- Background of Rockstar
Rockstar Games is based in New York, USA. It was founded in 1998 by videogame 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.
Rockstar Japan - Established 2005
Rockstar Leeds - Established 2004
Rockstar Lincoln - Established 1999
Rockstar London - Established 2005
Rockstar New England - Established 2008
Rockstar North - Established 1999
Rockstar San Diego – Established 2003
Rockstar Toronto - Established 1999
Rockstar Vancouver - Established 2002
Rockstar Vienna - Established 2003, Ended 2006
Rockstar Japan - Established 2005
Rockstar Leeds - Established 2004
Rockstar Lincoln - Established 1999
Rockstar London - Established 2005
Rockstar New England - Established 2008
Rockstar North - Established 1999
Rockstar San Diego – Established 2003
Rockstar Toronto - Established 1999
Rockstar Vancouver - Established 2002
Rockstar Vienna - Established 2003, Ended 2006
- What other titles are Rockstar famous for?
Grand Theft Auto
Max Payne
Midnight Club
Manhunt
- What has been their most successful game?
- Grand Theft Auto
- What controversies have surrounded Rockstar in the past?
- Graphic Adult content in games (Grand theft auto: San Andreas, Hot Coffee Mod). The Rockstar game ‘Manhunt’ was a cause for a lot of controversy as there were many cases of younger people imitating the graphic violence depicted within the game.
- What has made them so successful?
- Publicity and controversial topics. They have mostly appealed to a wider male audience as the majority of their games depict some form of violence and graphic adult content ranging form strong language to drug use. The Rockstar game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas had hidden code that was discovered and publicized by the ‘Hot Coffee’ mod which allowed the player to have sex in-game. This was a cause for a lot of controversy which in turn may have been deliberate to boost the sales of the game.
- Discuss the development and importance of R.A.G.E
The Rockstar ‘Advanced Game Engine’ or R.A.G.E allowed Rockstar to create games with more realistic physics and graphics for the arrival of 7th Generation games consoles
- Discuss the importance of franchises to Rockstar.
Franchise allowed rockstar to make more money on top of the income from game sales. This franchise included Merchandise (Clothing, Memorabilia) and you could download in-game music tracks from the Rockstar/ GTA4 website through Amazon.com
- Discuss how Rockstar is an example of vertical integration.
Rockstar is an example of vertical integration by the face that many of their foreign offices were once independent offices that were bought out by rockstar. For example Rockstar North is based in Edinburgh and was once known as DMA Design. These were heavily involved in the production and design of he Rockstar Game ‘Manhunt’.
- Why is vertical integration important for developers?
- Vertical integration is important for games developers as it allows them to expand their business, around the world possibly and it then allows certain specialist offices to do develop specific parts of the game. Whether this means physics or graphics and environments.
- Discuss the oligopoly of the games industry and the implications for Rockstar.
Oligopoly of the games industry means the most common or mainstream companies that control the games industry and gaming platforms. The most common modern gaming platforms and consoles are Microsoft with the XBOX360 and PC, Sony with the PS3 and the Nintendo Wii. Rockstar manage to make a profit from all platforms as they make or have made games that have been released for all of them. The Grand Theft Auto, LA Noire, Manhunt and Midnight Club franchises were made popular by the PlayStation and Xbox Platform and they also released Manhunt 2 for the Nintendo Wii however due to the graphic violence of the game and the user participation in the violent actions it was soon set to be banned throughout the USA and the UK.
