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Rockstar Games is known for its most popular creation: the GTA series.
Rockstar Games is currently a video game publishing company, with Rockstar North, a subsidiary studio, acting as the main video game developing company in relation to GTA.
The history between the two companies is often intertwined as a result, although Rockstar North precedes Rockstar Games. Naturally, this article focuses more on the companies as opposed to the individual employees who made Rockstar as noteworthy as it is today.
As one might expect, this article will also focus more on the GTA side of things. Although series like Red Dead Redemption and Bully are fascinating in their own right, they are not part of the GTA series.
The origins of Rockstar Games and the GTA franchise
Rockstar Games was officially established as a publishing video game company in December 1998. Technically, it is a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive Software, which is one of the largest video game companies of all time.
Several other companies have been absorbed under the Rockstar banner, often becoming something like Rockstar Dundee, formerly known as Ruffian Games Limited.
The current subsidiaries of Rockstar
There are several companies under the Rockstar umbrella. Here are some of the many companies rebranded as a Rockstar studio:
- Rockstar Dundee (formerly known as Ruffian Games Limited)
- Rockstar India (absorbed Dhruva Interactive in May 2019)
- Rockstar Leeds (formerly known as Möbius Entertainment)
- Rockstar Lincoln (formerly known as Spidersoft Limited and Tarantula Studios)
- Rockstar New England (formerly known as Mad Dog Software, LLC)
- Rockstar North (formerly known as DMA Design)
- Rockstar San Diego (formerly known as Angel Studios, Inc.)
- Rockstar Toronto (formerly known as Imagexcel, Alternative Reality Technologies, and Rockstar Canada)
There are also other companies that weren't rebranded, such as:
- Rockstar International
- Rockstar London
There are two closed companies that were under the Rockstar banner:
- Rockstar Vancouver (formerly known as Barking Dogs Studio Ltd., closed in 2012 and merged with Rockstar Toronto)
- Rockstar Vienna (formerly known as Neo Software Produktions GmbH, closed in 2006 and merged with Rockstar London)
The Origin of GTA
GTA 1 was released in October 1997 by DMA Design (later known as Rockstar North). BMG Interactive was the publisher, which Take-Two Interactive would later absorb. Neither GTA 1 nor its expansion packs would be the critical successes that modern generations would be aware of, but it was successful enough to get a sequel. As a side note, Tarantula Studios worked on the Game Boy port of GTA 1.
GTA 2 was made by the same companies in October 1999. It was still the top-down style that fans of GTA 1 could recognize, yet it still wasn't anywhere near as successful as GTA III.
GTA III was the final GTA title from DMA Design before its rebranding to Rockstar North, while GTA II was the first title where BMG Interactive wasn't the publisher.
GTA III's massive success
It would be an understatement to say how successful GTA III was in propelling the franchise to new heights. Before GTA III, the GTA series was a niche series full of mediocre reviews. By comparison, GTA III's Metacritic rating for the PS2 is 97/100, making it one of the highest-rated games of all time.
GTA III was 3D but otherwise kept some of the classic GTA titles' ideas and improved upon the base formula. Even if fans today find it outdated, GTA III is a critical cornerstone to Rockstar Games' success.
GTA Vice City to GTA V
Rockstar North remained the primary developer for later GTA games. GTA Advance was not developed by a Rockstar studio, but Rockstar Games still published it. Likewise, GTA Liberty City Stories, Vice City Stories, and Chinatown Wars were developed by Rockstar Leeds. Every other title would have Rockstar North as the primary developer, although some other Rockstar studios did provide assistance in some games.
Typically, every major GTA title propelled the series to new heights. For comparison, GTA V, the latest game of the series, made $800 million on its first day and over $1 billion in three days. It's even likely that this record will be shattered by GTA 6, given the insurmountable hype behind that game.
GTA has become a juggernaut within the video game industry. It may not be the highest-grossing franchise in the world like Pokemon, but it's easy to say that Rockstar Games has made one of the most successful video game franchises of all time in the form of GTA.
GTA 6
Seeing as though GTA 6 is still in production, it's difficult to tell what supplemental studios may be assisting Rockstar North and Rockstar Games in creating the next big hit.
It's improbable for either studio not to be involved in the game, as there haven't been any news stories regarding either companies' termination.
Fortunately, fans of the GTA franchise can rest assured knowing that these great video game developers are hard at work on the next big piece of history.
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