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.
Rockstar has a number of franchises; Rockstar Japan, Leeds, Lincoln, London, North, San Diego, Toronto and Vancouver. The Rockstar Games group is in turn owned by another video game publisher; Take Two Interactive, which is based in the US.
Rockstar’s most successful game is the Grand Theft Auto series, with total sales of 124.1 million copies sold.
Rockstar has a number of franchises; Rockstar Japan, Leeds, Lincoln, London, North, San Diego, Toronto and Vancouver. The Rockstar Games group is in turn owned by another video game publisher; Take Two Interactive, which is based in the US.
Rockstar’s most successful game is the Grand Theft Auto series, with total sales of 124.1 million copies sold.
Controversy
‘Hot Coffee’ was the main controversy associated with Rockstar; this involved the developers accidentally including a code that made two characters in a game to have sex. Skeptic’s say that the action was never an accident and that it was done on purpose to cause a controversy giving them free advertising for the game.
Rockstar vertical integration
Rockstar Vienna – 2003-6 - Previously known as Neo software; closed on May 11 2006
Rockstar Vancouver – 2002-present Previously known as Barking Dog Studio
Rockstar Toronto – 1999- present- Tale Two’s in-house development team, previously known as Rockstar Canada
Rockstar San Diego – 2003- present – Previously known as Angel Studios, they developed the RAGE engine
Rockstar North – 1999-present- Founded in 1988, Rockstar North is based in Edinburgh, Scotland and was previously known as DMA Design
Rockstar New England – 2008-present- Acquired on April 2008, this studio is based on Andover, Massachusetts and was previously known as Mad Doc Software
Rockstar London – 2005-present- Formed in November 2005. Took over development of Manhunt 2 after Rockstar Vienna closed.
Rockstar Lincoln – 1999-present – Quality assurance and localization studio based in Lincoln, United Kingdom, previously known as Tarantula Studios.
Rockstar Leeds – 2004-present- Previously known as Mobius Entertainment and based in Lower Wortley Leeds.
Rockstar Japan – 2005-present
All the above is an example of vertical integration; Rockstar took over these companies and made them part of the Rockstar brand. This would speed up production as the companies only had to focus on Rockstar games and would only work for Rockstar.
What has made Rockstar so successful?
Rockstar play on popular game franchise to optimize the amount of money they make from the game. They use the latest technology in their games to make the game more appealing to the audience of their games. Their game concepts are controversial which gain them media attention and it also makes the games more exciting for the audience.
The development of R.A.G.E
Rockstar advanced game engine allows game play to be more realistic and more lifelike. This means car collisions, use of weapons, injuries to a character are a lot more realistic and what would happen in the real world. This makes the game more realistic for the gamer and gameplay to be more interesting.
Franchise
By franchising LA Noire Rockstar have made a lot more money; franchising includes other stories extra to the original game, merchandise etc. This allows a wider revenue stream for the company and extra things for consumer to buy in relation to the game.
Oligopoly
The oligopoly of the game industry is Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony; these companies dominate the industry. This means that companies such as Rockstar have to have an agreement with these companies to release a game. If they don’t then their game wouldn’t get played or created.
