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Wikipedia

Rockstar North

Rockstar North Limited (formerly DMA Design Limited) is a British video game development company and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Edinburgh. The company was founded as DMA Design in Dundee in 1987 by David Jones, soon hiring former classmates Mike Dailly, Russell Kay, and Steve Hammond. During its early years, DMA Design was backed by its publisher Psygnosis, primarily focusing on Amiga, Atari ST and Commodore 64 games. During this time, they created successful shooters such as Menace, and Blood Money, but soon turned to platform games after the release of Lemmings in 1991, which was an international success and led to several sequels and spin-offs. After developing Unirally for Nintendo, DMA Design was set to become one of their main second-party developers, but this partnership ended after Nintendo's disapproval of Body Harvest.

Rockstar North Limited
Headquarters at Barclay House in Edinburgh
Formerly
  • DMA Design Limited (1987–2002)
  • Rockstar Studios Limited (2002)
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded1987; 36 years ago (1987) in Dundee, Scotland
FounderDavid Jones
Headquarters,
Scotland
Key people
Andrew Semple (studio director)
Products
Number of employees
650[1] (2018)
Parent
Websiterockstarnorth.com

In 1997, DMA released Grand Theft Auto, which was a huge success; the game sparked a successful series. The company was soon acquired by Gremlin Interactive. Following the release of Grand Theft Auto 2, Gremlin was acquired by Infogrames. After the Infogrames acquisition, the DMA Design assets were sold to Take-Two Interactive. In 2001, after the release of Grand Theft Auto III, DMA Design was ultimately renamed Rockstar North and became part of the Rockstar Games label. After the shift, the company worked on new titles, including Manhunt, provided support to other Rockstar games such as Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3, and continued the Grand Theft Auto franchise with Grand Theft Auto IV (2008) and Grand Theft Auto V (2013). Both games are considered to be among the best video games made, and Grand Theft Auto V became the second-best-selling game of all time. Leslie Benzies headed the studio since the Take-Two acquisition until his departure in 2016.

History

DMA Design

Background (1984–1986)

 
The original members of the DMA Design team in 2011. From left to right: Russell Kay, Mike Dailly, Steve Hammond, Gary Timmons, David Jones.
 
DMA Design's original headquarters in Dundee (top)[2]

In 1984, David Jones, Russell Kay, Steve Hammond and Mike Dailly often met at the Kingsway Amateur Computer Club (KACC) in Dundee. While Jones used an Amiga 1000, the others used Sinclair Spectrum or Commodore 64. They developed numerous small games while attending the KACC: Jones and Kay developed Moonshadow (eventually renamed Zone Trooper), Daily developed Freek Out, and Jones and Dailly collaborated on The Game With No Name.[3] When later attending the Dundee Institute of Technology, Jones began development on a game tentatively titled CopperCon1, working under the temporary name "Acme Software", alongside Kay, Hammond and Dailly. To publish the game, Jones first approached Hewson Consultants, where Andrew Braybrook played and recommended the game. When Jones was informed that Hewson wanted the game to be the "Amiga version of Zynaps", he realised that sales would be limited, and refused to sign the contract,[4] instead signing a deal with publisher Psygnosis. The game was renamed Draconia, with Tony Smith working on graphics and Jones designing levels.[5]

Early games and Lemmings (1987–1993)

By 1987, Jones wanted to incorporate the company but found that the name "Acme" was already taken by a design company.[5] As he had to choose another, he considered to use "Visual Voyage" and "Alias Smith and Jones", but ultimately decided to go with "DMA Design".[5] The "DMA" was taken from Amiga programming manuals, where it stood for direct memory access, though the "DMA" in the company's name had no meaning.[6][5] DMA Design was formally founded by Jones that same year.[7] Draconia was renamed Menace, and it was published in 1988 for Amiga, and in 1989 for Atari ST, Commodore 64 and MS-DOS.[8] The game sold 20,000 copies,[9] reportedly generating around £20,000,[10] allowing the company to develop more games.[11] This was followed by Blood Money, a side-scrolling shooter which began development in January 1989.[12] The game was in development for five months, and was released for Amiga and Atari ST in May 1989. The game was ported to MS-DOS by Tim Ansell of Creative Assembly in 1989, and to Commodore 64 by Dailly in 1990.[13] The company was also assigned to porting Ballistix to MS-DOS and Commodore 64.[6] Jones began developing the side-scrolling shooter Walker in 1989, following the release of Blood Money.[14]

Also in 1989, Dailly became DMA Design's first employee.[15] In early 1990, Jones scrapped Walker and began development on a new game called Gore!;[16] this was soon scrapped.[13] By the end of the year, Jones hired Ian Dunlop and Niall Glancey to continue working on Walker; Glancey redesigned the game,[17] and it was released for Amiga in 1993.[18] In 1990, Jones hired Tony Colgan to develop Cutiepoo, and assist with Gore! before its cancellation.[13] By the end of the year, Jones was irritated by the lack of progress on Cutiepoo, cancelling the game and firing Colgan as a result.[17] In June 1990, DMA was commissioned by Psygnosis to port Shadow of the Beast to the TurboGrafx-16 and Commodore 64; Dailly developed the former, while Richard Swinfen and Steve Hammond worked on the latter. Psygnosis teamed with Ocean Software to publish Shadow of the Beast for Commodore 64 Games System; Swinfen and Hammond adapted accordingly.[19] Swinfen, who was subcontracted for his work on the game, found it unfair that Jones was getting paid for the game, despite not working on it; the two never worked again.[17] DMA also released Hired Guns for Amiga and MS-DOS in 1993, designed by Hammond and Scott Johnston.[20]

 
Sculpture of lemmings in Seabraes Park, Dundee

DMA's major breakthrough came with 1991's Lemmings, a dynamic puzzle game originally released for Amiga in February 1991. The game ultimately sold over 15 million copies, and received numerous ports to different consoles.[9] The game led to numerous sequels by DMA: Oh No! More Lemmings (1991),[6] Lemmings 2: The Tribes (1993),[21] and All New World of Lemmings (1994),[6] as well as two Christmas Lemmings (1993–94).[22] It also spawned various Lemmings games by other developers, such as 3D Lemmings (1995) and Lemmings Revolution (2000).[21] Revenues from Lemmings allowed the company to expand, adding their own motion capture studio and a division called DMA Music, consisting of the team's in-house musicians.[23]

Nintendo arrangement and acquisitions (1994–2002)

