Let’s be honest here; absolutely nobody is surprised when money is the sole driver behind a decision, whatever the decision may be. In this case, Justin Roiland, creator of Rick and Morty, Solar Opposites, and High On Life, has been arraigned on a domestic violence charge and while everyone was cutting ties with him, Squanch Games decided they were going to keep High On Life on the Xbox Store because… money? I am not fully sure. But I’m getting ahead of myself here, let me catch everyone up.
Justin Roiland is now facing felony charges after it was decided there was enough evidence for the D.A. to pursue a case against him stemming from a 2020 incident. The charges include holding someone hostage and domestic battery. A cursory reading of the charges sounds like the unnamed woman wanted to leave and Roiland not only prevented her from doing so, he used physical violence to keep her there. It’s a common abuser tactic to keep the object of their rage in front of them instead of allowing them to remove themselves from the situation.
While every other normal entity decided Roiland was too much of a risk to continue working with, Squanch Games, founded by Justin Roiland, decided Justin Roiland’s association with and voicing of the game created by Justin Roiland, would keep going without his continued involvement. To be clear, Justin Roiland resigned his role from Squanch games, but as the founder, he controls pretty much every decision as this isn’t some huge studio that can just move on without him. With the game already being released, there’s not much more involvement Roiland could have had outside of reaping the benefits and he’s all too happy to do that, even if the company is putting out corporate crap to say otherwise.
“On January 16, 2023, Squanch Games received Justin Roiland’s resignation. The passionate team at Squanch Games will keep developing games we know our fans love while continuing to support and improve High on Life,” said the studio on Twitter earlier today.
So, Squanch Studios, already accused of sexual harassment in the workplace prior to the release of this game, has decided that a game featuring mostly the voices of Justin Roiland, who is currently facing felony charges for domestic violence, should continue to make them money because fans love it and want improvements, I guess. It’s an absolutely ludicrous line of logic and it clearly wasn’t even worth defending in their own statement beyond. I guess they figure that J.B. Smoove needs the paycheck from a domestic abuser or he’s suddenly going to go broke.
It’s not a surprise when a company places profits before decency, but it always sucks when you see it. Squanch Games doesn’t really have an extensive library of games and the ones that they have released are definitely Justin Roiland’s creations more than anyone else’s. They’re a video game extension of him and his brain, so keeping it on the Microsoft Store is just disgusting and Microsoft should pull it for them, but I doubt they will either unless the public pressure grows and grows.
I’m sure the columns lambasting their decision are coming and this will be nothing but white noise by the time it’s live, but I also wouldn’t be surprised to see a ton of comments about how it’s “helping the people who made the game” by not pulling it. Those people knew what they signed up for when they began making this game. The studio has been embroiled in this for a minute and this incident goes back to 2020, so pardon me if I don’t feel bad for people who were willingly working on a game for a studio with this reputation.
Pull the damn game.