Rockstar Games is no longer untouchable

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This weekend the unthinkable happened: Rockstar Games was hacked and that resulted in the leaking of material from Grand Theft Auto 6. Surprise, anger, frustration; Many emotions surround the fact, but the reality is that the company is no longer untouchable and we will see why later.

Video: WORST TO BEST – Grand Theft Auto

ORIGIN AND RISE

Rockstar’s origins are a bit tangled, so let’s go back to the companies and characters whose paths met in the late 1990s. Let’s start with DMA Design, founded in 1987 in Dundee, Scotland, by David Jones. With games on the Amiga, Spectrum and Commodore64, the studio gained experience until they hit the nail on the head with lemmings in 1991.

Meanwhile, another company called BMG diversified its entertainment offer beyond the music industry and in 1994 created BMG Interactive, a division led by the young Sam Houser who belonged, along with his brother Dan, to a family whose mother had been an actress in British crime-themed cinema, which was one of his main sources of inspiration.

Following the success of Lemmings and the breakup of the relationship with Psygnosis, DMA Design entered into an agreement with Nintendo, which unfortunately resulted in Unicaracers and canceled projects. The frustration and disappointment were there, but the Scottish team had an ace up their sleeve: Race n’ Chasea multiplayer race and crash.

“…nobody wanted to be a policeman, because the fun was playing the role of the criminal. He was born Grand Theft Auto“

The project was aimless until the creative Gary Penn arrived, who thought that Race n’ Chase It would have a future if the conflictive relationship between policemen and robbers was added to the city and the open world of the game. The detail, from his perspective, was that no one wanted to be a police officer, because the fun part was playing the role of the criminal. he was born Grand Theft Auto.

In parallel, Take-Two acquired BMG Interactive and found DMA Design and its new project on the way. In 1997, these companies joined forces and published Grand Theft Autoinstant success selling 1 million copies.

GRAND THEFT AUTO AND THE GREAT STORY OF ROCKSTAR GAMES

Seeing the gold mine that was forming in front of them, Take-Two Interactive decided to put the relationship in shape, acquiring DMA Design and ending the brief era of BMG Interactive to have a chance to found something new. Rockstar Games was born in 1998 at the hands of Sam and Dan Houser, Jamie King, Terry Donovan and Gary Foreman. The Houser brothers saw in video games the possibility of fulfilling their dream of being rock stars.

After the sequel grand theft auto 2 Released in 1999, the newly founded Rockstar Games placed their bets on the next DMA project to be helmed by genius Leslie Benzies: a GTA of a new generation in 3D, whose elements would amuse millions of players and infuriate good consciences. In 2001 he debuted grand theft auto iii, a title that started a trilogy that changed gaming forever. The Scottish studio saw the end of its era and became Rockstar North, where the GTA Vice City Y GTA: San Andreasconsidered as a new frontier in the entertainment industry.

Financial success led them to exponential growth where they acquired and founded studios in different parts of the world, which gave life to proposals such as midnight club, manhunt, bully, Max Payne, L.A. Noire Y Red Dead Redemption, all overflowing with quality, all great. Rockstar became elite among the elite and the community put the company on a pedestal. Regardless of what happened with the other companies and franchises, there was always the peace of mind that they would blow our minds with their proposals.

“Rockstar Games was so big that they decided when it was Christmas”

The image in front of the public represented the unattainable status of a rock star. Everything that happened in the company and its studies was kept with suspicion, the Houser brothers rarely showed their faces, and when they did, they presumed that they would never follow trends and that they would practically make the video games they wanted, like any rebellious spirit . Not to mention presentations at events like E3, because Rockstar Games was so big that they decided when it was Christmas.

GTA V: MORE MONEY, MORE PROBLEMS

After his foray into PS3 and Xbox 360 with award-winning installments of franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption Y Max PayneRockstar was about to define what it really is to be on top with a project again led by Leslie Benzies, something that would shake the industry, but also the company because it would mean a before and after.

September 17, 2013 is a day that many will remember: Grand Theft Auto V saw the light and became an immediate hit. The return to Los Santos starring Michael, Trevor and Franklin transcended the gaming world by generating $800 million in revenue on its first day and $1 billion on its third, earning it the title of “one of the greatest entertainment products in the history”.

