decision was mutual.
“[It] came down to both sides wanting what was best for Rover’s Tale at this stage,” says Matty McGrory, who describes their relationship as being “a really valuable part of the journey so far.”
McGrory, who was previously a lead designer at Radical Forge, says Team17 took a chance on the studio “at a time when publishers weren’t exactly throwing themselves at brand-new IP.”
“They helped us grow the game’s audience to around 35,000 wishlists through marketing support, provided production and development support where it was needed, and helped us gather the right feedback to keep improving the game.”
“We’re still mates, we’re still part of the same Northern games community, and they’ve been incredibly generous with their advice and well wishes as we’ve prepared the new roadmap for launch. It’s about as amicable as these things get. The only casualty was probably the office biscuit supply.”
Following Observer Interactive’s decision to self-publish, the release date for Rover’s Tale has been moved to 2027. The studio will demo the creature-collecting metroidvania at Gamescom next week, including a first look at the title on Switch 2.
“We started this journey as indies, so there was something quite appealing about ending it the same way”
While McGrory can’t get into the “contractual or royalty side of things,” including costs related to this decision, he clarifies that Observer Interactive is in “a position where funding the rest of development ourselves is a realistic option.”
“The biggest practical challenge is simply funding the final stretch ourselves,” says McGrory. “We started this journey as indies, so there was something quite appealing about ending it the same way.”
McGrory notes that the studio has significantly expanded its portfolio since starting development on Rover’s Tale.
This includes co-development projects such as Kong Studios, a virtual studio experience created with the virtual band Gorillaz. Observer Interactive also supported Next Games with Netflix Minigolf.
Next Games is now the only internal developer at Netflix following the recent closures of Night School Studio and Moonlot Games.
Observer Interactive has another project “bubbling away that [they’re] insanely excited about,” but also can’t talk about. “It’s the sort of game where people will probably assume we’re lying when we eventually announce it,” McGrory teases.
“We’re really proud to have already built a strong reputation that we’re a studio that can be trusted to work with so many different amazing IPs. We’re hard workers, we love what we do, and we’re always keeping busy. This work has been key to strengthening our position as a studio to the point where something like self-publishing can actually be considered.”
Aside from these projects, Rover’s Tale is “incredibly important” to Observer Interactive.
“It’s our first original IP and our debut game as a studio, that’s always going to be special. But we’ve worked hard to make sure that the safety of the studio doesn’t depend on any one title, it’s one of the many projects on the go. Making the decision to bring it entirely in-house is a pretty safe bet for us.”
“We’re launching simultaneously across every platform and in 12 languages, so Rover’s Tale is going to be pretty darn accessible. I think the success case for us here is that the game comes out and people like it. It’s mostly about us putting Observer Interactive on the map as a studio that makes memorable games, building a community that wants to see what we make next, and hopefully letting the sales of Rover’s Tale help fund the next project.”
“Publishing your own game isn’t easy, but nothing worth doing ever is.”
McGrory adds that self-publishing will be “a really interesting challenge” for the team. “At the end of the day, we’re developers first. While we’ve learned a lot along the way, it’s likely there’s going to be areas where we need advice or support. We’ll ask for help when we need it and are happy to work with others on any areas that we feel need some extra hands.”
“We’ve worked hard to make sure that the safety of the studio doesn’t depend on any one title”
“Aside from all the new responsibilities we’ll be picking up, we’re still going to follow the same plan we had as developers anyway. We’ll keep talking to our community, running playtests, gathering feedback and improving the game so that it’s in the best possible shape for launch.”
So far, the feedback on Rover’s Tale has been promising.
“We ran some mock reviews and alpha playtests earlier this year, and the reception was really encouraging; they also gave us some genuinely useful feedback on areas we could improve. We’ve been hard at work on making all those changes and plan to run another public playtest toward the end of this year or early next year, so we’re looking forward to sharing the new and improved Rover’s Tale experience with our community.”