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Rockstar Games

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Rockstar Games, Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
PredecessorBMG Interactive
FoundedDecember 1998;25 years ago(1998-12)
Founders
Headquarters,
US
Key people
  • Sam Houser (president)
  • Jennifer Kolbe (vice president)[1]
Products
Number of employees
>2,000 (2018)
ParentTake-Two Interactive
SubsidiariesSee§ Studios
Websiterockstargames

Rockstar Games, Inc.is an Americanvideo game publisherbased in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary ofTake-Two Interactive,using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Founding members of the company were Terry Donovan, Gary Foreman,DanandSam Houser,and Jamie King, who worked for Take-Two at the time, and of which the Houser brothers were previously executives at BMG Interactive. Sam Houser heads the studio as president.[2]

Since 1999, several companies acquired by or established under Take-Two have become part of Rockstar Games, such asRockstar Canada(later renamed Rockstar Toronto) becoming the first one in 1999, andRockstar Dundeethe most recent in 2020. All companies organized under Rockstar Games bear the "Rockstar" name and logo. In this context, Rockstar Games is sometimes also referred to as Rockstar New York, Rockstar NY or Rockstar NYC. Rockstar Games also sports amotion capturestudio inBethpage, New York.[2]

Rockstar Games predominantly publishes games in theaction-adventuregenre, whileracing gamesalso saw success for the company. One of such action-adventure game franchises isGrand Theft Auto,which Rockstar Games took over from BMG Interactive, which publishedthe series' original 1997 entry.The most recent main game in the series,Grand Theft Auto V,has sold over 200 million copies since its release in September 2013, making it the second-best-selling video game of all time.[3]Other popular franchises published by Rockstar Games areRed Dead,Midnight Club,Max Payne,andManhunt.[4]

History

BrothersDan Houser(left) andSam Houser(right) are two of the co-founders of Rockstar Games. Dan left the company in 2020; Sam is the president.

On March 12, 1998,Take-Two Interactiveannounced its acquisition of the assets of dormant Britishvideo game publisherBMG Interactive from BMG Entertainment (a unit ofBertelsmann). In exchange, Take-Two was to issue 1.85 million shares (around 16%) of itscommon stockto BMG Entertainment.[5][6]Through this acquisition, Take-Two obtained several of BMG Interactive's formerintellectual properties,includingDMA Design'sGrand Theft AutoandSpace Station Silicon Valley.[7][8]The deal was announced to have closed on March 25.[9]Three BMG Interactive executives—Dan Houser,Sam Houser,and Jamie King—as well as Gary Foreman of BMG Interactive and Terry Donovan of BMG Entertainment'sArista Recordsrecord label, subsequently moved to New York City to work for Take-Two Interactive.[7][10][11]In a restructuring announced that April, Sam Houser was appointed as Take-Two's "vice president of worldwide product development".[12]In December 1998, the Houser brothers, Donovan and King established Rockstar Games as the "high-end" publishing label of Take-Two.[7][13][14][15]The formation was formally announced on January 22, 1999.[16]

In January 2007, Take-Two announced that Donovan, until then managing director for Rockstar Games, had left the company following a four-month leave of absence.[17]He was succeeded by Gary Dale, who became chief operating officer.[18]Dale previously worked with the Houser brothers and King at BMG Interactive, but left the company when it was acquired by Take-Two Interactive, and joinedCapcom's European operations as managing director in 2003.[19][20]

As of February 2014, Rockstar Games titles have shipped more than 250 million copies,[21]the largest franchise being theGrand Theft Autoseries, which alone has shipments of at least 250 million as of November 2016.[22]Grand Theft Auto Vshipped the highest number of units within the series' and the company's history, with over 170 million copies,[23]making it the secondbest-selling video game of all time.[24]

