Last month the games company Take-Two Interactive announced it would reduce its global staff by 5%, laying off 580 people to reduce costs. It was one of many such announcements in 2024, but this case is especially egregious because Take-Two ownsRockstar Games, which publishes Grand Theft Auto, AKA the most successful game in the history of the world, and is definitely not short of profits. Last week, Bloomberg () reported on internal documentation showing the likely victims of these cuts: studios Intercept Games in Seattle and Roll7 in London are set to close. Both are part of Private Division, the giant publisher's indie game label. I spent some time with Intercept's Kerbal Space Program 2 last year, when they were gearing up to launch.

Mega-publisher Take-Two Interactive is shuttering Rollerdrome studio Roll7 and Kerbal Space Program 2 team Intercept Games, according to paperwork seen by Bloomberg. Roll7 is based in London, and was founded in 2008 by lifelong friends Tom Hegarty and Simon Bennett. Roll7 is the studio behind OlliOlli, OlliOlli World and Rollerdrome, all fantastic games with wheel-based mechanics. OlliOlli was a Vita hit in 2014 and World landed in early 2022 -- they're both great, and the latter in particular is a flow-state-inducing skateboarding platformer with an adorable art style. Rollerdrome was one of our favorite games of 2022; it's a luscious third-person rollerskating-and-gunplay game that looks like a slice of 1970s dystopian sci-fi. Roll7 has picked up multiple prestigious awards over the years, including recent wins at BAFTA and DICE.

When Dr Uri Shumlack was contacted by a video game developer who wanted to discuss his work on interstellar propulsion, for a game about spaceflight, he was wary. A professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the University of Washington, he was a busy individual, and not exactly an avid gamer. He asked some of his engineering undergraduates whether they had heard of a game called Kerbal Space Program, only to discover that half the class were there because of the game. First playable in 2011, Kerbal Space Program is an idiosyncratic and extremely difficult video game that involves getting little green aliens off the surface of their planet using rockets that you must cobble together from a library of parts. To do this, though – and leave the launchpad without exploding – you have to develop a pretty good understanding of the physics of space travel, calculating orbit trajectories and figuring out how much fuel you need, and whether you can carry it without messing up your thrust-to-weight ratio.

It's nearly three years late, but Kerbal Space Program 2 is almost here, provided you don't mind a few rough edges. Private Division has revealed that the sequel to its rocket construction game will be available on February 24th as an Early Access release through Steam, the Epic Games Store and other online shops. The new title includes a raft of content and feature updates, but its biggest improvement may be ease of use -- this could be worth a look if you were put off by the learning curve of the original. KSP2 includes "fully revamped" vehicle assembly and flight interfaces that, according to the developers, are more accommodating for rookies without taking away the challenge. Newcomers also see tutorial animations.