Following Sony's acquisition of Psygnosis in 1993,[24] DMA signed with Nintendo to publish Unirally in 1994.[a] DMA then spent six months studying development for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, but they cancelled all their plans for the console when the success of Unirally led Nintendo to offer to publish an original DMA game for the upcoming Ultra 64 console (later renamed Nintendo 64).[23] In response, DMA created Body Harvest, an action-adventure third-person shooter. Originally intended as a launch game for Nintendo 64 in 1996, Body Harvest received numerous delays following Nintendo's various issues with the content. Nintendo ultimately scrapped the game, which was later published by Midway Games and Gremlin Interactive in September 1998.[6]

Around 1995, DMA Design was developing Kid Kirby, an entry in the Kirby series for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System intended to utilise the Super NES Mouse; the game's slow development and the poor sales of the Super NES Mouse eventually led to the project's cancellation.[25][26][27] DMA Design began developing a new game, Race'n'Chase, in April 1995.[28] The development team consisted of mostly inexperienced members, who struggled with the task until producer and creative director Gary Penn joined the project.[29] Originally scheduled for release in late 1996, the game was ultimately released as Grand Theft Auto in November 1997 for Microsoft Windows, following many development issues.[28] The game was a critical and commercial success, and ultimately spawned a successful series.[6] Following the release of Grand Theft Auto, DMA was bought by British publisher Gremlin Interactive for £4.2 million in 1997.[30] DMA completed Space Station Silicon Valley in 1998, and both Tanktics and Wild Metal Country in 1999,[6] before Gremlin was acquired by French company Infogrames for £24 million[31] (US$40 million).[32]

Games will always be here ... If you do good games, they'll always sell well. What I like is that people are not daft anymore. They really look at games deeply now before they buy them ... There was a time when you could sell anything in this business ... That was more disappointing ... Times are hard now, making people focus more on quality and innovation which is great.

— David Jones, founder of DMA Design, March 1997[33]

Game development at DMA Design generally involved taking risks and being unique. When an idea was pitched within the company, the question "What's different about it?" was asked; the team wished to make unique and innovative games, rather than mimicking the trend.[33] By doing this, they found that they were taking risks in the business, witnessing the market reactions and seeking respect from players. The company also strongly valued the development of the games, as opposed to business and marketing. "It doesn't matter if we were owned by somebody or if we were as we are, we'd still just write games", said Jones.[33]

Jones has expressed his distaste of linear gameplay. "I just love games that are pretty open-ended; you can try things, you can go wherever you want", he said.[33] He claims that this distaste is reflected in the games by DMA Design, including the options available to players in Lemmings and the open world of Grand Theft Auto.[33] DMA Design had a fairly open office space for the developers. "There was this fantastic 'try it out and see' attitude," said developer Gary Timmons.[6] Following his departure from the studio, Kay said that the team members "know each other pretty well and understand each other's strengths and weaknesses".[6]

BMG Interactive, publisher of Grand Theft Auto, were bought by Take-Two Interactive in March 1998 for 1.85 million company shares, around 16% of their common stock, and some staff, including Sam and Dan Houser, were carried across to Rockstar Games, which was formed as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive in December 1998.[34] During the changes in management, DMA Design lost many employees, including Kay, Hammond and Dailly. Several games were also scrapped during this time, including Nintendo 64 ports of Grand Theft Auto and Wild Metal Country, a 64DD port of Unreal (1998), and a game known as Attack!.[6] On 29 September 1999, Take-Two Interactive announced that they had acquired DMA Design from Infogrames for US$11 million. Sam Houser, who became Rockstar Games' executive producer, said that "the ability to align Rockstar with a development house [...] that is clearly approaching video-game development in a new and exciting manner, makes this a perfect match".[35]

Following the acquisition, it was announced that DMA Design would continue developing Grand Theft Auto games, including GTA3D and Grand Theft Auto: Online Crime World;[35] the former was compared to the gameplay of Quake, while the latter was set to have worldwide servers allowing players to compete with others in local cities.[36] The company received various staffing changes following the acquisition: Jones left the company and founded Realtime Worlds,[37] while DMA Design was headed by Leslie Benzies and Andrew Semple, among others.[38] The studio had about 25 employees at the time of the changeover.[39] Under new management from Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive, DMA Design developed Grand Theft Auto III, which was released for PlayStation 2 in October 2001.[34] In March 2002, DMA Design became Rockstar Studios, being integrated into Rockstar Games,[38] and renamed to Rockstar North in May 2002.[40]

Rockstar North

Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt (2002–2007)

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was released in October 2002 for PlayStation 2 after nine months of development. The game retained the engine and core gameplay of GTA III while adding a number of refinements and a roster of top Hollywood voice talent. In 2003, the company released a PC port of Vice City, as well as a two-pack of both Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City for Microsoft's Xbox console, ported by Rockstar Vienna. The developer's next release, also for PlayStation 2, was Manhunt in November 2003, after the studio refocused post Vice City. The game was released amidst a media frenzy surrounding some of the game's violent content.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas followed for PlayStation 2 in October 2004 and became the highest-selling PlayStation 2 game ever, with 17.33 million copies sold. It went on to sell 27.5 million copies total after ports to Xbox and PC were released in 2005.[41] Following in 2005 and 2006 respectively, Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories were two new instalments for PlayStation Portable, both developed by Rockstar Leeds under supervision from Rockstar North. Both games subsequently received ports to the PlayStation 2. After San Andreas was released, and due to growing staff numbers, the company moved from their Leith offices to a new location at Calton Square. Starting from an original team of around twenty-five, the studio now has over 360 staff.[39]

Grand Theft Auto IV and V, and Benzies' departure (2008–present)

 
Until 2014, Rockstar North leased part of this office block on Greenside Row in Edinburgh.

Grand Theft Auto IV was released on 29 April 2008, after around four years of development, for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, marking the debut of the developer's wildly popular Grand Theft Auto franchise on the seventh-generation of video game consoles. GTA IV was another huge financial and critical success, breaking sales records amongst all types of entertainment media.[42] Rockstar North continued work on GTA IV in the form of two pieces of downloadable episodic content. The first of these, The Lost and Damned, was released on 17 February 2009, with the second, The Ballad of Gay Tony, released on 29 October 2009. Rockstar Games later released a disc-based version of both episodes, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City, for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

On 2 June 2009, at Sony's E3 conference, it was announced that Agent was being developed by Rockstar North for PlayStation 3.[43] This was later confirmed in an interview with Ben Feder, President of Take-Two Interactive.[44] It was announced that the game would be set in the world of the late 1970s. According to Rockstar North, it would "take players on a paranoid journey into the world of counter-intelligence, espionage, and political assassinations".[45] The "Agent" trademark was abandoned in November 2018,[46] and the game's website was deactivated by October 2021.[47]

On 17 September 2013, the studio released Grand Theft Auto V on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, which became one of the most critically acclaimed games ever.[48] The game was a return to the fictional city of Los Santos, last seen in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The game also introduced multiple playable characters for the first time in the series, allowing players to switch between Franklin, Michael and Trevor. It quickly became the studio's most commercially successful release, as well as one of the highest-grossing video games of all time, surpassing the total gross of Grand Theft Auto IV within its first week and breaking the one-day gross record for video games.

