Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993.
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.
Rockstar North is a British video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Edinburgh. The studio is best known for creating the Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto series, including Grand Theft Auto V, the second-best-selling game and most profitable entertainment product of all time.
Red Dead Revolver is a 2004 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar Games. It is the first entry in the Red Dead series, and was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in May 2004. Set in the 1880s, during the American frontier, the single-player story follows bounty hunter Red Harlow's quest for revenge after the murder of his parents. A local multiplayer mode allows up to four players to face off against each other or AI-controlled bots in free-for-all battles.
Rockstar Leeds Limited is a British video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Leeds. Ian J. Bowden, Dave Box, Gordon Hall, and Jason McGann founded the company as Möbius Entertainment in December 1997 after working together at the studio Hookstone. Möbius worked with SCi on two games: Alfred's Adventure, a remake of Alfred Chicken, and the cancelled Titanium Angels. Starting in 2001, the studio created Game Boy Advance games for several publishers, including multiple for The 3DO Company and Max Payne for Rockstar Games.
Rockstar San Diego, Inc. is an American video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Carlsbad, California. The studio is best known for developing the Midnight Club and Red Dead series.
Starbreeze AB is a Swedish video game developer and publisher based in Stockholm. The studios's notable games developed include The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, Payday 2 and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Founded by members of the demogroup Triton, the company was merged with O3 Games in 2001 and the parent group was renamed to Starbreeze in late 2002. The company produced titles including Enclave and Knights of the Temple: Infernal Crusade. In the early 2000s, cancellations of their projects due to conflicts with publishers and a failed acquisition led to a severe financial crisis, resulting in staff lay-offs during the development of Starbreeze's fourth game, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. This game received critical acclaim and helped Starbreeze establish a reputation for producing high-quality games. The company worked on The Darkness, whose sales were considered satisfactory.
Rockstar New England, Inc. is an American video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Andover, Massachusetts. Ian Lane Davis founded the company as Mad Doc Software in November 1999 after working as a technical director for Activision. The studio worked with Activision on Star Trek: Armada before leading the development of its sequel, Star Trek: Armada II. Starting in 2002, Mad Doc was the principal developer of the Empire Earth series, developing two games and two expansions. While the successful Empire Earth II landed the company publishing contracts with Rockstar Games and Bethesda Softworks, Empire Earth III was a critical and commercial failure and led to the end of the series. Mad Doc developed Star Trek: Legacy for Bethesda Softworks and Bully: Scholarship Edition for Rockstar Games. After the latter was released in March 2008, Rockstar Games's parent company, Take-Two Interactive, bought Mad Doc and integrated it with Rockstar Games as Rockstar New England. Under Rockstar Games, the studio worked on a sequel to Bully until its developers were reallocated to projects like Max Payne 3.
Rockstar London Limited is a British video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in London. Mark Washbrook established the company in November 2005 within Rockstar Games' European publishing offices. The studio's first game was Manhunt 2, which it took over from Rockstar Vienna after that studio was shut down in May 2006. Rockstar London later developed Midnight Club: L.A. Remix and co-led the development of Max Payne 3. Washbrook left the company in January 2011.
The Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) is a proprietary game engine of Rockstar Games, developed by the RAGE Technology Group division of Rockstar San Diego, based on the Angel Game Engine. Since its first game, Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis in 2006, released for the Xbox 360 and Wii, the engine has been used by Rockstar Games's internal studios to develop advanced open world games for computers and consoles.
Rockstar Lincoln Limited is a British video game developer based in North Hykeham. It is the quality assurance and localisation studio of Rockstar Games. Steve Marsden and David Cooke founded the company as Spidersoft in May 1992. It initially developed Game Boy and Game Gear ports of various games, including several pinball video games for the publisher 21st Century Entertainment, which acquired the studio in 1995. Following 21st Century Entertainment's shutdown in 1998, Spiderosft was sold to Take-Two Interactive and renamed Tarantula Studios. The studio continued working on Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, including Grand Theft Auto (1999). In 2002, the development arm of Tarantula Studios was shut down and its quality assurance portion integrated with Take-Two's Rockstar Games label as Rockstar Lincoln.
