Rockstar Games

Rockstar Games is a developer and publisher.

Rockstar Games Webpage, Facebook

Rockstar Games is a video game developer and publisher for PC, consoles, and mobile devices, operating since 1998 and owned by Take 2 Interactive. The company’s headquarters is located on Broadway in New York, in the same building as Take-Two Interactive’s offices, but its key development studios are based in Edinburgh, (Scotland) as well as in Carlsbad (USA), and Toronto (Canada). The head of Rockstar Games is Sam Houser, one of the company’s co-founders.

• Rockstar Games as a game producer
• Rockstar Games as a game publisher
• Rockstar Games History
• Technology
• Rockstar Games Launcher
• Rockstar Games Social Club
• The film industry and Rockstar Films

Rockstar Games as a game producer

Rockstar Games currently operates ten development studios worldwide, located across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia.

Rockstar Games as a game publisher

In its early years, the company primarily published games developed by external studios. After acquiring DMA Design (and later several other studios), Rockstar Games shifted its focus exclusively to publishing internally developed titles. Over the years, Rockstar’s publishing portfolio has been defined by its flagship action game franchises, including Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead, and Max Payne. Rockstar titles typically debut on Microsoft and Sony consoles, with PC releases following later, often after a delay. For some time, the company has also been bringing its classic titles to popular mobile platforms.

Rockstar Games History

The origins of the company and the birth of Rockstar North

The origins of Rockstar Games trace back to 1994, when BMG Interactive was founded as part of the international media corporation BMG Interactive. Between 1994 and 1998, the company released several successful games, including entries in the GEX and Pandemonium series, as well as the legendary first installment of the Grand Theft Auto series. In 1998, BMG Interactive was sold to the New York-based company Take 2 Interactive, and five of its former employees - Sam Houser, Dan Houser, Terry Donovan, Jamie King, and Gary Foreman - founded Rockstar Games under the new publisher.

In its early years, Rockstar Games focused on publishing games developed by other studios. Among the most notable titles from this period are the first two installments of the Max Payne series, Smuggler's Run, Midnight Club: Street Racing, Oni, Earthworm Jim 3D, State of Emergency, and The Italian Job. In 1999, Rockstar Games acquired the British Tarantula Studios (later renamed Rockstar Lincoln) and opened its first in-house studio, Rockstar Toronto (originally known as Rockstar Canada) Both studios primarily supported developers working with the parent company, although the Toronto team also produced an original title, the 2005 fighting game The Warriors.

Also in 1999, following a change in ownership, Take 2 Interactive acquired the British studio DMA Design, creators of the Grand Theft Auto series, with Rockstar Games publishing the next two installments. In 2002, shortly after the release of Grand Theft Auto III, DMA Design was integrated into Rockstar Games and renamed to Rockstar North. From that point on, Rockstar North became the company’s flagship studio, responsible for the Manhunt series and the main installments of Grand Theft Auto.

Dynamic development of the group and further acquisitions

In 2002, Rockstar Games acquired another external development studio, the Canadian Barking Dog Studios, which was renamed Rockstar Vancouver. In the following years, it became known for creating games such as Bully (2006) and Max Payne 3 (2012). In 2003, following the acquisition of the American Angel Studios, Rockstar San Diego became part of Rockstar Games’ network of development studios. As part of Rockstar Games, the team developed the proprietary RAGE engine, later used in titles such as Table Tennis, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne 3, and the subsequent two main installments of the Grand Theft Auto series. In the same year, Rockstar acquired the Austrian studio Neo Software, which was renamed Rockstar Vienna. Until its closure in 2006, the studio worked on console conversions of Max Payne and Manhunt 2.

The year 2004 brought another key acquisition for Rockstar Games, as the British studio Möbius Entertainment was renamed Rockstar Leeds. In the following years, the studio developed portable versions of Grand Theft Auto spin-offs - including GTA: Liberty City Stories, GTA: Vice City Stories, and GTA: Chinatown Wars - as well as the PC port of the detective action-adventure game L.A. Noire. A year later Rockstar Games, in collaboration with Capcom, established its first Asian branch - Rockstar Japan - tasked with distributing the company’s games across the Asian market. However, the branch was dissolved later that same year. In 2005, Rockstar also established Rockstar London, which initially contributed to Manhunt 2 and later supported the development of several major titles, including Midnight Club: Los Angeles (PSP version), Max Payne 3, and Grand Theft Auto V.

Restructuring and further development

In January 2007, Terry Donovan, one of Rockstar Games' co-founders, left the company and was replaced by Gary Dale, the former managing director of Capcom. In the following years, Rockstar slowed its expansion, and over the next decade, only one new branch was added to the group: Rockstar New England, formed through the acquisition of the American studio Mad Doc Software. Its main task was to port Bully, originally released for the PlayStation 2, to other platforms, including PC and Xbox 360. Rockstar's primary studios concentrated on developing the company's flagship franchises: Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead, and Max Payne.

