Rockstar's rise through acclaimed franchises and studio acquisitions
1. Background of rockstar
Rockstar Games is a major video game developer and publisher based in New York City, owned
by Take-Two Interactive following its purchase of UK video game publisher BMG Interactive. The
brand is mostly known for Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, L.A. Noire, The
Warriors, Bully, Manhunt, Midnight Club and Red Deadseries and the use of open world, free roaming
settings in their games. It comprises studios that have been acquired and renamed as well as others that
have been created internally. While many of the studios Take-Two Interactive has acquired have been
merged into the Rockstar brand, several other recent ones have retained their previous identities and
have become part of the company's 2K Games division. The Rockstar Games label was founded in
New York City in 1998, by the English video game producers Sam Houser, Dan Houser, Terry
Donovan, Jamie King and Gary Foreman.
Rockstar is considered to be a global institution-List all of their studios and
when Rockstar acquired them.
Rockstar Japan 2005-present
Previously known as Mobius Entertainment and based in Lower Wortley, Leeds. They
created Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories for the PlayStation
Rockstar Leeds 2004–present Portable, Max Payne for the Game Boy Advance and recently finished
developing Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Warsand the music game Beaterator. The
studio's most recent work is the Microsoft Windows version of L.A. Noire.
Quality assurance and localization studio based in Lincoln, United Kingdom, previously
Rockstar Lincoln 1999–present
known as Tarantula Studios.
Formed in November 2005. Took over development of Manhunt 2 after Rockstar Vienna
Rockstar London 2005–present
closed and recently developed the portable adaptation ofMidnight Club: Los Angeles.
Acquired on April 4, 2008, this studio is based in Andover, Massachusetts and was
Rockstar New
2008–present previously known as Mad Doc Software. They developed the Xbox 360 and PC ports
England
of Bully.[5]
Founded in 1988, Rockstar North is based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was previously
Rockstar North 1999–present known as DMA Design. They are famous for the Grand Theft
Auto and Manhunt franchises, as well as the original Lemmings games.
Previously known as Angel Studios, they developed the RAGE engine, Red Dead
Rockstar San
2003–present Revolver and Red Dead Redemption, the Smuggler's Run series, the first two Midtown
Diego
Madness games and the Midnight Club series.
Take Two's in-house development team, previously known as Rockstar Canada. Their
Rockstar Toronto 1999–present most well-known work is their adaptation of the cult classic film The Warriors and the
PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City.
2. Rockstar Previously known as Barking Dog Studios, they created the PlayStation 2 title Bully and
2002–present
Vancouver are currently developing the third game in the Max Payneseries, Max Payne 3.
Previously known as Neo Software; closed on May 11, 2006. [6] They ported
Rockstar 2003– the Max Payne series to consoles, and created most of Manhunt 2before being
Vienna 2006 closed down.
What other titles are Rockstar famous for?
Games
Grand Theft Auto series (1997–present)
Midnight Club series (2000–present)
Max Payne series (2001–present)
Manhunt series (2003–2007)
Red Dead series (2004–present)
Films
The football factory, drama (2004)
Grand Theft Auto – The Introduction, Drama (2004)
Sunday Driver, Documentary (2005)
Red Dead Redemption: The Man from black water, Drama (2010)
R.A.G.E – Rockstar, advanced, games, engine
What has been their most successful game?
Rockstar Games pioneered the open world genre with the Grand Theft Auto series,
one of the most successful entertainment properties of all time," it continues. "With
more than 114 million copies sold-in worldwide, Grand Theft Auto games have
helped propel video games into the cultural mainstream.
What controversies have surrounded Rockstar in the past?
Since the original Grand Theft Auto was released in 1997, Rockstar Games, a
subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, has been surrounded by controversy. By creating
games like those in the Grand Theft Auto series that openly showcase violence and
sexuality, Rockstar is no stranger to pushing the envelope in terms of game content.
But that same controversy has also driven tremendous success with each new game in
the GTA franchise, success that’s sure to be repeated with the latest instalment, GTA
V even without a concrete release date.
What has made them so successful?
I think the advertising of Rockstar games is very big in the USA which makes the rest
of the world hyped and want to get this big game that is over in America, So then the
other studios across the world will release the game and then that will set of a
franchise all over the world, which will make the brand Rockstar games successful.
3. Discuss the development and importance of R.A.G.E
Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) is a game engine developed by the RAGE
Technology Group at the video game developer Rockstar San Diegowith
contributions by other Rockstar studios. Rockstar developed the engine to facilitate
game development on Microsoft Windows, along with thePlayStation 3, Wii,
and Xbox 360 consoles. RAGE evolved from the Angel Game Engine originally
developed by Angel Studios for use in the sixth generation console era versions of
the Midnight Club series and other Rockstar San Diego games.
Rockstar has integrated a few third party middleware components into RAGE like the
proprietary Euphoriacharacter animation engine and the open source Bullet, physics
engine.
Prior to RAGE, Rockstar mostly used Criterion Games' RenderWare engine to
develop various game titles, including the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Microsoft
Windows installments of the Grand Theft Auto franchise.
Discuss the importance of FRANCHISES to Rockstar.
Franchises are very important towards Rockstar or to any company for that matter.
Franchises are what brings in the most money.
With the hype of the new GTA 5 a franchise formed with the success of the earlier
GTA series. The desire creation is very big for the release of new games, people cue
outside shops and supermarkets to be the first to buy the new game and to say they
were one of the first people to play on the game first. Without all of this anticipation
and hype surrounding the next franchise there wouldn’t be a build up and people
wouldn’t be excited so no one would make the effort to go out and buy something that
no one has buzzed about.
Discuss how Rockstar is an example of vertical integration
In microeconomics and management, the term vertical integration describes a style
of management control. Vertically integrated companies in a supply chainare united
through a common owner. Usually each member of the supply chain produces a
different product or (market-specific) service, and the products combine to satisfy a
common need. It is contrasted with horizontal integration.
4. Vertical integration is one method of avoiding the hold-up problem.
A monopoly produced through vertical integration is called a vertical monopoly,
although it might be more appropriate to speak of this as some form of cartel.
Nineteenth century steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie introduced the concept and use
of vertical integration. This led other businesspeople to use the system to promote
better financial growth and efficiency in their businesses. This is an example of the
Rockstar industry.
Discuss the oligopoly of the games industry and the implications of Rockstar.
Oligopoly is a small number of companies dominating the industries;-
Sony
Microsoft
Nintendo