Private Division teams up with Moon Studios to make an Action RPG

Private Division - Take-Two's publishing arm for indie-scale titles - has announced that they have signed a new publishing agreement with Moon Studios (Ori and the Blind Forest, Ori and the Will of the Wisps). Private Division has also signed publishing agreements with developers League of Geeks and Roll7. 

Today's announcement confirms that Moon Studios is currently working on an action RPG, something first spotted through job listings for the developer late last year. In the announcement, Private Division notes that the titles included in this new agreement are in early development, and they will not see release until at least Take-Two's fiscal year 2022, which begins for the company in April 2021.

We've shared the press release from Private Division in full down below.

Private Division, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., today announced that they have signed three new publishing agreements with top independent developers Moon Studios, League of Geeks, and Roll7. These partnerships will expand Private Division’s portfolio of titles that includes the Kerbal Space Program franchise, The Outer Worlds, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, and Disintegration. Private Division empowers and supports the industry’s leading creative talent in bringing their visions to life and land to consumers around the world.

“Our partnerships with Moon Studios, League of Geeks, and Roll7 continue to enhance Private Division’s roster with more of the game industry’s best creative talent from around the world,” said Michael Worosz, executive vice president and head of Private Division. “We are thrilled to work alongside these experienced developers to provide them with the support needed to propel their creative visions to the next level.”

Moon Studios, founded in 2010 by Thomas Mahler and Gennadiy Korol, is a BAFTA award-winning studio best known for their work developing the critically acclaimed Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps. As a distributed development house, their team is spread throughout the world and comprises industry-leading talent from across the globe. In partnership with Private Division, Moon Studios is creating a compelling new action RPG.

“Developing the Ori series over the last decade has been a fantastic experience for our team, and we’re thrilled to now be aiming our sights even higher with a new action RPG,” said Thomas Mahler and Gennadiy Korol, co-founders of Moon Studios. “We attribute our success to the ‘iterative polish’ process we use at Moon Studios, and we’re continuing that style of development to create a new game that rises above anything we’ve created thus far.”

League of Geeks, founded in 2011 by Trent Kusters, Blake Mizzi, and Ty Carey, are the renowned developers of the seminal digital board game Armello. Located in Melbourne, League of Geeks is looking to expand upon the studio’s initial success with an ambitious, new video game and intellectual property in partnership with Private Division.

“It’s equally important for us to build games with heart that can rally and foster a dedicated community of players, as it is to develop games that are critical, cultural, and commercial successes,” said Blake Mizzi, co-founder and director at League of Geeks. “This partnership provides the opportunity for us to grow our studio alongside our ambitions to create something beyond anything we’ve developed before.”

Roll7 is a BAFTA and multi-award-winning independent studio founded in London in 2008 by Simon Bennett, John Ribbins, and Tom Hegarty. Roll7 created the OlliOlli series, NOT A HERO, and Laser League, and are working with Private Division on the next jump forward in their mission to create awesome, flow state games.

"Our titles resonate with players because we strive for super solid game feel, highly refined gameplay, and simple but highly masterable mechanics," said John Ribbins, chief creative officer at Roll7. “We're really excited to be working with Private Division on our next title and we can’t wait for players to get their hands on it. We're raising the bar on our creativity and the scope of our ambition to make this next project our best thing yet.”

In collaboration with these developers, Private Division will announce more details about each specific project in the future. All three titles are currently in early development, and do not currently have set release dates. The first of these titles is not expected to launch until Take-Two's fiscal year 2022.