| Type | Subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer and video games Interactive entertainment |
| Founded | 1998[1] |
| Headquarters | New York City, United States |
| Key people | Sam Houser (President) Dan Houser |
| Products | Grand Theft Auto Midnight Club Manhunt Red Dead Max Payne Bully L.A. Noire The Warriors |
| Owner(s) | Take-Two Interactive |
| Parent | Take-Two Interactive |
| Website | www.rockstargames.com |
Rockstar Games is a major video game developer and publisher based in New York City, owned by Take-Two Interactive following its purchase of UK video game publisher BMG Interactive.[2] The brand is mostly known for Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, L.A. Noire, The Warriors, Bully, Manhunt, Midnight Club, State of Emergency (video game), and Red Dead series and the use of open world, free roaming settings in their games. It comprises studios that have been acquired and renamed as well as others that have been created internally. While many of the studios Take-Two Interactive has acquired have been merged into the Rockstar brand, several other recent ones have retained their previous identities and have become part of the company's 2K Games division. The Rockstar Games label was founded in New York City in 1998[1] by the English video game producers Sam Houser, Dan Houser, Terry Donovan, Jamie King and Gary Foreman.[3]
The headquarters of Rockstar Games (commonly referred to as Rockstar NYC) is located on Broadway in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City, part of the Take-Two Interactive offices. It is home to the marketing, public relations and product development departments.
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In October, Rockstar creative vice president Dan Houser told Famitsu that Rockstar is intentionally avoiding developing in the FPS genre. "We're deliberately avoiding that right now," he said, according to a 1UP translation. "It's in our DNA to avoid doing what other companies are doing. I suppose you could say that Max Payne 3 is something close to an FPS, but there are really unique aspects to the setting and gameplay there, too, not just in the story. You have to have originality in your games; you have to have some kind of interesting message. You could say that the goalpoint of Rockstar is to have the players really feel what we're trying to do." Houser went on to say that Rockstar has "made new genres by ourselves with games like the GTA series. We didn't rely on testimonials in a business textbook to do what we've done. I think we succeeded precisely because we didn't concentrate on profit... If we make the sort of games we want to play, then we believe people are going to buy them."[4]
Rockstar Games have developed their own game engine called the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) to facilitate game development on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows, Mac and Wii systems.
The Rockstar Games Social Club is a community website created by Rockstar for use with their games.
| Logo | Name | Years as Rockstar division | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rockstar Japan | 2005-present | ||
| Rockstar Leeds | 2004–present | Previously known as Mobius Entertainment and based in Lower Wortley, Leeds, England. They created Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories for the PlayStation Portable, Max Payne for the Game Boy Advance and recently finished developing Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars and the music game Beaterator. The studio's most recent work is the Microsoft Windows version of L.A. Noire. | |
| Rockstar Lincoln | 1999–present | Quality assurance and localization studio based in Lincoln, England, previously known as Tarantula Studios. | |
| Rockstar London | 2005–present | Formed in November 2005. Took over development of Manhunt 2 after Rockstar Vienna closed and recently developed the portable adaptation of Midnight Club: Los Angeles. | |
| Rockstar New England | 2008–present | Acquired on April 4, 2008, this studio is based in Andover, Massachusetts, U.S and was previously known as Mad Doc Software. They developed the Xbox 360 and PC ports of Bully.[5] | |
| Rockstar North | 1999–present | Founded in 1999, Rockstar North is based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was previously known as DMA Design. They are famous for the Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt franchises, as well as the original Lemmings games. | |
| Rockstar San Diego | 2003–present | Previously known as Angel Studios, they developed the RAGE engine, Red Dead Revolver and Red Dead Redemption, the Smuggler's Run series, the first two Midtown Madness games and the Midnight Club series. | |
| Rockstar Toronto | 1999–present | Take Two's in-house development team, previously known as Rockstar Canada. Their most well-known work is their adaptation of the cult classic film The Warriors and the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City. | |
| Rockstar Vancouver | 2002–present | Previously known as Barking Dog Studios, they created the PlayStation 2 title Bully and are currently developing the third game in the Max Payne series, Max Payne 3. | |
| Rockstar Vienna | 2003–2006 | Previously known as Neo Software; closed on May 11, 2006.[6] They ported the Max Payne series to consoles, and created most of Manhunt 2 before being closed down. |
| Films | Release | Genre | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Football Factory1 | 2004 | Drama | ||||||||
| Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - The Introduction | 2004 | Drama | ||||||||
| Sunday Driver1 | 2005 | Documentary | ||||||||
| Red Dead Redemption: The Man From Blackwater | 2010 | Drama | ||||||||
Notes
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In 2011, Rockstar Games trademarked Rockstar Films.[7]
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