 | Rockstar Japan | 2005-present | |
 | Rockstar Leeds | 2004–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 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. |
 | Rockstar Lincoln | 1999–present | Quality assurance and localization studio based in Lincoln, United Kingdom, previously known as Tarantula Studios. |
 | Rockstar London | 2005–present | Formed in November 2005. Took over development of Manhunt 2 after Rockstar Vienna closed and recently developed the portable adaptation ofMidnight Club: Los Angeles. |
 | Rockstar New England | 2008–present | Acquired on April 4, 2008, this studio is based in Andover, Massachusetts and was previously known as Mad Doc Software. They developed the Xbox 360 and PC ports of Bully.[5] |
 | Rockstar North | 1999–present | Founded in 1988, Rockstar North is based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was previously known as DMA Design. They are famous for the Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt franchises, as well as the original Lemmings games. |
 | Rockstar San Diego | 2003–present | Previously known as Angel Studios, they developed the RAGE engine, Red Dead Revolver and Red Dead Redemption, the Smuggler's Run series, the first two Midtown Madness games and the Midnight Club series. |
 | Rockstar Toronto | 1999–present | Take Two's in-house development team, previously known as Rockstar Canada. Their 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. |
 | Rockstar Vancouver | 2002–present | Previously known as Barking Dog Studios, they created the PlayStation 2 title Bully and are currently developing the third game in the Max Payneseries, Max Payne 3. |
 | Rockstar Vienna | 2003–2006 | Previously known as Neo Software; closed on May 11, 2006.[6] They ported the Max Payne series to consoles, and created most of Manhunt 2before being closed down. |
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 Dead series 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 Games buy alot of the companies out which become apart of the company. The RockStar Games group is in turn owned by another video game publisher, Takes Two Interactive, which is based in the US.
Institution Research
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 they were acquired by Rockstar.
Japan , Leeds, Lincoln, London, New England, North, San Diego, Toronto, Vancouver, Vienna.
What other titles are Rockstar famous for?
Grand Theft Auto, Midnight, Club Manhunt, Red DeadMax, Payne Bully, L.A. Noire, The Warriors.
What has been their most successful game?
Their most successful game to date in GTA: San Andreas with 27.5 million copies sold.
What controversies have surrounded Rockstar in the past?
Hot Coffee Mod, where it showed a character having sex with a onscreen girlfriend. The game was pulled off the shelfs.
What has made them so successful ?
They are Controversy which boys like. They have a successful background of games eg. GTA which progressed into another 12 games.
Discuss the development and importance of R.A.G.E.
Rockstar developed the engine to facilitate game development on Microsoft Windows, along with thePlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360 consoles.
Discuss the importance of franchises to Rockstar.
Is where their base of income is brought from, the profits from these can then be used to create spin-offs from the franchise and or attempt to create a completely new franchises all together.
Discuss how Rockstar is an example of vertical integration.
Rockstar have bought out the companies they work with, this means that they now own all aspects of their company. (See list of studios, above)
Why is vertical integration important for developers?
It is important to developers as they want to maximize profits with minimum fuss. By buying out the studio’s which help in development of game, they can split profits without hassle from the other company as they are now under control of Rockstar.(See list of studios, above)
Discuss the oligopoly of the games industry and the implications for Rockstar.
Rockstar are now a neutral party to the ‘big three’( Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony), they were commonly associated with Sony, however now they will accept offers that will profit them greatly, and example of this is Downloadable content. In 2009, Rockstar accepted an offer from Microsoft to keep ‘The Lost and Damned’ DLC for GTA IV, exclusive for XBOX 360 for a year.