At the10th British Academy Games Awardsin March 2014, Rockstar Games was honored with theBAFTA Academy Fellowship Awardfor "creating intricately layered interactive worlds that have kept the company at the forefront of the gaming industry for over a decade, both critically and commercially".[25][26]Jennifer Kolbe, who started at the front desk of Take-Two, acts as Rockstar Games' head of publishing and oversees all development studios.[2][27]Simon Ramsey is the company's head of PR and communications.[27]

In May 2019, Rockstar Games announced that they were acquiringDhruva InteractivefromStarbreeze Studiosfor$7.9 million,with the sale being finalized later that month and the Dhruva team merged intoRockstar India.[28][29]

In September 2019, Rockstar Games announced that they had released their own game launcher, adigital distribution,digital rights management,multiplayerand communications service.[30]After having taken an extended break following the release ofRed Dead Redemption 2in early 2019, Dan Houser left Rockstar Games on March 11, 2020.[31]

The company acquired the Scottish studioRuffian Gamesin October 2020, rebranding the studio as Rockstar Dundee.[32]

In September 2022, Rockstar was the target of adata breachin which 90 videos from the development ofGrand Theft Auto VIwere leaked.[33][34]Rockstar described the leak as a "network intrusion", and noted that it was "extremely disappointed" by the manner in which the game was first demonstrated, but that it did not anticipate long-term effects on development.[35]

In August 2023, Rockstar acquired Cfx.re (CitizenFX), the team behind the modding platforms FiveM and RedM forGrand Theft Auto VandRed Dead Redemption 2respectively.[36][37][38]Michael Unsworth, vice president of writing, departed the company in 2023 after sixteen years.[39]

Company philosophy

In October 2011, Dan Houser toldFamitsuthat Rockstar Games was intentionally avoiding developing games in thefirst-person shootergenre, because "it is in ourDNAto avoid doing what other companies are doing... the goalpoint of Rockstar is to have the players really feel what we're trying to do. "[40][41]Houser went on to say "Our games up to now have been different from any genre that existed at the time; we made new genres by ourselves with games like theGTAseries. We didn't rely on testimonials in a business textbook to do what we've done.... If we make the sort of games we want to play, then we believe people are going to buy them. "[42]

The company has been involved with charitable work ranging from supportingMovemberand offering appearances in games as a raffle prize, to charitylive streams.[43][44]

Games

Other projects

Rockstar Loft

In 1999, Donovan and Sam Houser cooperated with John Davis to establish the Rockstar Loftclub night.Davis had co-founded and been the promoter for Body & Soul, a "no-guestlist, no velvet rope party" held weekly atTribeca's Club Vinyl. When Rockstar Games' founder originally arrived in New York City, former DJ Donovan was particularly impressed with Body & Soul, and they became close with the club night's team, including Davis and its other founder, DJFrançois K.Davis had sought to establish further such events, while Donovan and Houser wanted to get publicity for the young Rockstar Games, thus they established Rockstar Loft. According to Donovan, the event was to serve as an alternative those that were overly expensive or had attendees "bulldozed by security". He precluded video game installations at the venue to focus on the music and highlight the artists.[45]

As it could not afford frequenttelevision advertisements,Rockstar Games resorted toguerrilla marketingteams distributingfly postersand stickers. Tickets for Rockstar Loft were originally not sold in advance. Instead, potential guests were to call a phone number and face seven questions regarding their personality. If answered to the liking of the operator, the caller would receive their entry ticket in the mail.[45]The first Rockstar Loft was held in westernChelsea, Manhattan,on October 30, 1999, with Andi Hanley (a regular of Body & Soul),Bob Sinclar,andDimitri from Parisas headlining DJs.[45][46]Thereafter, it was held "every few months", with one happening on February 19, 2000.[45][47]Later that year, Rockstar Loft was wound down.[45]

