Rover's Tale Developer Observer Interactive Parts Ways With Team17 to Self-Publish Creature-Collecting Metroidvania

Observer Interactive has ended its publishing partnership with Team17 and will self-publish its debut title, Rover's Tale. The move pushes the game into 2027 and will be on display at Gamescom next week, including the first hands-on of the Switch 2 version.

The split was confirmed today by GamesIndustry.biz, which spoke with the studio, and matches a developer update posted on the Rover's Tale Steam Community hub on August 19. The Steam store page has already been updated to list Observer Interactive as both developer and publisher, replacing Team17, and the title's planned release window has been moved from this year to 2027.

Creative director Matty McGrory told GamesIndustry.biz the studio is "in a position where funding the rest of development ourselves is a realistic option." He said the company could not discuss "the contractual or royalty side of things," but emphasized that Rover's Tale remains the studio's "incredibly important" debut and original IP. The title will ship simultaneously across every platform in 12 languages.

Originally announced in 2022 as Good Boy and later renamed Rover's Tale, the game is a creature-collecting metroidvania built around a team of space-faring rescue rovers inspired by the studio's own dogs. Observer Interactive has long partnered with Team17 on the project, including joint Dev Dog Diaries content featuring team members and their pets. Team17's own original announcement of the partnership remains live on its newsroom.

Observer Interactive has additional work lined up beyond Rover's Tale, including co-development on a virtual band experience with Gorillaz and support work for Next Games on Netflix Minigolf. McGrory teased another original project that the studio "can't talk about" yet, describing it as "the sort of game where people will probably assume we're lying when we eventually announce it."

At Gamescom, the team will demo the game in the Indie Arena Booth near the Nintendo Switch area. The studio confirmed that Switch 2 is part of the launch lineup and that Steam Deck optimization is one of its biggest remaining technical priorities. Playtests are planned for the near future, with interested players advised to wishlist and follow the title for updates.

For Team17, the split ends one of its longer-running indie publishing deals of the year and continues a turbulent stretch for the publisher, which has been refocusing its portfolio after a period of layoffs and project cancellations.