Dhruva Interactive was an Indian video game developer based in Bangalore. Rajesh Rao founded the company in March 1997 out of the multimedia company he had established two years earlier. Starbreeze Studios acquired a majority holding in Dhruva Interactive in 2017, which it sold to Rockstar Games in May 2019. With the latter sale, Dhruva Interactive was merged into Rockstar India, Rockstar Games' studio in Bangalore.
Red Dead is a series of Western-themed action-adventure games published by Rockstar Games. The first entry in the series, Red Dead Revolver, was released on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in May 2004. Originally developed by Capcom, Red Dead Revolver borrowed elements from their 1985 arcade title Gun.Smoke, to which it was intended to be a spiritual successor, but the game was cancelled in 2002. Subsequently, after acquiring the rights, Rockstar purchased Red Dead Revolver and expanded on it.
A team of approximately 1,000 people developed Red Dead Redemption over five years. Rockstar Games published the action-adventure game in May 2010 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. A spiritual successor to the 2004 game Red Dead Revolver, its development was led by Rockstar San Diego's core 180-person team, who collaborated with Rockstar's Leeds, New England, North, and Toronto teams to assist development; Rockstar North, developer of the Grand Theft Auto series, consulted in the creation of the open world. After its announcement in 2009, the game was fervently promoted with press showings, cinematic trailers, and viral marketing strategies. Its release date, though subject to several delays, was widely anticipated. The working hours and managerial style of the studio during development was met with public complaints from staff members.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the Red Dead series and a prequel to the 2010 game Red Dead Redemption. The story is set in a fictionalized representation of the United States in 1899 and follows the exploits of Arthur Morgan, an outlaw and member of the Van der Linde gang, who must deal with the decline of the Wild West while attempting to survive against government forces, rival gangs, and other adversaries. The game is presented through first- and third-person perspectives, and the player may freely roam in its interactive open world. Gameplay elements include shootouts, robberies, hunting, horseback riding, interacting with non-player characters, and maintaining the character's honor rating through moral choices and deeds. A bounty system governs the response of law enforcement and bounty hunters to crimes committed by the player.
Woodrow Wilson Jackson III is an American composer and session musician. He is best known for his work with Rockstar Games, composing scores for its video games Red Dead Redemption, L.A. Noire, Grand Theft Auto V, and Red Dead Redemption 2. Born in Oil City, Pennsylvania, Jackson studied at Virginia State University for one year, taking harmonica lessons before dropping out and playing guitar in a band. He moved to Los Angeles in 1992, and eventually joined the band Friends of Dean Martinez. He later became a session musician, working on the soundtracks of films like Ocean's Twelve (2004) and The Devil Wears Prada (2006). Since 2009, he has owned and operated Electro-Vox Recording Studios, where he has recorded two original albums and much of his composing work. He is an avid collector of vintage instruments.
The 19th Game Developers Choice Awards is an annual awards ceremony by Game Developers Choice Awards held at the Game Developers Conference, for outstanding game developers and video games. It was hosted by Tim Schafer.
A team of approximately 1,600 people developed Red Dead Redemption 2 over several years. Rockstar Games published the action-adventure game in October 2018 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and in November 2019 for Windows and Stadia. Rockstar co-opted all of its studios into one large team to facilitate development. The story is set in 1899 in a fictionalized representation of the Western, Midwestern, and Southern United States and follows outlaw Arthur Morgan, a member of the Van der Linde gang. Arthur must deal with the decline of the Wild West while attempting to survive against government forces, rival gangs, and other adversaries. The story also follows fellow gang member John Marston, the protagonist of Red Dead Redemption (2010).
In the video game industry, crunch is compulsory overtime during the development of a game. Crunch is common in the industry and can lead to work weeks of 65–80 hours for extended periods of time, often uncompensated beyond the normal working hours. It is often used as a way to cut the costs of game development, a labor-intensive endeavour. However, it leads to negative health impacts for game developers and a decrease in the quality of their work, which drives developers out of the industry temporarily or permanently. Critics of crunch note how it has become normalized within the game-development industry, to deleterious effects for all involved. A lack of unionization on the part of game developers has often been suggested as the reason crunch exists. Organizations such as Game Workers Unite aim to fight against crunch by forcing studios to honour game developers' labor rights.
