Rockstar Games

Rockstar Games, Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
PredecessorBMG Interactive
FoundedDecember 1998 (1998-12)
Founders
Headquarters,
US
Key people
  • Sam Houser (president)
  • Jennifer Kolbe (vice president)[1]
Products
Number of employees
>2,000 (2018)
ParentTake-Two Interactive
SubsidiariesSee § Studios
Websiterockstargames.com

Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Founding members of the company were Terry Donovan, Gary Foreman, Dan and Sam Houser, and Jamie King, who worked for Take-Two at the time, and of which the Houser brothers were previously executives at BMG Interactive. Sam Houser heads the studio as president.[2]

Since 1999, several companies acquired by or established under Take-Two have become part of Rockstar Games, such as Rockstar Canada (later renamed Rockstar Toronto) becoming the first one in 1999, and Rockstar Dundee the most recent in 2020. All companies organized under Rockstar Games bear the "Rockstar" name and logo. In this context, Rockstar Games is sometimes also referred to as Rockstar New York, Rockstar NY or Rockstar NYC. Rockstar Games also sports a motion capture studio in Bethpage, New York.[2]

Rockstar Games predominantly publishes games in the action-adventure genre, while racing games also saw success for the company. One of such action-adventure game franchises is Grand Theft Auto, which Rockstar Games took over from BMG Interactive, which published the series' original 1997 entry. The most recent main game in the series, Grand Theft Auto V, has sold over 200 million copies since its release in September 2013, making it the second-best-selling video game of all time.[3] Other popular franchises published by Rockstar Games are Red Dead, Midnight Club, Max Payne, and Manhunt.[4]

  1. ^ McPhillips, Andrew (April 6, 2022). "Rockstar Games Improves Its Gender Pay Gap Issues". Game Rant. Valnet. Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Goldberg, Harold (October 14, 2018). "How the West Was Digitized: The making of Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption 2". Vulture. Archived from the original on October 17, 2018. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
  3. ^ Valentine, Rebekah (May 16, 2024). "Grand Theft Auto 5 Surpasses 200 Million Units Sold". IGN. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
  4. ^ "2020: Grand Theft Auto 5 has now sold 140m copies". Eurogamer. February 9, 2021. Archived from the original on April 2, 2022. Retrieved February 10, 2021.

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