Films

Kirk Ewing—a friend of the Houser brothers who had worked with Rockstar Games onState of Emergency—stated that, around the release ofGrand Theft Auto IIIin 2001, Rockstar Games had been offered$5 millionfor a film based on theGrand Theft Autofranchise. He had received a phone call from a producer in Los Angeles requesting the rights for a film to be directed byTony ScottofTop Gunand starring rapperEminem.When he relayed this proposal to Sam Houser, Houser said that he was not interested.[48]In 2004, Rockstar Games produced thesports dramafilmThe Football Factory.Based onthe book of the same namebyJohn King,the film revolves around organizedfootball hooliganism in the United Kingdom.[49]The company also producedSunday Driver,adocumentaryabout the MajesticsLowrider ClubinCompton, California,andThe Introduction,an animated film that details the events leading up toGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas.Both were bundled with the game's special edition released in 2005.[50]

CircoLoco Records

In May 2021, Rockstar Games launched the record labelCircoLoco Recordsin collaboration withCircoloco,anIbiza-based dance party. The collaboration grew from a friendship between Sam Houser and Circoloco's promoter, Antonio Carbonaro. According to Nick Benedetti, the party's manager, Rockstar Games and Circoloco intended to "contribute something new and meaningful" to thedance musicscene, which had faced hardships because of thelockdownsbrought on by theCOVID-19 pandemic.[51]CircoLoco Records' first release,Monday Dreamin',was released as a series ofextended playsstarting in June 2021.[45][51]

Studios

Outside of its New York City headquarters, Rockstar Games operates nine subsidiary studios.[52][53]All studios use the Rockstar Games logo with individual colors.[54]As of 2018, the company employs more than 2,000 people across all offices.[55]The studios frequently collaborate and were collectively credited asRockstar StudiosinMax Payne 3,[56]and simply as Rockstar Games inRed Dead Redemption 2.[57][58]

Logo Name Location Founded Acquired Notes
Rockstar Dundee Dundee,Scotland 2008 2020
Rockstar India Bangalore,India 2016
Rockstar LA Santa Monica, California,US[59] Un­known
Rockstar Leeds Leeds,England 1997 2004 Developer ofGrand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars,Liberty City Stories,andVice City Stories
Rockstar Lincoln Lincoln,England 1992 2002 Handles localization and quality assurance
Rockstar London London,England 2005 Developer ofManhunt 2andMidnight Club: L.A. Remix
Rockstar New England Andover, Massachusetts,US 1999 2008 Developer ofBully: Scholarship Edition
Rockstar North Edinburgh,Scotland 1987 2002 Developer of theGrand Theft Autoseries andManhunt
Rockstar San Diego Carlsbad, California,US 1984 2002 Developer of theRed Dead,Smuggler's Run,andMidnight Clubseries
Rockstar Toronto Oakville, Ontario,Canada Early 1980s 1999 Developer ofThe Warriorsand severalWindowsports
Cfx.re 2016 2023 Developer of the FiveM and RedM projects

Former

Logo Name Location Founded Acquired Closed Notes
Rockstar Vancouver Vancouver,Canada 1998 2002 2012 Developer ofBullyandMax Payne 3;merged intoRockstar Torontoin July 2012.
Rockstar Vienna Vienna,Austria 1993 2003 2006 Developer of severalXboxports; closed down in May 2006

Software

RAGE

Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) is agame enginedeveloped by theRockstar San Diego-internalRAGE Technology Group,created to facilitate game development on all platforms since 2006.[60]RAGE is used in most of Rockstar Games's titles forpersonal computersandconsoles,includingRed Dead Redemption,Grand Theft Auto IV,Max Payne 3,Grand Theft Auto V,andRed Dead Redemption 2.[61][62]

Rockstar Games Social Club

Rockstar Games Social Club is an online gaming service created by Rockstar Games forauthenticationandmultiplayerapplications within their games.[63]Most branding relating to Social Club was removed from Rockstar's website by November 2023.[64]

Rockstar Games Launcher

Rockstar Games released its own games launcher forWindowson September 17, 2019. The launcher integrates with the user's Social Club account, allowing them to download and buy games that they have previously purchased through Rockstar's store, as well as launch Rockstar games available from other services, likeSteam,from the launcher.[65]

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External links