Popular game creator accused of serious crime

The creator of a popular Xbox Game Pass game has reportedly been charged with multiple counts of felony domestic violence.

Justin Roiland, the creator of High On Life and co-creator of popular animated TV series Rick and Morty has reportedly been charged with domestic violence offences in California.

The charges were initially reported by NBC News, which cited court documents including the criminal complaint related to the allegations.

According to NBC, Roiland was charged with one felony count of domestic battery with corporal injury and one felony count of false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud, and/or deceit.

The criminal complaint reportedly states that the alleged incident that resulted in the charges happened around January 19, 2020, and that the accusations came from a person who was dating Roiland at the time. Her identity has been kept anonymous.

Roiland was arrested and charged in May of 2020, before being released on a $50,000 (AU$71,000) bond that August . In October 2020, Roiland pleaded not guilty to both charges in the Orange County Superior Court.

The charges against him appear to have escaped the media’s notice until recently, when NBC News first reported on them.

Popular animated series Rick and Morty was created by Justin Roiland alongside Dan Harmon. Picture: Adult Swim

A protective order was also reportedly filed in October 2020, and is set to last until October 2023, which says that Roiland must not “harass, threaten, or surveil” the person named in the order. He also is prevented from going within 100 feet of the person, and cannot possess firearms.

Roiland maintains his innocence, with his lawyer, T. Edward Welbourn, saying: “We look forward to clearing Justin’s name and helping him move forward as swiftly as possible.”

A trial date for the matter has not been set.

The allegations come as the Rick and Morty co-creator celebrates the success of his recently released game, High On Life. The surreal comedy shooter game was developed by Roiland’s game development studio, Squanch Games, and released exclusively on Xbox and Windows in December.

High on Life was popular among fans, but was received poorly by critics. Picture: Squanch Games

High On Life quickly became the most played title on Xbox Game Pass on the week it was released, and was described by Xbox marketing VP Aaron Greenberg as a “breakout hit”. It was also the most purchased game on Steam in the week it released, beating out Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and FIFA 23.

Despite the high interest from fans, the game was panned critically by reviewers, and it sits on an average of 67/100 on review score aggregator website Metacritic.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.