Type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Video games |
Predecessor | BMG Interactive |
Founded | December 1998 |
Founders |
|
Headquarters | New York City , US |
Key people |
|
Products | |
Number of employees | 2,000+[2] (2018) |
Parent | Take-Two Interactive |
Subsidiaries | See § Subsidiaries |
Website | rockstargames.com |
Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Founding members of the company were Terry Donovan, Gary Foreman, Dan and Sam 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.[3]
Since 1999, several companies acquired by or established under Take-Two have become part of Rockstar Games, such as Rockstar Canada (later renamed Rockstar Toronto) becoming the first one in 1999, and Rockstar Dundee the 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 a motion capture studio in Bethpage, New York.[3]
Rockstar Games predominantly publishes games in the action-adventure genre, while racing games also saw success for the company. One of such action-adventure game franchises is Grand Theft Auto, which Rockstar Games took over from BMG Interactive, which published the series' original 1997 entry. The most recent main game in the series, Grand Theft Auto V, has sold over 155 million copies since its release in September 2013, making it one of the best-selling video games of all time. Other popular franchises published by Rockstar Games are Red Dead, Midnight Club, Max Payne and Manhunt.[4]
On March 12, 1998, Take-Two Interactive announced its acquisition of the assets of dormant British video game publisher BMG Interactive from BMG Entertainment (a unit of Bertelsmann). In exchange, Take-Two was to issue 1.85 million shares (around 16%) of its common stock to BMG Entertainment.[5][6] Through this acquisition, Take-Two obtained several of BMG Interactive's former intellectual properties, including DMA Design's Grand Theft Auto and Space 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's Arista Records record 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 joined Capcom'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 the Grand Theft Auto series, which alone has shipments of at least 250 million as of November 2016.[22] Grand Theft Auto V shipped the highest number of units within the series' and the company's history, with over 135 million copies, becoming one of the bestselling video games of all time.[23]
At the 10th British Academy Games Awards in March 2014, Rockstar Games was honored with the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award for "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".[24][25] Jennifer Kolbe, who started at the front desk of Take-Two, acts as Rockstar Games' head of publishing and oversees all development studios.[3][26] Simon Ramsey is the company's head of PR and communications.[26]
In May 2019, Rockstar Games announced that they were acquiring Dhruva Interactive from Starbreeze Studios for $7.9 million, with the sale being finalized later that month and the Dhruva team merged into Rockstar India.[27][28]
In September 2019, Rockstar Games announced that they had released their own game launcher, a digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer and communications service.[29] After having taken an extended break following the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 in early 2019, Dan Houser left Rockstar Games on March 11, 2020.[30]
The company acquired the Scottish studio Ruffian Games in October 2020, rebranding the studio as Rockstar Dundee.[31]
In October 2011, Dan Houser told Famitsu that Rockstar Games was intentionally avoiding developing games in the first-person shooter genre, because "it is in our DNA to avoid doing what other companies are doing [...] the goalpoint of Rockstar is to have the players really feel what we're trying to do."[32][33] 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 the GTA series. 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."[34]
The company has been involved with charitable work ranging from supporting Movember and offering appearances in games as a raffle prize, to charity live streams.[35][36]
Main article: List of games by Rockstar Games |
In 1999, Donovan and Sam Houser cooperated with John Davis to establish the Rockstar Loft club night. Davis had co-founded and been the promoter for Body & Soul, a "no-guestlist, no velvet rope party" held weekly at Tribeca'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, DJ François 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.[37]
As it could not afford frequent television advertisements, Rockstar Games resorted to guerrilla marketing teams distributing fly posters and stickers. Tickets for Rockstar Loft were 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 received their entry ticket in the mail.[37] The first Rockstar Loft was held in western Chelsea, Manhattan, on October 30, 1999, with Andi Hanley (a regular of Body & Soul), Bob Sinclar, and Dimitri from Paris as headlining DJs.[37][38] Thereafter, it was held "every few months", with one happening on February 19, 2000.[37][39] Later that year, Rockstar Loft was wound down.[37]
Rockstar Games produced the 2004 sports drama film The Football Factory. Based on the book of the same name by John King, the film revolves around organized football hooliganism in the United Kingdom.[40] The company also produced Sunday Driver, a documentary about the Majestics Lowrider Club in Compton, California, and The Introduction, an animated film that details the events leading up to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Both were bundled with the game's special edition released in 2005.[41]
In May 2021, Rockstar Games launched the record label CircoLoco Records in collaboration with Circoloco, an Ibiza-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 the dance music scene, which had faced hardships because of the lockdowns brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.[42] CircoLoco Records' first release, Monday Dreamin', was released as a series of extended plays starting in June 2021.[37][42]
Rockstar Games operates nine studios and an international publishing subsidiary. Where multiple Rockstar studios headed development efforts for a game, "Rockstar Studios" is named as the developer.
Logo | Name | Location | Founded | Acquired | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rockstar Dundee | Dundee, Scotland | 2008 | 2020 | ||
Rockstar India | Bangalore, India | 2016 | — | ||
Rockstar International | London, England | 2003 | — | The international publishing headquarters for Rockstar Games, located in the same offices as Rockstar London.[43] | |
Rockstar Leeds | Leeds, England | 1997 | 2004 | Created Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories. Also ported L.A. Noire to Microsoft Windows. | |
Rockstar Lincoln | Lincoln, England | 1992 | 2002 | Dedicated quality assurance and localization house for games published by Rockstar Games. | |
Rockstar London | London, England | 2005 | — | Completed the development on Manhunt 2 and Midnight Club: L.A. Remix. Located in the same offices as Rockstar International. | |
Rockstar New England | Andover, Massachusetts, US | 1999 | 2008 | Responsible for Bully: Scholarship Edition. | |
Rockstar North | Edinburgh, Scotland | 1987 | 2002 | Responsible for Manhunt and the Grand Theft Auto series.[44] | |
Rockstar San Diego | Carlsbad, California, US | 1984 | 2002 | Responsible for the Red Dead, Smuggler's Run and Midnight Club series. Also houses RAGE Technology Group, an in-house game engine team that is responsible for the development and maintenance of the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine. | |
Rockstar Toronto | Oakville, Ontario, Canada | Early 1980s | 1999 | Responsible for The Warriors. Also developed Microsoft Windows ports for Grand Theft Auto IV, The Lost and Damned, The Ballad of Gay Tony, and Grand Theft Auto V. |
Logo | Name | Location | Founded | Acquired | Closed | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rockstar Vancouver | Vancouver, Canada | 1998 | 2002 | 2012 | Responsible for Bully. Merged into Rockstar Toronto in July 2012. | |
Rockstar Vienna | Vienna, Austria | 1993 | 2003 | 2006 | Porting house with a focus on Xbox. Closed down in May 2006, during the development of Manhunt 2, which was transferred to Rockstar London. |
Main article: Rockstar Advanced Game Engine |
Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) is a game engine developed by the Rockstar San Diego-internal RAGE Technology Group, created to facilitate game development on all platforms since 2006.[45]
Main article: Rockstar Games Social Club |
Rockstar Games Social Club is an online gaming service created by Rockstar Games for authentication and multiplayer applications within their games.
Rockstar Games released its own games launcher for Microsoft Windows on 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, like Steam, from the launcher.[46]