Rockstar Games facts for kids
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Video games |
| Predecessor | BMG Interactive |
| Founded | December 1998 |
| Founders |
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| Headquarters |
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US
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Key people
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| Products |
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Number of employees
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>2,000 (2018) |
| Parent | Take-Two Interactive |
| Subsidiaries | See § Studios |
Rockstar Games, Inc. is a famous American company that makes and publishes video games. It is based in New York City. The company started in December 1998. It is part of a bigger company called Take-Two Interactive.
The people who helped start Rockstar Games were Terry Donovan, Gary Foreman, Dan Houser, Sam Houser, and Jamie King. Sam Houser is currently the president of the company.
Since 1999, many game studios have joined Rockstar Games. They all use the "Rockstar" name and logo. For example, Rockstar Canada became Rockstar Toronto in 1999. Rockstar Australia joined in March 2025. Rockstar Games also has a special studio in Bethpage, New York, for capturing human movements for games.
Rockstar Games is best known for its action-adventure games. They also make popular racing games. One of their most famous game series is Grand Theft Auto. Rockstar Games took over this series from another company. The latest main game in the series, Grand Theft Auto V, has sold over 200 million copies since it came out in September 2013. This makes it one of the best-selling video games ever. Other popular games from Rockstar include Red Dead, Midnight Club, and Max Payne.
Contents
How Rockstar Games Started
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In March 1998, Take-Two Interactive bought parts of a British video game company called BMG Interactive. This deal gave Take-Two the rights to popular games like Grand Theft Auto.
Three people from BMG Interactive—Dan Houser, Sam Houser, and Jamie King—moved to New York City to work for Take-Two. Terry Donovan and Gary Foreman also joined them. In December 1998, the Houser brothers, Donovan, and King officially created Rockstar Games. It was meant to be Take-Two's main label for publishing high-quality games. This new company was announced in January 1999.
In January 2007, Terry Donovan, who was a managing director for Rockstar Games, left the company. Gary Dale took over his role. Gary Dale had worked with the Houser brothers before at BMG Interactive.
By February 2014, Rockstar Games had sold over 250 million copies of its games. The Grand Theft Auto series was the biggest seller. Grand Theft Auto V alone sold over 170 million copies, making it the second best-selling video game of all time.
In March 2014, Rockstar Games received a special award called the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award. They got this award for making amazing game worlds that have kept them leaders in the gaming world for over ten years. Jennifer Kolbe, who started at Take-Two's front desk, now helps manage all of Rockstar Games' development studios.
In May 2019, Rockstar Games bought a company called Dhruva Interactive. The Dhruva team then joined Rockstar India. In September 2019, Rockstar Games launched its own game launcher. This program helps players download, buy, and play their games online.
Dan Houser, one of the co-founders, left Rockstar Games on March 11, 2020. He took a long break after Red Dead Redemption 2 was released.
The company bought a Scottish studio called Ruffian Games in October 2020. They renamed it Rockstar Dundee.
In September 2022, Rockstar experienced a data breach. About 90 videos from the development of Grand Theft Auto VI were leaked. Rockstar said they were very disappointed but did not expect long-term problems for the game's development.
In August 2023, Rockstar bought Cfx.re (CitizenFX). This team created popular modding platforms for Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2. Michael Unsworth, who was in charge of writing, left the company in 2023 after sixteen years. In March 2025, Rockstar announced it would buy Video Games Deluxe, a studio in Sydney, and rename it Rockstar Australia.
What Rockstar Games Believes In
In October 2011, Dan Houser explained that Rockstar Games tries not to make games like everyone else. He said, "It is in our DNA to avoid doing what other companies are doing." He believed that if they made games they wanted to play, people would buy them.
The company also does good things for charity. They have supported events like Movember and offered chances to appear in their games as raffle prizes. They also do charity live streams.
Other Cool Projects
Rockstar Loft Parties
In 1999, Terry Donovan and Sam Houser started a special club night called Rockstar Loft. They worked with John Davis, who was known for organizing fun parties. Donovan and Houser wanted to create a different kind of party. They also wanted to get attention for their new company, Rockstar Games.
Rockstar Loft parties were not too expensive, and they focused on great music. They did not have video games at the parties. Instead, they wanted to highlight the DJs and the music.
Rockstar Games used creative ways to advertise, like putting up posters and stickers. To get tickets for Rockstar Loft, people had to call a phone number and answer seven questions about themselves. If they answered well, they would get a ticket in the mail. The first Rockstar Loft party was held on October 30, 1999, in New York City. It featured famous DJs. These parties happened every few months for a while, but they eventually stopped.
