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 an 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. These studios all use the "Rockstar" name and logo. For example, Rockstar Canada (now Rockstar Toronto) joined in 1999. Rockstar Dundee is one of the newest studios to join, in 2020. Rockstar Games also has a special studio in Bethpage, New York, for motion capture. This is where they record actors' movements to make game characters move realistically.
Rockstar Games is famous for making 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 called BMG Interactive. The first Grand Theft Auto game came out in 1997. The newest main game in the series, Grand Theft Auto V, has sold over 190 million copies. This makes it one of the best-selling video games ever. Other popular games from Rockstar Games include Red Dead, Midnight Club, Max Payne, and Manhunt.
Contents
How Rockstar Games Started
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On March 12, 1998, the company Take-Two Interactive announced that it was buying parts of a British video game company called BMG Interactive. This deal gave Take-Two many game ideas, including the Grand Theft Auto series.
Three people from BMG Interactive—Dan Houser, Sam Houser, and Jamie King—along with Gary Foreman and Terry Donovan, moved to New York City to work for Take-Two Interactive. In December 1998, the Houser brothers, Donovan, and King created Rockstar Games. It was meant to be a special part of Take-Two for making high-quality games. The new company was officially announced on January 22, 1999.
By February 2014, Rockstar Games had sold more than 250 million copies of its games. The Grand Theft Auto series alone has sold over 250 million copies by November 2016. Grand Theft Auto V has sold over 170 million copies. This makes it the second best-selling video game of all time in history.
In March 2014, Rockstar Games won a special award called the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award. They received it 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 lead 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 is a program that lets players download, buy, and play their games. Dan Houser, one of the founders, left Rockstar Games on March 11, 2020.
The company bought a Scottish studio called Ruffian Games in October 2020. They renamed it Rockstar Dundee. In September 2022, Rockstar had a problem when someone leaked 90 videos from the making of Grand Theft Auto VI. Rockstar said it was a "network intrusion" and that they were very disappointed. However, they did not think it would stop the game's development for long.
In August 2023, Rockstar bought Cfx.re (CitizenFX). This team made popular tools for players to create their own content for Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2.
How Rockstar Games Makes Games
In October 2011, Dan Houser said that Rockstar Games tries not to make games like other companies. He explained that they want players to truly feel what they are trying to create. Houser also said that their games have always been different from other types of games. He believes that if they make games they want to play, then people will buy them.
Rockstar Games has also helped with charity work. They have supported events like Movember and offered chances to appear in their games as prizes for charity raffles. They also do charity live streams.
Games
Other Projects
Films
Rockstar Games has also been involved in making films. Around 2001, they were offered money to make a movie based on the Grand Theft Auto series. However, Sam Houser was not interested. In 2004, Rockstar Games helped make a movie called The Football Factory. This film was about football fans in the UK. The company also made a documentary called Sunday Driver. This film was about a car club in Compton, California. They also made an animated film called The Introduction, which showed what happened before the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Both of these films came with special editions of the game in 2005.
CircoLoco Records
In May 2021, Rockstar Games started a music record label called CircoLoco Records. They did this with Circoloco, a famous dance party from Ibiza. This partnership came from a friendship between Sam Houser and Circoloco's organizer. They wanted to bring new and important music to the dance music world. The first music released by CircoLoco Records was called Monday Dreamin'. It came out in parts starting in June 2021.
Rockstar Games Studios
Rockstar Games has its main office in New York City. But it also has nine other studios around the world. All these studios use the Rockstar Games logo with different colors. As of 2018, more than 2,000 people work for the company in all its offices. The studios often work together. For example, in Max Payne 3, all the studios were called Rockstar Studios. In Red Dead Redemption 2, they were just called Rockstar Games.
| Logo | Name | Location | Founded | Acquired | Notes |
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Rockstar Dundee | Dundee, Scotland | 2008 | 2020 | |
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Rockstar India | Bangalore, India | 2016 | N/A | |
| Rockstar LA | Santa Monica, California, US | Unknown | N/A | ||
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Rockstar Leeds | Leeds, England | 1997 | 2004 | Made Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Liberty City Stories, and Vice City Stories. |
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Rockstar Lincoln | Lincoln, England | 1992 | 2002 | Checks game quality and translates games into different languages. |
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Rockstar London | London, England | 2005 | N/A | Made Manhunt 2 and Midnight Club: L.A. Remix. |
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Rockstar New England | Andover, Massachusetts, US | 1999 | 2008 | Made Bully: Scholarship Edition. |
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Rockstar North | Edinburgh, Scotland | 1987 | 2002 | Made the Grand Theft Auto series and Manhunt. |
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Rockstar San Diego | Carlsbad, California, US | 1984 | 2002 | Made the Red Dead, Smuggler's Run, and Midnight Club series. |
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Rockstar Toronto | Oakville, Ontario, Canada | Early 1980s | 1999 | Made The Warriors and many games for Windows computers. |
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Cfx.re | 2016 | 2023 | Made the FiveM and RedM projects for game modifications. |
Former Studios
| Logo | Name | Location | Founded | Acquired | Closed | Notes |
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Rockstar Vancouver | Vancouver, Canada | 1998 | 2002 | 2012 | Made 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 | Made several games for the Xbox console. It closed in May 2006. |
Rockstar Games Software
RAGE
RAGE stands for Rockstar Advanced Game Engine. It is a special tool made by the Rockstar San Diego studio. This engine helps them create games for computers and consoles. RAGE has been used in many Rockstar Games titles since 2006. These include 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 is an online service for players. It helps with logging in and playing multiplayer games. Most of the Social Club name was removed from Rockstar's website by November 2023.
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 them 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