In 2012, shortly after the release of Max Payne 3, Rockstar decided to merge its Vancouver and Toronto branches. Two years later, Rockstar Games received the prestigious BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in recognition of its lifetime achievements. The American company thus joined the ranks of previously honored gaming industry legends, including Gabe Newell, Peter Molyneux, Will Wright, and Shigeru Miyamoto. In 2016, the Rockstar group expanded with its first new branch in many years - Rockstar India. Previously operating as Technicolor India, the studio had already collaborated with the company on titles such as Red Dead Redemption, L.A. Noire, Max Payne 3, and Grand Theft Auto V. In May 2019, the company announced the acquisition of the Dhruva Interactive team from Starbreeze, which was then merged into the Rockstar India group.

In September 2019, Rockstar presented the Rockstar Games Launcher, and shortly afterward, just over a year after its release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, Red Dead Redemption 2 launched on PC. In March 2020, Dan Houser left the studio. In October, Rockstar Games acquired the Scottish studio Ruffian Games, which was subsequently renamed Rockstar Dundee.

Controversies and challenges

In 2021, the company attempted to revive interest in the first 3D installments of the Grand Theft Auto series with the release of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition. Unfortunately, the compilation, developed in collaboration with Grove Street Games, fell far short of players’ expectations, as reflected by its placement on Metacritic’s list of the year’s worst-rated games. Nevertheless, Take-Two’s CEO later insisted that the trilogy had been a commercial success. In 2022, Grand Theft Auto V launched on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Additionally, in September 2022, Rockstar Games experienced a data leak that resulted in the online release of materials from a new, unannounced Grand Theft Auto installment. A 17-year-old from the United Kingdom was suspected of causing the leak; shortly after the scandal broke, he was arrested and placed in a juvenile detention center. Although the company openly expressed disappointment over how the world first learned about its new project, the leak was not expected to affect its development.

In August 2023, players eagerly awaiting the announcement of a Red Dead Redemption remake were in for a disappointment. Although Rockstar Games announced the game’s grand return, instead of producing a full-fledged remake of John Marston’s adventure, they opted for a straightforward port to PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. The game launched on these platforms on August 17th. Although it wasn’t a full remake, players could still enjoy new features, including support for more languages and graphical upgrades. Despite the controversy, the title was warmly received by industry media, with Metacritic reporting an average score of 83/100 for the Nintendo Switch version. However, the PlayStation 4 release received a more lukewarm response, earning an average score of 72/100.

Additionally, at the end of August 2023, Mike Unsworth, one of the lead screenwriters who had been with the company since 2007, left Rockstar Games. Unsworth’s portfolio included projects such as Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto V, L.A. Noire, Max Payne 3, Red Dead Redemption, and Red Dead Redemption 2.

Record-breaking GTA 6

On December 5th 2023, Rockstar Games officially announced its next project. The game in question is Grand Theft Auto VI, which is coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Although the leak of the first trailer forced the publisher to accelerate its official release, it quickly broke YouTube records, amassing over 100 million views. Additionally, it quickly became the most popular video on the Rockstar Games channel.

The next major news from Rockstar Games didn’t arrive until March 2025. It was then announced that the company had acquired Australian studio Video Games Deluxe, founded by Brendan McNamara and other former Team Bondi employees. The studio had collaborated with Rockstar on the remastered L.A. Noire and L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files, as well as updates to Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition. Under its new ownership, VGD was renamed Rockstar Australia.

Technology

For its own projects, in 2006 Rockstar Games developed its proprietary graphics engine, RAGE (short for Rockstar Advanced Game Engine). The engine was developed by Rockstar San Diego in collaboration with other Rockstar studios and was largely based on the engine created by Angel Studios for the Midtown Madness and Midnight Club series. Over the years, the RAGE engine has been systematically updated and enhanced with external technologies, such as the Euphoria engine for facial animation and the open-source physics engine Bullet. Since 2006, it has been used in most Rockstar Games titles, including Table Tennis and subsequent entries in the Midnight Club, Red Dead, Max Payne, and Grand Theft Auto.

Rockstar Games Launcher

Rockstar Games Launcher is a client from Rockstar Games that was released in September 2019. The application lets users purchase, install, and play games, save progress in the cloud, and automatically update installed titles.

Rockstar Games Social Club

Rockstar Games Social Club is a service created by Rockstar Games for managing digital rights, as well as a platform for multiplayer and player communication. The website’s name references the world of organized crime, where the English term "social club" denotes a meeting place for gangsters or a safe haven. Rockstar Games Social Club was launched on April 17th, 2008, just ahead of the console release of Grand Theft Auto IV, and in subsequent years was integrated into titles such as Midnight Club: Los Angeles, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Beaterator, and Red Dead Redemption. In 2012, ahead of the release of Max Payne 3, the platform underwent a major overhaul, introducing new social features and the ability to create player crews. These groups could pool members’ achievements to unlock exclusive bonuses and features.

The film industry and Rockstar Films

Over the years, Rockstar Games has also ventured into film production, serving as an executive producer on projects such as the drama The Football Factory (2004) and the documentary Sunday Driver (2005). The company also produced two promotional films: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Introduction (2004) and Red Dead Redemption: The Man from Blackwater (2010). In 2011, Rockstar Games registered the Rockstar Films trademark, suggesting potential plans to expand its involvement in the film industry.