At the end of the year, Rockstar North agreed to take over rental of the 75,000 square feet (7,000 m2) Barclay House on Holyrood Road, Edinburgh, which had been opened in 1999 as headquarters of The Scotsman newspaper group. After alteration work, Rockstar North moved into this building in 2014.[49]

Following the release of Grand Theft Auto V, studio president and producer Leslie Benzies went on sabbatical on 1 September 2014, and left the company in January 2016; art directors Aaron Garbut and Rob Nelson took over Benzies' responsibilities at Rockstar North.[50] Nelson later became co-studio head alongside Andrew Semple.[51]

Benzies v. Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.

On 12 April 2016, Benzies sued Rockstar Games' parent company Take-Two Interactive for US$150 million in unpaid royalties, and for being dismissed without warning during his sabbatical, amongst several other accusations towards the president of Rockstar Games. In a document revealed by his attorney, Benzies claimed not only that Rockstar Games had not paid the due royalties but also that he was drawn into a scheme inserted into a so-called "2009 Royalty Plan" where Benzies would earn evenly split profits between the three called "Rockstar North Principals" (Sam Houser, Dan Houser and Benzies), a coalition created for the three by Dan and Sam Houser to try to separate from Take-Two Interactive, using the company's funds to do so. When Benzies was due his split, he never received any money, given the Houser brothers had unknowingly allocated US$93 million in profit-sharing payments to themselves, with another US$523 million in profits still unaccounted for.[52]

In 2014, Benzies was reportedly encouraged to take a sabbatical pause by the Houser brothers, in order to "recharge batteries", given how hard he had worked for the company during all the years it has existed. Benzies also accused the Houser brothers of being unable to work without his presence, by revealing e-mails during the Red Dead Redemption development troubles that showed Houser urgently asking for Benzies' help because he could not manage any big projects without him (in the case of Red Dead Redemption, having trouble finishing the project, whilst Benzies was not even allocated to work on the game), constantly pestering the ex-developer via e-mails asking for help, saying that nothing was the same without him, treating him like an extraordinarily necessary asset for the company, having him working on projects he wasn't even a part of.[53] Sam Houser was also accused of orchestrating and encouraging "a company culture involving strip clubs, personal photography of employees in sexually compromising positions, and other conduct grossly in violation of standard workplace norms."[54] On the evening of 12 April 2016, Take-Two counter-claimed Benzies' lawsuit, saying the accusations were "downright bizarre".[55]

On 29 March 2018, Benzies' litigation against Rockstar and Take-Two suffered a significant setback when the companies succeeded in dismissing 12 out of 18 of his claims, though the court did rule that Benzies "remains entitled to receive certain royalties" as part of his compensation.[56][57][58] Sometime in 2018, Take-Two levied a legal warning against Benzies' new company Royal Circus Games, citing the similarity of its acronym (RCG) to Rockstar Games (RSG) as infringement of intellectual property; due to this, Benzies later renamed his company Build a Rocket Boy Games in October 2018. Take-Two had also decried their employment of Rockstar North staff as a deceptive tactic to create an affiliation between them.[59] On 7 February 2019, Benzies' litigation with Take-Two had officially come to an end.[60] All parties involved in the case successfully executed a confidential settlement, with each agreeing to bear its own costs and expenses, including, without limitation, attorney's fees.[61]

Tax relief practices

TaxWatch UK, a UK-based investigative think tank, reported in July 2019 that Rockstar North had not paid any corporation tax between 2009 and 2018. Meanwhile, the studio received £42 million in tax credits through the UK government's video games tax relief (VGTR) scheme, 19% of the scheme's entire payout since its establishment in 2014.[62] In a statement released in January 2020, Rockstar Games stated that VGTR significantly supported the company's investments in the country. The company did not address the reported non-paying of corporation tax.[63]

Games developed

As DMA Design

Key
Blank cell indicates game was not released on any platform(s) by the specified manufacturers
Cell with games console(s) indicates game was released on platform(s) by the specified manufacturers
Title Release details Platform(s)
Microsoft Nintendo Sega Sony Other
Menace MS-DOS Amiga
Atari ST
Commodore 64
Ballistix[b]
  • Genre: Side-scrolling shooter
  • Publisher: Psygnosis, Psyclapse
  • Release date: 1989[6]
MS-DOS Commodore 64
Blood Money
  • Genre: Side-scrolling shooter
  • Publisher: Psygnosis
  • Release date: 1989[13]
MS-DOS Amiga
Atari ST
Commodore 64
Shadow of the Beast[c]
  • Genre: Side-scrolling platformer
  • Publisher: Psygnosis
  • Release date: 1989[19]
Commodore 64
TurboGrafx-16
Lemmings
  • Genre: Puzzle-platformer
  • Publisher: Psygnosis
  • Release date: 1991[6]
MS-DOS NES
SNES
Master System
Sega Genesis
Game Gear
3DO
Amiga
Amiga CD32
Amstrad CPC
Atari Lynx
Atari ST
CD-i
CDTV
Commodore 64
FM Towns
Classic Mac OS
TurboGrafx-16
ZX Spectrum
Oh No! More Lemmings
  • Genre: Puzzle-platformer
  • Publisher: Psygnosis
  • Release date: 1991[6]
MS-DOS Archimedes
Amiga
Atari ST
Mac OS
SAM Coupé
Walker
  • Genre: Side-scrolling shooter
  • Publisher: Psygnosis
  • Release date: 1993[6]
Amiga
Hired Guns MS-DOS Amiga
Christmas Lemmings 1993[d]
  • Genre: Puzzle-platformer
  • Publisher: Psygnosis
  • Release date: 1993[22]
MS-DOS
OS/2
Amiga
Lemmings 2: The Tribes
  • Genre: Puzzle-platformer
  • Publisher: Psygnosis
  • Release date: 1993[65]
MS-DOS Game Boy
SNES
Sega Genesis Amiga
Atari ST
FM Towns
Archimedes
All New World of Lemmings[e]
  • Genre: Puzzle-platformer
  • Publisher: Psygnosis
  • Release date: 1994[21]
MS-DOS Amiga
Christmas Lemmings 1994[f]
  • Genre: Puzzle-platformer
  • Publisher: Psygnosis
  • Release date: 1994[22]
MS-DOS
OS/2
Amiga, Mac OS
Unirally[a] SNES
Grand Theft Auto MS-DOS
Windows
GBC PlayStation
Body Harvest Nintendo 64
Space Station Silicon Valley GBC
Nintendo 64
PlayStation[g]
Tanktics
  • Genre: Real-time Strategy
  • Publisher: Interplay Entertainment, Gremlin Interactive
  • Release date: 1998[6]
MS-DOS
Windows
Wild Metal Country
  • Genre: Action
  • Publisher: Gremlin Interactive
  • Release date: 1999[6]
Windows Dreamcast[h]
Grand Theft Auto 2 Windows GBC Dreamcast PlayStation
Grand Theft Auto III
  • Genre: Action-adventure
  • Publisher: Rockstar Games
  • Release date: 2001[34]
Microsoft Windows
Xbox[i]
PlayStation 2 iOS
Android

