Just weeks after High on Life hit Xbox consoles and PC via Game Pass, the makers of the comedy shooter, Squanch Games, has announced that Justin Roiland has resigned from the company.
"On January 16, 2023, Squanch Games received Justin Roiland's resignation," the team says in a Tweet from the official Squanch Games account. "The passionate team at Squanch will keep developing games we know our fans will love while continuing to support and improve High On Life."
This comes after the announcement that the Rick and Morty creator has been dropped from Adult Swim after being charged with domestic abuse charges in Orange County, California. The incident relates to one of Roiland's former girlfriends and supposedly happened in 2020. Roiland is currently pleading not guilty to the charges, with his attorney stating "not only is Justin innocent but we also have every expectation that this matter is on course to be dismissed once the district attorney’s office has completed its methodical review of the evidence.”
Roiland is one of the founders of Squanch Games and his trademark comedy voices have featured in all of the games they've created. Before High On Life, Squanch worked on Rick-and-Morty-inspired titles like Accounting+ and Trover Saves the universe.
So, while the team state they will continue to work on games, it's hard to imagine their releases without Roiland's dark humour and stuttery voices. Reddit users are divided on the topic, with some saying that it's easy to find Rick and Morty impersonators to copy Roiland's vocal style, but other Reddit users point out that there's more to the formula than emulation.
It must be remembered that proceedings are still ongoing and that if Roiland is acquitted of all charges, then there is no reason he won't be able to rejoin the Squanch Games team for future titles. If it does emerge that he is guilty, we might just have to get used to games that don't have his trademark stamp, as he's played a very active role in Squanch's previous outings.