Rockstar Games is a huge name in the gaming industry, withGrand Theft AutoandRed Dead Redemptionbeing some of the publisher’s most successful series. Other than its smash hit open-world franchises, the company is well known for its one-off titles such asThe WarriorsandBully. Other than being a publisher for the aforementioned hit games, Rockstar Games is home to a large number of in-house development teams, who look after developing their IPs, with each team being responsible for different franchises.
Some gamers might only be aware of Rockstar Games' primary development team who look after their main games, but they have several studios located all over the world. More than half of the developers under the Rockstar name have worked on ports, re-releases, and provided additional developmental support, which means some teams may not be too familiar to some fans. Some of these studios are years old and it has been common practice for Rockstar Games and notably, theirholding company Take-Two Interactive, to acquire studios and re-brand them under the Rockstar banner.
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Rockstar Toronto
Rockstar Toronto is the oldest development studio under the publisher. Before it was acquired, the studio was known by various names throughout its early history, such as Imageexcel and Alternative Reality Technologies, before being christened Rockstar Canada after being bought out by Take-Two Interactive. This team has primarily been used for developing PC ports of already-existing Rockstar games, likeGrand Theft Auto 4and its DLC, as well asGrand Theft Auto 5.Rockstar Toronto also assisted with thedevelopment ofGrand Theft Auto 5.
Perhaps the biggest feather in the cap of this subsidiary is the role of the developer forThe Warriors,based on the film of the same name. The game was a big hit for the company, with some fans clamoring for aremake ofThe Warriorsin the years since its release. There was a planned spiritual successor calledWe Are The Modsthat was to be set in London during the 1960s, featuring the rivalry between mods and rockers, but it was ultimately canceled.
Rockstar San Diego
Rockstar San Diego was formerly known as Angel Studios before its acquisition by Take-Two Interactive in 2002. Before joining Rockstar officially, the dev developed theSmuggler’s Rungames which were published by Rockstar. The San Diego outfit would go on to be on one of the publisher’s biggest assets, developing theMidnightClubgames andMax Payne 3.
This developer will sound familiar to a lot of fans as it is also the creator of theRed Dead Redemptionseries, including theprogenitor to the series,Red Dead Revolver. As the developer of one of Rockstar’s premier franchises, this name will sound more familiar than most of the other studios. It’s important to note that the San Diego division also houses an internal team who work on the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) which is used for most games under the label. Among San Diego’s most notable canceled projects isAgent,which was gestating for years before the trademark was abandoned.
Rockstar Dundee
The Dundee department is formerly known as Ruffian Games, which Xbox gamers may be familiar with as the developer of the open-world gamesCrackdown 2andCrackdown 3.While it was still in league with Microsoft Studios, its also worked on several Kinect games andHalo: The Master Chief Collection.To this day, it’s unknown what projects this developer is working on forRockstar, with their working relationship being revealed in 2019 and an official acquisition a year later in 2020. Regardless of its current activities being unknown, Rockstar Dundee has experience working with open-world titles, and a lot of Rockstar fans are likely eager to see what they can bring to the table.
Rockstar Lincoln
The Lincoln division stands out from the rest of the departments that Rockstar owns as its main function is to provide quality assurance and testing. In a past life, the team was known as Spidersoft Limited and Tarantula Studios. Under this guise, it developed many games likeAustin Powerstitles and pinball games. Lincoln was central to the negative reports ofcrunch culture inRockstar Gameswhich came out in 2018, with employees stating that the Lincoln portion of Rockstar suffered the worst under crunch time due to their QA role.
Rockstar Leeds
This team is based in Leeds, England, and was once known as Mobius Entertainment Limited. In more recent years. the group is credited with creatingGTAspin-offsLiberty City Stories, Vice City Stories, and Chinatown Wars.Perhaps the best-known work by the developer is the originalMax Paynegame, which was published before it was formally brought under the Rockstar wing. The developer has, in more recent years, shifted into supportive development work, including modern smash hits likeGrand Theft Auto 5andRed Dead Redemption 2.
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Rockstar New England
Rockstar New England started life as Mad Doc Software, with its most significant early contributions being support development onStar Trek: Armadaand leading development on its sequel. Just before being welcomed into the Rockstar fold, the team worked on a remaster ofthe hit gameBully, with the group being brought under the publishing banner shortly after. Since the developer’s addition to Rockstar Games, it has been mostly working in a support role, assisting the other Rockstar teams in getting their biggest releases ready for launch.
Rockstar International & London
Rockstar International is the name given to the publishing portion of the Rockstar Games brand, and its headquarters are located in London, England. This isn’t a development division by any means, as it simply handles the publishing duties of the brand. Located in the same building, however, is Rockstar London. Its role is small in the big picture for the company, but it has delivered on important work for some notable releases. Primarily, the team has completed supportive work on major releases, but crucially it co-led the development ofMax Payne 3along with thenow-defunct Rockstar Vancouver. Rockstar London additionally completedManhunt 2, after the original developer, Rockstar Vienna, closed down.
Rockstar North
This is possibly the most well-known studio under the Rockstar banner, or at least the first some fans would recognize. Before being bought out, it was known as DMA Design Limited and developed titles such asMenanceandBlood Money.Most gamers will know it as the main developer of theGrand Theft Autoseries.
Other thanGrand Theft Auto,the studio is known for its work developing theManhuntseries, which saw Rockstar dip into the world of survival horror. TheManhuntgames were very popular despite the controversies surrounding them, and are often included on wish lists of remakes that gamers hope to see someday. The developer has been exclusively working onGrand Theft Autofor years now, and its current role is supporting and creating new content forGrand Theft Auto Online.
Rockstar India
The India division is one of the more curious studios that exist under the Rockstar Games label. Currently employing approximately 500 people, Rockstar India was one of the many teams to help developRockstar’s latest,Red Dead Redemption 2.Before the formation of Rockstar India, the publishing house worked with a group called Technicolor India, which even had a dedicated group for assisting the development of Rockstar properties. In 2019, Rockstar purchased Dhruva Interactive, a Bangalore-based developer, and merged the workforce with Rockstar India. While any current work the developer is doing is not publicly known, there could be a bright future ahead for this subsidiary with the sheer number of employees it has at its disposal.
Though some of Rockstars developers have been shut down, like the Vienna and Vancouver chapters, the company’s lineup of skilled developers continues to expand. It’s not currently known what active projects are underway at Rockstar as nothing has been publicly confirmed, but most fans can guess there are going to be new iterations of the company’sestablished franchises likeGTAorRed Dead Redemption, hopefully with some surprises thrown in too.