As Rockstar North

Key
Blank cell indicates game was not released on any platform(s) by the specified manufacturers
Cell with games console(s) indicates game was released on platform(s) by the specified manufacturers
Title Release details Platform(s)
Microsoft Nintendo Sony Other
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
  • Genre: Action-adventure
  • Publisher: Rockstar Games
  • Release date: 2002
Microsoft Windows
Xbox[i]
PlayStation 2 iOS
Android
Manhunt Microsoft Windows
Xbox
PlayStation 2
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
  • Genre: Action-adventure
  • Publisher: Rockstar Games
  • Release date: 2004
Microsoft Windows
Xbox
Windows Phone
PlayStation 2 iOS
Android
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
  • Genre: Action-adventure
  • Publisher: Rockstar Games
  • Release date: 2005
PlayStation Portable
PlayStation 2
iOS
Android
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
  • Genre: Action-adventure
  • Publisher: Rockstar Games
  • Release date: 2006
PlayStation Portable
PlayStation 2
Grand Theft Auto IV
  • Genre: Action-adventure
  • Publisher: Rockstar Games
  • Release date: 2008
Xbox 360
Microsoft Windows[j]
PlayStation 3
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned
  • Genre: Action-adventure
  • Publisher: Rockstar Games
  • Release date: 2009
Xbox 360
Microsoft Windows[j]
PlayStation 3
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
  • Genre: Action-adventure
  • Publisher: Rockstar Games
  • Release date: 2009
Nintendo DS PlayStation Portable iOS
Android
Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony
  • Genre: Action-adventure
  • Publisher: Rockstar Games
  • Release date: 2009
Xbox 360
Microsoft Windows[j]
PlayStation 3
Grand Theft Auto V
  • Genre: Action-adventure
  • Publisher: Rockstar Games
  • Release date: 2013
Xbox 360
Xbox One
Microsoft Windows
Xbox Series X/S
PlayStation 3
PlayStation 4
PlayStation 5
Grand Theft Auto Online[k]
  • Genre: Action-adventure
  • Publisher: Rockstar Games
  • Release date: 2013
Xbox 360
Xbox One
Microsoft Windows
Xbox Series X/S
PlayStation 3
PlayStation 4
PlayStation 5

Development support

Key
Blank cell indicates game was not released on any platform(s) by the specified manufacturers
Cell with games console(s) indicates game was released on platform(s) by the specified manufacturers
Title Release details Platform(s)
Microsoft Nintendo Sony Other
Red Dead Redemption[l]
  • Genre: Action-adventure
  • Publisher: Rockstar Games
  • Release date: 2010
Xbox 360 PlayStation 3
Undead Nightmare[l]
  • Genre: Action-adventure
  • Publisher: Rockstar Games
  • Release date: 2010
Xbox 360 PlayStation 3
L.A. Noire[m]
  • Genre: Action-adventure
  • Publisher: Rockstar Games
  • Release date: 2011
Xbox 360
Xbox One
Microsoft Windows
Nintendo Switch PlayStation 3
PlayStation 4
Max Payne 3[n] Xbox 360
Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 3
Red Dead Redemption 2[n]
  • Genre: Action-adventure
  • Publisher: Rockstar Games
  • Release date: 2018
Xbox One
Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 4 Stadia
Red Dead Online[n]
  • Genre: Action-adventure
  • Publisher: Rockstar Games
  • Release date: 2019
Xbox One
Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 4 Stadia

Unreleased

Notes

  1. ^ a b Known as Uniracers in North America.[6]
  2. ^ Ballistix was originally developed by Reflections Interactive for Amiga and Atari ST.[6]
  3. ^ Shadow of the Beast was originally developed by Reflections Interactive for Amiga.[64]
  4. ^ Known as Holiday Lemmings 1993 in North America.[22]
  5. ^ Known as The Lemmings Chronicles in North America.[7]
  6. ^ Known as Holidays Lemmings 1994 in North America.[22]
  7. ^ Space Station Silicon Valley was renamed Evo's Space Adventures on PlayStation.[66]
  8. ^ Wild Metal Country was released as Wild Metal for Dreamcast.[67]
  9. ^ a b Ported to Xbox by Rockstar Vienna.
  10. ^ a b c Ported to Microsoft Windows by Rockstar Toronto.
  11. ^ Not available as a standalone product on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Servers no longer online on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as of 16 December 2021.
  12. ^ a b Primarily developed by Rockstar San Diego.
  13. ^ Primarily developed by Team Bondi.
  14. ^ a b c Developed as part of Rockstar Studios.

References

  1. ^ White, Sam (24 October 2018). "Red Dead Redemption 2: The inside story of the most lifelike video game ever". GQ. Condé Nast. from the original on 12 March 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  2. ^ Kushner, David (1 April 2012). Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto. United States: John Wiley & Sons. p. 23. ISBN 978-0470936375. from the original on 5 September 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  3. ^ Dailly, Mike (2004). "The History of DMA – Chapter 1, part 2". javalemmings.com. from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  4. ^ Dailly, Mike (2004). "The History of DMA – Chapter 1, part 3". javalemmings.com. from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d Dailly, Mike (2004). "The History of DMA – Chapter 1, part 4". javalemmings.com. from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v . NowGamer. Imagine Publishing. 28 June 2010. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  7. ^ a b Wallis, Alistair (21 December 2006). "Playing Catch Up: GTA/Lemmings' Dave Jones". Gamasutra. United Business Media. from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  8. ^ a b Dailly, Mike (2004). "The History of DMA – Chapter 1, part 5". javalemmings.com. from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  9. ^ a b Dailly, Mike (2004). "The History of DMA – Chapter 4, part 1". javalemmings.com. from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  10. ^ "Grand Theft Auto V: Games visionary behind Scotland's biggest cultural export". Daily Record. Reach plc. 17 September 2013. from the original on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  11. ^ Hammond, Steve. "Scottish Games NET 1st Column". dmadesign.net. from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  12. ^ Dailly, Mike (2004). "The History of DMA – Chapter 2, part 1". javalemmings.com. from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  13. ^ a b c d Dailly, Mike (2005). "The History of DMA – Chapter 3, part 2". javalemmings.com. from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  14. ^ Dailly, Mike (2004). "The History of DMA – Chapter 2, part 4". javalemmings.com. from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  15. ^ Stuart, Keith (18 May 2015). "How we made ... Grand Theft Auto". The Guardian. from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  16. ^ Dailly, Mike (2005). "The History of DMA – Chapter 3, part 1". javalemmings.com. from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  17. ^ a b c Dailly, Mike (2005). "The History of DMA – Chapter 3, part 6". javalemmings.com. from the original on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  18. ^ Virtue, Graeme (14 September 2014). "After Lemmings was a hit, DMA Design declared war with Walker". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. from the original on 7 April 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  19. ^ a b Dailly, Mike (2005). "The History of DMA – Chapter 3, part 5". javalemmings.com. from the original on 16 June 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
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External links