Movies
Around 2001, after Grand Theft Auto III came out, Rockstar Games was offered a lot of money to make a movie based on the Grand Theft Auto series. A producer wanted to make a film directed by Tony Scott and starring the rapper Eminem. However, Sam Houser was not interested in making a movie at that time.
In 2004, Rockstar Games helped produce a sports drama film called The Football Factory. This movie was about organized football fans in the United Kingdom. The company also produced Sunday Driver, a documentary about a car club in California. They also made The Introduction, an animated film that showed what happened before the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Both of these films came with the special edition of the game in 2005.
CircoLoco Records
In May 2021, Rockstar Games started a record label called CircoLoco Records. They worked with Circoloco, a famous dance party from Ibiza. This partnership grew from a friendship between Sam Houser and Circoloco's organizer. They wanted to bring new and important music to the dance music scene, especially after the COVID-19 lockdowns affected many events. CircoLoco Records released its first music, Monday Dreamin', in June 2021.
Rockstar Games Studios
Rockstar Games has many studios around the world, not just in New York City. All of these studios use the Rockstar Games logo with different colors. As of 2018, more than 2,000 people work for the company across all its offices. These studios often work together. For example, they were all credited as Rockstar Studios for the game Max Payne 3, and simply as Rockstar Games for Red Dead Redemption 2.
| Logo | Name | Location | Founded | Acquired | Notes |
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| Rockstar Australia | Sydney, Australia | 2013 | 2025 | This studio developed L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files. | |
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Rockstar Dundee | Dundee, Scotland | 2008 | 2020 | |
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Rockstar India | Bengaluru, India | 2016 | N/A | |
| Rockstar LA | Santa Monica, California, US | Unknown | N/A | ||
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Rockstar Leeds | Leeds, England | 1997 | 2004 | This studio developed Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Liberty City Stories, and Vice City Stories. |
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Rockstar Lincoln | Lincoln, England | 1992 | 2002 | This studio helps with translating games into different languages and checking their quality. |
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Rockstar London | London, England | 2005 | N/A | This studio developed Manhunt 2 and Midnight Club: L.A. Remix. |
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Rockstar New England | Andover, Massachusetts, US | 1999 | 2008 | This studio developed Bully: Scholarship Edition. |
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Rockstar North | Edinburgh, Scotland | 1988 | 2002 | This studio developed the Grand Theft Auto series and Manhunt. |
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Rockstar San Diego | Carlsbad, California, US | 1984 | 2002 | This studio developed the Red Dead, Smuggler's Run, and Midnight Club series. |
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Rockstar Toronto | Oakville, Ontario, Canada | Early 1980s | 1999 | This studio developed The Warriors and helped bring games to Windows computers. |
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Cfx.re | 2016 | 2023 | This team developed the FiveM and RedM projects, which are popular ways to modify Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2. |
Former Studios
| Logo | Name | Location | Founded | Acquired | Closed | Notes |
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Rockstar Vancouver | Vancouver, Canada | 1998 | 2002 | 2012 | This studio developed Bully and helped with Max Payne 3. It joined Rockstar Toronto in July 2012. |
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Rockstar Vienna | Vienna, Austria | 1993 | 2003 | 2006 | This studio helped bring games to the Xbox console. It closed in May 2006. |
Rockstar Games Technology
RAGE Game Engine
RAGE stands for Rockstar Advanced Game Engine. It is a special tool created by the Rockstar San Diego studio. This engine helps make games for computers and consoles since 2006. RAGE is used in most of Rockstar Games' titles. This includes games like Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto IV, Max Payne 3, Grand Theft Auto V, and Red Dead Redemption 2.
Rockstar Games Social Club
Rockstar Games Social Club was an online service for players. It helped with things like logging in and playing multiplayer games. By November 2023, most of the Social Club name was removed from Rockstar's website. On July 15, 2025, many main features of the service were officially stopped. These included seeing activity feeds and player profiles. Now, the website sends users to the main Rockstar Games homepage.
Rockstar Games Launcher
Rockstar Games released its own game launcher for Windows computers on September 17, 2019. This launcher connects to a player's Social Club account. It lets players download and buy games they already own from Rockstar's store. It also lets them start Rockstar games bought from other places, like Steam.
See also
In Spanish: Rockstar Games para niños