By this time, Rockstar already had a place in the Olympus of gaming, but unknown to anyone, there were some grenades ready to explode and that would show that not everything is excess and debauchery for rock stars.

After the release of GTA V, we were told that Leslie Benzies had been invited by the Houser brothers to take a sabbatical, but had actually been shown the exit door. When the creative returned, he realized that his relatives and everything he had left pending was out; his name had been severed from the company. In the industry it was considered a betrayal by the Houser brothers and a rather risky action, since “The Benz” had been the genius and architect of the success of Grand Theft Auto and he was even known as the savior, behind the scenes, of some projects that were a disaster in their development, such as the first Red Dead Redemption.

amid the glory of GTA V and the wise strategy of GTA Online, the rumors and reports about what was happening did not stop appearing and the image that the company was a lifestyle rather than a job was called into question. Testimonials pointed out the quasi-cult that there was for the constant hours of work and the idea that being part of Rockstar deserved to leave everything because it was equivalent to a fulfilled dream, to the extent that there was talk of all kinds of implementations of products, equipment and services of home in offices. Accusations were soon taken up, such as those of one of the founders, Jamie King, who pointed out that there had been crunch since distant 2006, the year in which he left the company after confronting Sam Houser and telling him that he could not continue living day and night inside the company walls, while other reports referenced the frat boy culture pushed by leaders.

The years passed without pressure to release a new game, because GTA V it became a money-printing machine. Attention was then placed on Red Dead Redemption 2, which would ultimately be one of the best games of all time and is considered by some to be the best open world in the industry. The success of this installment was inevitable, however, the shadow of labor exploitation and the fractured relationship between the Houser brothers and their workers reappeared.

Depression, anxiety, exhaustion, job and financial uncertainty were points of agreement in the statements of workers and former employees who spoke to the media and who questioned why a multimillion-dollar company maintained these practices. The image of renegades, outlaws and stars that had founded the foundations of Rockstar was no longer compatible with the times when a new generation of developers was making its way into the industry.

“The image of renegades, outlaws and stars that had founded the foundations of Rockstar was no longer compatible with the times when a new generation of developers was making its way into the industry”

Also, the players expressed their fed up with the lack of news in the franchise GTAnoted the absence of story DLC in GTA V and attacked the content that was offered in GTA Online. Those statements by Dan Houser in 2011 that they did not follow trends, that they avoided what other companies were doing and that their close relationship with the public guided everything, returned like a ghost, but now in the voices of fans asking what had happened to the Rockstar everyone knew.

Surprisingly, in 2019 Dan Houser announced his departure from the company amid a wave of rumors that indicated a definitive break with Take-Two Interactive due to pressure to speed up the development of its games. The question was how would they do it without the pillars that put the company at the top and with a generation of creatives that said no to crunch? As if that were not enough, in 2021 Rockstar took it upon himself to disrespect his own history with the remastering of the trilogy of Grand Theft Auto by entrusting such a mission to an inexperienced team that simply didn’t know what to do with these important pieces of video game history.

For the first time, Rockstar seemed vulnerable to us; It was publicly accepted that all efforts were focused on the new GTA, even if that meant sacrificing projects and franchises. The straw that broke the camel’s back took place a few days ago. September 2022 will be remembered because someone dared to pull Superman’s cape: a hacker intervened Rockstar’s security system to steal unofficial material Grand Theft Auto 6 and release it to the public. The event was rightly condemned by creatives, media and players, but it is surprising that it happened to a company that we considered untouchable.

ROCKSTAR GAMES WILL RESURGE… OR NOT?

The latest reports indicate that Rockstar is going through a period of change and restructuring in order to improve the environment for its workers, which gives perspective for the future. The hacker attack and leaks seem to have had little impact on the present of GTA 6 and it was enough to see what was in that pre Alpha development to raise the hype. In fact, some agree that it looks better than many “finished” games already on the market. Despite everything, the new GTA is expected as the next event in gaming, like that earthquake that can shake the industry… However, the company is the one who will decide whether to continue with its roots of doing what it wants without looking at trends or burying its legacy under thousands of millions of dollars.

Video: SPECIALS – Rockstar only thinks about Grand Theft Auto 6