  • Official website  

rockstar, north, limited, formerly, design, limited, british, video, game, development, company, studio, rockstar, games, based, edinburgh, company, founded, design, dundee, 1987, david, jones, soon, hiring, former, classmates, mike, dailly, russell, steve, ha. Rockstar North Limited formerly DMA Design Limited is a British video game development company and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Edinburgh The company was founded as DMA Design in Dundee in 1987 by David Jones soon hiring former classmates Mike Dailly Russell Kay and Steve Hammond During its early years DMA Design was backed by its publisher Psygnosis primarily focusing on Amiga Atari ST and Commodore 64 games During this time they created successful shooters such as Menace and Blood Money but soon turned to platform games after the release of Lemmings in 1991 which was an international success and led to several sequels and spin offs After developing Unirally for Nintendo DMA Design was set to become one of their main second party developers but this partnership ended after Nintendo s disapproval of Body Harvest Rockstar North LimitedHeadquarters at Barclay House in EdinburghFormerlyDMA Design Limited 1987 2002 Rockstar Studios Limited 2002 TypeSubsidiaryIndustryVideo gamesFounded1987 36 years ago 1987 in Dundee ScotlandFounderDavid JonesHeadquartersEdinburgh ScotlandKey peopleAndrew Semple studio director ProductsLemmings series 1991 1994 Grand Theft Auto series 1997 2013 Number of employees650 1 2018 ParentGremlin Interactive 1997 1999 Infogrames 1999 Take Two Interactive 1999 2002 Rockstar Games 2002 present Websiterockstarnorth comIn 1997 DMA released Grand Theft Auto which was a huge success the game sparked a successful series The company was soon acquired by Gremlin Interactive Following the release of Grand Theft Auto 2 Gremlin was acquired by Infogrames After the Infogrames acquisition the DMA Design assets were sold to Take Two Interactive In 2001 after the release of Grand Theft Auto III DMA Design was ultimately renamed Rockstar North and became part of the Rockstar Games label After the shift the company worked on new titles including Manhunt provided support to other Rockstar games such as Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3 and continued the Grand Theft Auto franchise with Grand Theft Auto IV 2008 and Grand Theft Auto V 2013 Both games are considered to be among the best video games made and Grand Theft Auto V became the second best selling game of all time Leslie Benzies headed the studio since the Take Two acquisition until his departure in 2016 Contents 1 History 1 1 DMA Design 1 1 1 Background 1984 1986 1 1 2 Early games and Lemmings 1987 1993 1 1 3 Nintendo arrangement and acquisitions 1994 2002 1 2 Rockstar North 1 2 1 Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt 2002 2007 1 2 2 Grand Theft Auto IV and V and Benzies departure 2008 present 1 2 2 1 Benzies v Take Two Interactive Software Inc 2 Tax relief practices 3 Games developed 3 1 As DMA Design 3 2 As Rockstar North 3 2 1 Development support 3 2 2 Unreleased 4 Notes 5 References 6 External linksHistory EditDMA Design Edit Background 1984 1986 Edit The original members of the DMA Design team in 2011 From left to right Russell Kay Mike Dailly Steve Hammond Gary Timmons David Jones DMA Design s original headquarters in Dundee top 2 In 1984 David Jones Russell Kay Steve Hammond and Mike Dailly often met at the Kingsway Amateur Computer Club KACC in Dundee While Jones used an Amiga 1000 the others used Sinclair Spectrum or Commodore 64 They developed numerous small games while attending the KACC Jones and Kay developed Moonshadow eventually renamed Zone Trooper Daily developed Freek Out and Jones and Dailly collaborated on The Game With No Name 3 When later attending the Dundee Institute of Technology Jones began development on a game tentatively titled CopperCon1 working under the temporary name Acme Software alongside Kay Hammond and Dailly To publish the game Jones first approached Hewson Consultants where Andrew Braybrook played and recommended the game When Jones was informed that Hewson wanted the game to be the Amiga version of Zynaps he realised that sales would be limited and refused to sign the contract 4 instead signing a deal with publisher Psygnosis The game was renamed Draconia with Tony Smith working on graphics and Jones designing levels 5 Early games and Lemmings 1987 1993 Edit By 1987 Jones wanted to incorporate the company but found that the name Acme was already taken by a design company 5 As he had to choose another he considered to use Visual Voyage and Alias Smith and Jones but ultimately decided to go with DMA Design 5 The DMA was taken from Amiga programming manuals where it stood for direct memory access though the DMA in the company s name had no meaning 6 5 DMA Design was formally founded by Jones that same year 7 Draconia was renamed Menace and it was published in 1988 for Amiga and in 1989 for Atari ST Commodore 64 and MS DOS 8 The game sold 20 000 copies 9 reportedly generating around 20 000 10 allowing the company to develop more games 11 This was followed by Blood Money a side scrolling shooter which began development in January 1989 12 The game was in development for five months and was released for Amiga and Atari ST in May 1989 The game was ported to MS DOS by Tim Ansell of Creative Assembly in 1989 and to Commodore 64 by Dailly in 1990 13 The company was also assigned to porting Ballistix to MS DOS and Commodore 64 6 Jones began developing the side scrolling shooter Walker in 1989 following the release of Blood Money 14 Also in 1989 Dailly became DMA Design s first employee 15 In early 1990 Jones scrapped Walker and began development on a new game called Gore 16 this was soon scrapped 13 By the end of the year Jones hired Ian Dunlop and Niall Glancey to continue working on Walker Glancey redesigned the game 17 and it was released for Amiga in 1993 18 In 1990 Jones hired Tony Colgan to develop Cutiepoo and assist with Gore before its cancellation 13 By the end of the year Jones was irritated by the lack of progress on Cutiepoo cancelling the game and firing Colgan as a result 17 In June 1990 DMA was commissioned by Psygnosis to port Shadow of the Beast to the TurboGrafx 16 and Commodore 64 Dailly developed the former while Richard Swinfen and Steve Hammond worked on the latter Psygnosis teamed with Ocean Software to publish Shadow of the Beast for Commodore 64 Games System Swinfen and Hammond adapted accordingly 19 Swinfen who was subcontracted for his work on the game found it unfair that Jones was getting paid for the game despite not working on it the two never worked again 17 DMA also released Hired Guns for Amiga and MS DOS in 1993 designed by Hammond and Scott Johnston 20 Sculpture of lemmings in Seabraes Park Dundee DMA s major breakthrough came with 1991 s Lemmings a dynamic puzzle game originally released for Amiga in February 1991 The game ultimately sold over 15 million copies and received numerous ports to different consoles 9 The game led to numerous sequels by DMA Oh No More