Rockstar Games

Rockstar Games, Inc.
Type Subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive
Industry Video games
Founded 1998
Headquarters New York City, New York, United States
Key people Sam Houser (President)
Dan Houser
Products Grand Theft Auto, Midnight Club, Manhunt, Max Payne, Bully, Red Dead
Owner(s) Take-Two Interactive
Parent Take-Two Interactive
Website www.rockstargames.com

Rockstar Games (studio known as Rockstar Games NYC) is a British video game developer and publisher based in America, owned by Take-Two Interactive. The brand is mostly known for the Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, Midnight Club and now the Red Dead series and the use of open world 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 by the British video game producers Sam Houser, Dan Houser, Terry Donovan, Jamie King and Gary Foreman.[1][2]

The Headquarters of Rockstar Games is located on Broadway in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City, part of the Take-Two Interactive offices. It is the head office of Rockstar's worldwide publishing enterprises. It is home to the marketing, public relations and product development departments.

Contents

Technology

RAGE

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, Microsoft Windows, and Wii systems.

Social Club

The Rockstar Games Social Club is a community website created by Rockstar for their most recent games.

Rockstar studios

Name Years active
(as Rockstar division)		 Notes
Rockstar Japan 2005 - present Japanese localization studio, in which they work in conjunction with Capcom.
Rockstar Leeds 2004 - present Previously known as Mobius Entertainment and based in Lower Wortley, Leeds. 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.
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 had been 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 and was previously known as Mad Doc Software. They developed the Xbox 360 and PC ports of Bully. [3]
Rockstar North 1999 - present Founded in 1988, 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.
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 [4]. They ported the Max Payne series to consoles, and created most of Manhunt 2 before being closed down.

External developers

Game Release Format
Grand Theft Auto³ 1997 PlayStation, Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Color1
Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969³ 1999 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation
Grand Theft Auto: London, 1961 1999 Microsoft Windows
Earthworm Jim 3D 1999 Nintendo 64²
Evel Knievel 1999 Game Boy Color
Thrasher Presents Skate And Destroy 1999 PlayStation
Austin Powers: Oh Behave 2000 Game Boy Color
Austin Powers: Welcome to My Underground Lair! 2000 Game Boy Color
Wild Metal: Reclaim the Future 2000 Dreamcast4
Midnight Club: Street Racing 2000 PlayStation 2
Surfing H3O 2000 PlayStation 2
Smuggler's Run 2000 PlayStation 2
Smuggler's Run 2: Hostile Territory 2001 PlayStation 2
Oni 2001 PlayStation 25
Max Payne 2001 PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance5
Grand Theft Auto III 2001 PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows
The Italian Job6 2002 PlayStation, Microsoft Windows
State of Emergency 2002 PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows
Smuggler's Run Warzones 2002 Nintendo GameCube
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City 2002 PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows
Midnight Club II 2003 PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne 2003 PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows
Manhunt 2003 PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows
Red Dead Revolver 2004 PlayStation 2, Xbox
Grand Theft Auto Advance 2004 Game Boy Advance
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas 2004 PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows
Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition 2005 PlayStation 2, Xbox, PlayStation Portable
The Warriors 2005 PlayStation 2, Xbox, PlayStation Portable
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories 2005 PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2
Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix 2006 PlayStation 2, Xbox
Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis 2006 Xbox 360, Wii
Bully (aka Canis Canem Edit) 2006 PlayStation 2
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories 2006 PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2
Manhunt 2 2007 PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2, Wii, Microsoft Windows
Bully: Scholarship Edition 2008 Xbox 360, Wii, Microsoft Windows
Grand Theft Auto IV 2008 PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Midnight Club: Los Angeles 2008 PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Midnight Club: L.A. Remix 2008 PlayStation Portable
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned 2009 PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars 2009 Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, iPhone OS, Zune
Beaterator 2009 PlayStation Portable, iPhone OS
Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony 2009 PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Red Dead Redemption 2010 PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
L.A. Noire8 2010 PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Agent8 2010 PlayStation 3
Max Payne 38 2011 PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Notes:
  1. The DOS/Windows and PlayStation versions were produced by DMA Design, prior to it becoming Rockstar North, and published by BMG Interactive in Europe and by ASC Games in North America in 1997.
  2. The PC version and PAL Nintendo 64 version was released by Interplay Entertainment whilst only the US Nintendo 64 version was released by Rockstar.
  3. The games were re-released by Rockstar Games in a three game CD compilation dubbed Grand Theft Auto: The Classics Collection on November 23, 2004.
  4. The Windows version was published by Gremlin Interactive in 1999.
  5. The Windows version was published by Gathering of Developers in 2001.
  6. It was based on The Italian Job (1969 film), which is not to be confused with the 2003 video game which was released by Eidos Interactive which is based on the 2003 film The Italian Job.
  7. The Windows version was published by Gathering of Developers in 2001; The Mac version was published by MacSoft in 2002.
  8. These games are in development.

Films

Films1 Release Genre
The Football Factory 2004 Drama
Sunday Driver 2005 Documentary
Notes
  1. Rockstar Games is credited as executive producers.

References

  1. ↑ Laura Avery (2005). Newsmakers: the people behind today's headlines :2004 cumulation. p. 212. Gale Research, 2005.
  2. ↑ "Rockstar Games". 2009-03-31. http://gta.wikia.com/wiki/Rockstar_Games. Retrieved 2009-03-31. 
  3. ↑ Rockstar Acquires Mad Doc Software at RockstarWatch. URL accessed on April 4, 2008
  4. ↑ Jurie Horneman (2006-05-11). "Rockstar Vienna closes its doors". Intelligent Artifice. http://www.intelligent-artifice.com/2006/05/rockstar_vienna.html. Retrieved 2007-04-21. 

External links

Studios

Take-Two Interactive
Rockstar Games
Current studios
Rockstar Japan · Rockstar Leeds · Rockstar Lincoln · Rockstar London · Rockstar New England · Rockstar North · Rockstar San Diego · Rockstar Toronto · Rockstar Vancouver
Former studios
Rockstar Vienna
2K Games
Subdivisions
2K Play · 2K Sports
Current studios
2K Czech · 2K Marin · 2K China · Cat Daddy Games · Firaxis Games · Irrational Games · Visual Concepts
Former studios
Frog City Software · Indie Built · Kush Games · PAM Development · PopTop Software · Venom Games
Former labels
Gathering of Developers · Global Star Software · Gotham Games · TalonSoft