P1 - History of Rockstar Games

History of Rockstar Games:

Back in the 1980’s when video games were first released, they were mainly aimed at children through games such as Mario, Pacman, etc., however during the 2000’s the age range grew rapidly in the game types. This sparked the creation of one of the most renown gaming company, Rockstar games. The company was originally created in 1993 when BMG Interactive, a rock star music company, decided they wanted to go after an older audience in the world of gaming. Upon hearing this, brother, Sam and Dan Houser, decided that the music industry wasn’t for them and they now wanted to venture into the unknown world of gaming. They met DMA who had an idea for a new game called ‘Race and Chase’, this involved activities such as Carjacking, running from the Police, etc., the game didn’t have any main goals but was, instead, free form which left players to their own devices to do whatever they wanted. Sam and Dan both liked and enjoyed the game and therefore agreed to publish the game, even though it took an extra 30 months to create than they had expected, due to the new gaming style. ‘Race and Chase’ was later renamed ‘Grand Theft Auto’ and was released into the public, with very positive responses. This was the beginning of Rockstar Games.

The brothers wanted to get many people involved in video games, not just the stereotypical ‘nerds’, Sam and Dan went on to release the second GTA which sold around 2 million copies, followed by GTA 3 which followed the free-form style but this time with an added plot line, this gave the game an overall darker sense of humor, this was also one of the first games to use a licensed soundtrack, from which the game featured fake radio stations with real songs. The game was the most ‘adult’ game of its time and went on to be one of the most ground breaking video games, leading a revolution in the gaming industry which ultimately lead to increase in popularity, as the games were something everyone could enjoy. Even though the sales for GTA 3 kept soaring and went on to be the bestselling game of the year, it was put under scrutiny, by politicians especially, who would single the game out as being responsible for the reasoning behind teen murders at the time.

Previous to the release of GTA 3, the company saw great potential within the new ‘Max Payne’ game, after realising its potential they bought the game outright and began importing it onto consoles, this meant they had two hit games within two months, leading them right to the top of the gaming industry, despite the downfall upon releasing ‘State of Emergency’. Rockstar bought DMA in 2002, as they knew GTA was their strong point, and knew they could trust DMA with the production of the game. They were now willing to use voice actors in the new GTA to ensure they kept pushing the game further, as well as deciding to create ‘Manhunt 1’, one of the most violent games which is focused on murder. With ‘Manhunt’ being extremely violent, it led to some countries banning the game, however this didn’t hinder Rockstar’s progress.

‘Red Dead Revolver’ was released in 2004 which dawned the beginning of a new franchise set in the Wild West, the game originally belonged to Capcom, however they eventually gave up to give Rockstar the opportunity. The first installment of Red Dead wasn’t their biggest hit and did receive some bad reviews but it was fairly popular when taken into consideration what they had to work with to create the game. GTA San Andreas was released in 2004, this was the biggest and most violent GTA to date, including a cast in which Samuel L. Jackson starred. San Andreas included new weapons and vehicles, as well as having the biggest map in any game at that time, the game went on to be a best seller in US and Europe. Sony had paid Rockstar to make GTA a PlayStation only game within the first 9 months of its release, after these 9 months, the game went to PC and Xbox. Upon releasing the game on PC, this allowed mods and patches to be discovered and created, including a sex mini-game, referred to as ‘Hot Coffee’, Rockstar began creating this game but later decided they didn’t want it in the game, instead of removing it they tried to make it unreachable within the coding, however many people still discovered it. The idea of having sex within a game was not good as this meant the game would have to have an adult only rating, this meant no shop would sell San Andres neither would Xbox and Sony resulting in a recall costing Rockstar $25 million, despite this they still continued to include violence within their games, however no sex appeared in any of their games as it was seen as too much, even for Rockstar Games.

Post ‘Hot Coffee’ incident Rockstar needed to get back in the game, therefore they began the creation of another controversial game. This game was their first one that connected to a film, whilst the movie was 26 years old, they still believed it was safe to release it, however it only caused even more uproar, with many complaining that they were trying to ruin the worlds youths. ‘Table Tennis’ was announced in 2006, which led to positive feedback from many surprised people, the game was created to show off their new graphics but went on to a hit sports game. Rockstar then went on to prove they could create family-friendly games, in an attempt to convince people that they were capable of producing a suitable game. The game they released was called ‘Bully, it was based on the idea of ‘getting back’ at bullies, however the most violent the game got was a small fist-fight, despite this the game went on to enter series of controversy and was later sued by Jack Thompson. In 2004, the company announced they were going to create ‘Manhunt 2’, however later shut own the Vienna branch of the company in 2006 without warning. The game was transferred over to London where it was completed for the Summer of 2007. The game was rated as adults only, this meant that no console would allow it on its system, therefore Rockstar had to censor the game so that it eligible for release, however even after this it got middle reviews. Hackers, again, go to the more violent parts of the game, however due to these parts of the game being stated previously, it became a direct download in 2007.

Rockstar took 4 years out of the spotlight and later returned to release the fourth installment to the GTA series. GTA 4 was HD, the most active out of the previous GTA’s, as well as having the most accurate city a video game has ever seen. The game was released on both Xbox and PlayStation at the same time, Xbox paid for exclusive downloadable content before it was released on PC or PlayStation. Despite slight delays the game went on to sell 3.6 million copies by midnight, which made it the fastest selling game, as well as one of the highest ratings, after receiving a perfect review. DLCs were later released which could have been games in their own right due to the detail in characters and plot line, their next release was ‘Red Dead Redemption’ which was also a huge hit, this boasted detail that was shown within GTA but was still very different at the same time.