Lemmings 1991 6 Lemmings 2 The Tribes 1993 21 and All New World of Lemmings 1994 6 as well as two Christmas Lemmings 1993 94 22 It also spawned various Lemmings games by other developers such as 3D Lemmings 1995 and Lemmings Revolution 2000 21 Revenues from Lemmings allowed the company to expand adding their own motion capture studio and a division called DMA Music consisting of the team s in house musicians 23 Nintendo arrangement and acquisitions 1994 2002 Edit Following Sony s acquisition of Psygnosis in 1993 24 DMA signed with Nintendo to publish Unirally in 1994 a DMA then spent six months studying development for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer but they cancelled all their plans for the console when the success of Unirally led Nintendo to offer to publish an original DMA game for the upcoming Ultra 64 console later renamed Nintendo 64 23 In response DMA created Body Harvest an action adventure third person shooter Originally intended as a launch game for Nintendo 64 in 1996 Body Harvest received numerous delays following Nintendo s various issues with the content Nintendo ultimately scrapped the game which was later published by Midway Games and Gremlin Interactive in September 1998 6 Around 1995 DMA Design was developing Kid Kirby an entry in the Kirby series for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System intended to utilise the Super NES Mouse the game s slow development and the poor sales of the Super NES Mouse eventually led to the project s cancellation 25 26 27 DMA Design began developing a new game Race n Chase in April 1995 28 The development team consisted of mostly inexperienced members who struggled with the task until producer and creative director Gary Penn joined the project 29 Originally scheduled for release in late 1996 the game was ultimately released as Grand Theft Auto in November 1997 for Microsoft Windows following many development issues 28 The game was a critical and commercial success and ultimately spawned a successful series 6 Following the release of Grand Theft Auto DMA was bought by British publisher Gremlin Interactive for 4 2 million in 1997 30 DMA completed Space Station Silicon Valley in 1998 and both Tanktics and Wild Metal Country in 1999 6 before Gremlin was acquired by French company Infogrames for 24 million 31 US 40 million 32 Games will always be here If you do good games they ll always sell well What I like is that people are not daft anymore They really look at games deeply now before they buy them There was a time when you could sell anything in this business That was more disappointing Times are hard now making people focus more on quality and innovation which is great David Jones founder of DMA Design March 1997 33 Game development at DMA Design generally involved taking risks and being unique When an idea was pitched within the company the question What s different about it was asked the team wished to make unique and innovative games rather than mimicking the trend 33 By doing this they found that they were taking risks in the business witnessing the market reactions and seeking respect from players The company also strongly valued the development of the games as opposed to business and marketing It doesn t matter if we were owned by somebody or if we were as we are we d still just write games said Jones 33 Jones has expressed his distaste of linear gameplay I just love games that are pretty open ended you can try things you can go wherever you want he said 33 He claims that this distaste is reflected in the games by DMA Design including the options available to players in Lemmings and the open world of Grand Theft Auto 33 DMA Design had a fairly open office space for the developers There was this fantastic try it out and see attitude said developer Gary Timmons 6 Following his departure from the studio Kay said that the team members know each other pretty well and understand each other s strengths and weaknesses 6 BMG Interactive publisher of Grand Theft Auto were bought by Take Two Interactive in March 1998 for 1 85 million company shares around 16 of their common stock and some staff including Sam and Dan Houser were carried across to Rockstar Games which was formed as a subsidiary of Take Two Interactive in December 1998 34 During the changes in management DMA Design lost many employees including Kay Hammond and Dailly Several games were also scrapped during this time including Nintendo 64 ports of Grand Theft Auto and Wild Metal Country a 64DD port of Unreal 1998 and a game known as Attack 6 On 29 September 1999 Take Two Interactive announced that they had acquired DMA Design from Infogrames for US 11 million Sam Houser who became Rockstar Games executive producer said that the ability to align Rockstar with a development house that is clearly approaching video game development in a new and exciting manner makes this a perfect match 35 Following the acquisition it was announced that DMA Design would continue developing Grand Theft Auto games including GTA3D and Grand Theft Auto Online Crime World 35 the former was compared to the gameplay of Quake while the latter was set to have worldwide servers allowing players to compete with others in local cities 36 The company received various staffing changes following the acquisition Jones left the company and founded Realtime Worlds 37 while DMA Design was headed by Leslie Benzies and Andrew Semple among others 38 The studio had about 25 employees at the time of the changeover 39 Under new management from Rockstar Games and Take Two Interactive DMA Design developed Grand Theft Auto III which was released for PlayStation 2 in October 2001 34 In March 2002 DMA Design became Rockstar Studios being integrated into Rockstar Games 38 and renamed to Rockstar North in May 2002 40 Rockstar North Edit Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt 2002 2007 Edit Grand Theft Auto Vice City was released in October 2002 for PlayStation 2 after nine months of development The game retained the engine and core gameplay of GTA III while adding a number of refinements and a roster of top Hollywood voice talent In 2003 the company released a PC port of Vice City as well as a two pack of both Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City for Microsoft s Xbox console ported by Rockstar Vienna The developer s next release also for PlayStation 2 was Manhunt in November 2003 after the studio refocused post Vice City The game was released amidst a media frenzy surrounding some of the game s violent content Grand Theft Auto San Andreas followed for PlayStation 2 in October 2004 and became the highest selling PlayStation 2 game ever with 17 33 million copies sold It went on to sell 27 5 million copies total after ports to Xbox and PC were released in 2005 41 Following in 2005 and 2006 respectively Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories were two new instalments for PlayStation Portable both developed by Rockstar Leeds under supervision from Rockstar North Both games subsequently received ports to the PlayStation 2 After San Andreas was released and due to growing staff numbers