This is the Police is a part strategy, part adventure, part tycoon game, and part interactive novel that puts you in the shoes of a chief of police in a crime-ridden city. It was funded in February of this year and plans on a release in December. That may be taking a step back now, as the developers, Weappy Studios, have announced that they have parted ways with their publisher, Team17.
Those unfamiliar with Team17 should know they both develop and publish games. They go back a long way—for the games industry—recently celebrating 25 years in the business. Best known for developing the Worms series, Team17 has been edging into the indie publishing business more lately, publishing such games as The Escapists, Yooka-Laylee, and Deadwood: The Forgotten Curse.
Team17 were the recent recipients of the Publishing Hero award back in July as well, which makes the questions behing why Weappy decided to part ways with them a bit more interesting. We reached out for more information from Weappy, but they advised they are unable to reveal the details of their disagreements and assured us the development of the game is moving forward as usual. The comments on the Kickstarter update regarding this information say as much as well.
We are still waiting to hear back from Team17.
Right now the why behind the break up is unknown, but as this comment mentions, Weappy will be able to talk about it in the future. When that will be exactly isn't known either.
In an update on the 28th, Weappy mentioned This is the Police will be coming to Steam Greenlight next week. They also said this, "We are still looking for a partner, so if you are a publisher, you like our game and you hate censorship, please contact us at mail@weappy-studio.com" So Weappy is still looking for a partner on This is the Police, so one would expect another announcement about their new publishing partner sometime in the future. Other than that, the update included a lot of images for This is the Police, so check it out if you are interested.
Keep a lookout for an upcoming interview where we talk more about This is the Police. For now, check out a trailer for the game below.
This is the Police is looking at a release date in December on PC, Mac, Linux, and possibly more platforms in the future (though that may be at least pushed back as they look for a publisher).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=53&v=5eK8roVfQEY Quick Take
It is hard not to comment on the "you hate censorship" part of the partnership they are looking for. Purely speculative, but one has to wonder if that has something to do with the partnership going south with Team17. Were they trying to change the game too much? Who knows. Weappy has promised to give details in the future when they can, however, so we will all just have to wait until then.