the company moved from their Leith offices to a new location at Calton Square Starting from an original team of around twenty five the studio now has over 360 staff 39 Grand Theft Auto IV and V and Benzies departure 2008 present Edit Until 2014 Rockstar North leased part of this office block on Greenside Row in Edinburgh Grand Theft Auto IV was released on 29 April 2008 after around four years of development for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 marking the debut of the developer s wildly popular Grand Theft Auto franchise on the seventh generation of video game consoles GTA IV was another huge financial and critical success breaking sales records amongst all types of entertainment media 42 Rockstar North continued work on GTA IV in the form of two pieces of downloadable episodic content The first of these The Lost and Damned was released on 17 February 2009 with the second The Ballad of Gay Tony released on 29 October 2009 Rockstar Games later released a disc based version of both episodes Grand Theft Auto Episodes from Liberty City for Windows PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 On 2 June 2009 at Sony s E3 conference it was announced that Agent was being developed by Rockstar North for PlayStation 3 43 This was later confirmed in an interview with Ben Feder President of Take Two Interactive 44 It was announced that the game would be set in the world of the late 1970s According to Rockstar North it would take players on a paranoid journey into the world of counter intelligence espionage and political assassinations 45 The Agent trademark was abandoned in November 2018 46 and the game s website was deactivated by October 2021 47 On 17 September 2013 the studio released Grand Theft Auto V on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 which became one of the most critically acclaimed games ever 48 The game was a return to the fictional city of Los Santos last seen in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas The game also introduced multiple playable characters for the first time in the series allowing players to switch between Franklin Michael and Trevor It quickly became the studio s most commercially successful release as well as one of the highest grossing video games of all time surpassing the total gross of Grand Theft Auto IV within its first week and breaking the one day gross record for video games At the end of the year Rockstar North agreed to take over rental of the 75 000 square feet 7 000 m2 Barclay House on Holyrood Road Edinburgh which had been opened in 1999 as headquarters of The Scotsman newspaper group After alteration work Rockstar North moved into this building in 2014 49 Following the release of Grand Theft Auto V studio president and producer Leslie Benzies went on sabbatical on 1 September 2014 and left the company in January 2016 art directors Aaron Garbut and Rob Nelson took over Benzies responsibilities at Rockstar North 50 Nelson later became co studio head alongside Andrew Semple 51 Benzies v Take Two Interactive Software Inc Edit On 12 April 2016 Benzies sued Rockstar Games parent company Take Two Interactive for US 150 million in unpaid royalties and for being dismissed without warning during his sabbatical amongst several other accusations towards the president of Rockstar Games In a document revealed by his attorney Benzies claimed not only that Rockstar Games had not paid the due royalties but also that he was drawn into a scheme inserted into a so called 2009 Royalty Plan where Benzies would earn evenly split profits between the three called Rockstar North Principals Sam Houser Dan Houser and Benzies a coalition created for the three by Dan and Sam Houser to try to separate from Take Two Interactive using the company s funds to do so When Benzies was due his split he never received any money given the Houser brothers had unknowingly allocated US 93 million in profit sharing payments to themselves with another US 523 million in profits still unaccounted for 52 In 2014 Benzies was reportedly encouraged to take a sabbatical pause by the Houser brothers in order to recharge batteries given how hard he had worked for the company during all the years it has existed Benzies also accused the Houser brothers of being unable to work without his presence by revealing e mails during the Red Dead Redemption development troubles that showed Houser urgently asking for Benzies help because he could not manage any big projects without him in the case of Red Dead Redemption having trouble finishing the project whilst Benzies was not even allocated to work on the game constantly pestering the ex developer via e mails asking for help saying that nothing was the same without him treating him like an extraordinarily necessary asset for the company having him working on projects he wasn t even a part of 53 Sam Houser was also accused of orchestrating and encouraging a company culture involving strip clubs personal photography of employees in sexually compromising positions and other conduct grossly in violation of standard workplace norms 54 On the evening of 12 April 2016 Take Two counter claimed Benzies lawsuit saying the accusations were downright bizarre 55 On 29 March 2018 Benzies litigation against Rockstar and Take Two suffered a significant setback when the companies succeeded in dismissing 12 out of 18 of his claims though the court did rule that Benzies remains entitled to receive certain royalties as part of his compensation 56 57 58 Sometime in 2018 Take Two levied a legal warning against Benzies new company Royal Circus Games citing the similarity of its acronym RCG to Rockstar Games RSG as infringement of intellectual property due to this Benzies later renamed his company Build a Rocket Boy Games in October 2018 Take Two had also decried their employment of Rockstar North staff as a deceptive tactic to create an affiliation between them 59 On 7 February 2019 Benzies litigation with Take Two had officially come to an end 60 All parties involved in the case successfully executed a confidential settlement with each agreeing to bear its own costs and expenses including without limitation attorney s fees 61 Tax relief practices EditTaxWatch UK a UK based investigative think tank reported in July 2019 that Rockstar North had not paid any corporation tax between 2009 and 2018 Meanwhile the studio received 42 million in tax credits through the UK government s video games tax relief VGTR scheme 19 of the scheme s entire payout since its establishment in 2014 62 In a statement released in January 2020 Rockstar Games stated that VGTR significantly supported the company s investments in the country The company did not address the reported non paying of corporation tax 63 Games developed EditAs DMA Design Edit Key Blank cell indicates game was not released on any platform s by the specified manufacturersCell with games console s indicates game was released on platform s by the specified manufacturersTitle Release details Platform s Microsoft Nintendo Sega Sony OtherMenace Genre Side scrolling shooter Publisher Psygnosis Release date 1988 8 MS DOS AmigaAtari STCommodore 64Ballistix b Genre Side scrolling shooter Publisher Psygnosis Psyclapse Release date 1989 6 MS DOS Commodore 64Blood Money Genre Side scrolling shooter Publisher Psygnosis Release date 1989 13 MS DOS AmigaAtari STCommodore 64Shadow of the Beast c Genre Side scrolling platformer Publisher Psygnosis Release date 1989 19 Commodore 64TurboGrafx 16Lemmings Genre Puzzle platformer Publisher Psygnosis Release date 1991 6 MS DOS NES SNES Master SystemSega GenesisGame Gear 3DOAmigaAmiga CD32Amstrad CPCAtari LynxAtari STCD iCDTVCommodore 64FM TownsClassic Mac OSTurboGrafx 16ZX SpectrumOh No More Lemmings Genre Puzzle platformer Publisher Psygnosis Release date 1991 6 MS DOS ArchimedesAmigaAtari STMac OSSAM CoupeWalker Genre Side scrolling shooter Publisher Psygnosis Release date 1993 6 AmigaHired Guns Genre Role playing Publisher Psygnosis Release date 1993 20 MS DOS AmigaChristmas Lemmings 1993 d Genre Puzzle platformer Publisher Psygnosis Release date 1993 22 MS DOSOS 2 AmigaLemmings 2 The Tribes Genre Puzzle platformer Publisher Psygnosis Release date 1993 65 MS DOS Game BoySNES Sega Genesis AmigaAtari STFM TownsArchimedesAll New World of Lemmings e Genre Puzzle platformer Publisher Psygnosis Release date 1994 21 MS DOS AmigaChristmas Lemmings 1994 f Genre Puzzle platformer Publisher Psygnosis Release date 1994 22 MS DOSOS 2 Amiga Mac OSUnirally a Genre Racing Publisher Nintendo Release date 1994 6 SNESGrand Theft Auto Genre Action adventure Publisher BMG Interactive Take Two Interactive Release date 1997 6 MS DOSWindows GBC PlayStationBody Harvest Genre Action adventure Publisher Gremlin Interactive Release date 1998 6 Nintendo 64Space Station Silicon Valley Genre Action adventure Publisher Take Two Interactive Release date 1998 6 GBCNintendo 64 PlayStation g Tanktics Genre Real time Strategy Publisher Interplay Entertainment Gremlin Interactive Release date 1998 6 MS DOSWindowsWild Metal Country Genre Action Publisher Gremlin Interactive Release date 1999 6 Windows Dreamcast h Grand Theft Auto 2 Genre Action adventure Publisher Rockstar Games Release date 1999 34 Windows GBC Dreamcast PlayStationGrand Theft Auto III Genre Action adventure Publisher Rockstar Games Release date 2001 34 Microsoft Windows Xbox i PlayStation 2 iOSAndroidAs Rockstar North Edit Key Blank cell indicates game was not released on any platform s by the specified manufacturersCell with games console s indicates game was released on platform s by the specified manufacturersTitle Release details Platform s Microsoft Nintendo Sony OtherGrand Theft Auto Vice City Genre Action adventure Publisher Rockstar Games Release date 2002 Microsoft WindowsXbox i PlayStation 2 iOSAndroidManhunt Genre Stealth survival horror Publisher Rockstar Games Release date 2003 Microsoft WindowsXbox PlayStation 2Grand Theft Auto San Andreas Genre Action adventure Publisher Rockstar Games Release date 2004 Microsoft WindowsXboxWindows Phone PlayStation 2 iOSAndroidGrand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories Genre Action adventure Publisher Rockstar Games Release date 2005 PlayStation PortablePlayStation 2 iOSAndroidGrand Theft Auto Vice City Stories Genre Action adventure Publisher Rockstar Games Release date 2006 PlayStation PortablePlayStation 2Grand Theft Auto IV Genre Action adventure Publisher Rockstar Games Release date 2008 Xbox 360Microsoft Windows j PlayStation 3Grand Theft Auto IV The Lost and Damned Genre Action adventure Publisher Rockstar Games Release date 2009 Xbox 360Microsoft Windows j PlayStation 3Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars Genre Action adventure Publisher Rockstar Games Release date 2009 Nintendo DS PlayStation Portable iOSAndroidGrand Theft Auto The Ballad of Gay Tony Genre Action adventure Publisher Rockstar Games Release date 2009 Xbox 360Microsoft Windows j PlayStation 3Grand Theft Auto V Genre Action adventure Publisher Rockstar Games Release date 2013 Xbox 360Xbox OneMicrosoft WindowsXbox Series X S PlayStation 3PlayStation 4PlayStation 5Grand Theft Auto Online k Genre Action adventure Publisher Rockstar Games Release date 2013 Xbox 360Xbox OneMicrosoft WindowsXbox Series X S PlayStation 3PlayStation 4PlayStation 5Development support Edit Key Blank cell indicates game was not released on any platform s by the specified manufacturersCell with games console s indicates game was released on platform s by the specified manufacturersTitle Release details Platform s Microsoft Nintendo Sony OtherRed Dead Redemption l Genre Action adventure Publisher Rockstar Games Release date 2010 Xbox 360 PlayStation 3Undead Nightmare l Genre Action adventure Publisher Rockstar Games Release date 2010 Xbox 360 PlayStation 3L A Noire m Genre Action adventure Publisher Rockstar Games Release date 2011 Xbox 360Xbox OneMicrosoft Windows Nintendo Switch PlayStation 3PlayStation 4Max Payne 3 n Genre Third person shooter Publisher Rockstar Games Release date 2012 Xbox 360Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3Red Dead Redemption 2 n Genre Action adventure Publisher Rockstar Games Release date 2018 Xbox OneMicrosoft Windows PlayStation 4 StadiaRed Dead Online n Genre Action adventure Publisher Rockstar Games Release date 2019 Xbox OneMicrosoft Windows PlayStation 4 StadiaUnreleased Edit Agent announced 2009 47 Notes Edit a b Known as Uniracers in North America 6 Ballistix was originally developed by Reflections Interactive for Amiga and Atari ST 6 Shadow of the Beast was originally developed by Reflections Interactive for Amiga 64 Known as Holiday Lemmings 1993 in North America 22 Known as The Lemmings Chronicles in North America 7 Known as Holidays Lemmings 1994 in North America 22 Space Station Silicon Valley was renamed Evo s Space Adventures on PlayStation 66 Wild Metal Country was released as Wild Metal for Dreamcast 67 a b Ported to Xbox by Rockstar Vienna a b c Ported to Microsoft Windows by Rockstar Toronto Not available as a standalone product on Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 Xbox 360 and Xbox One Servers no longer online on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as of 16 December 2021 a b Primarily developed by Rockstar San Diego Primarily developed by Team Bondi a b c Developed as part of Rockstar Studios References Edit White Sam 24 October 2018 Red Dead Redemption 2 The inside story of the most lifelike video game ever GQ Conde Nast Archived from the original on 12 March 2019 Retrieved 10 May 2019 Kushner David 1 April 2012 Jacked The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto United States John Wiley amp Sons p 23 ISBN 978 0470936375 Archived from the original on 5 September 2022 Retrieved 1 March 2021 Dailly Mike 2004 The History of DMA Chapter 1 part 2 javalemmings com Archived from the original on 4 March 2016 Retrieved 3 October 2015 Dailly Mike 2004 The History of DMA Chapter 1 part 3 javalemmings com Archived from the original on 4 March 2016 Retrieved 3 October 2015 a b c d Dailly Mike 2004 The History of DMA Chapter 1 part 4 javalemmings com Archived from the original on 4 March 2016 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