Rockstar refers to two different
companies. The first and main
company is
Rockstar Games which was started as a
joint venture of
Sam Houser,
Terry Donovan,
Dan Houser,
Jamie King, and
Gary Foreman in
1998. Rockstar Games is the
publishing division of the company. The second company is Rockstar Studios or Rockstar North, which is the
programming division of Rockstar.
Rockstar Games was founded in 1998 in Manhattan, New York. Take2 Interactive now owns Rockstar Games.
Rockstar has expanded to two offices. There is the main office in New York, which deals with the public relations and marketing. There is also Rockstar Canada that has produced Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 and Oni for the Playstation 2.
The combined force of Rockstar Games has published a multitude of games as well as porting some games to other systems. Following is a list of published games; known ports are marked with an asterisk
Rockstar Games website is www.rockstargames.com. They also hold the rights to production of Duke Nukem Forever and Midnight Club 2 and Max Payne 2. The rights to these appear to be for original run rather than rights to port these games.
It is important to note that Rockstar Games didn't make any of these games, they only produce these games.
The story of Rockstar Studios starts in 1998 when Dave Jones in Dundee, Scotland established Rockstar Studios. Infogrames originally owns Rockstar Studios. During the time, DMA has developed multiple games including the Grand Theft Auto franchise and Lemmings franchise. A full list of games DMA design created is
In 1998 Take2 Interactive along with BMG published the original Grand Theft Auto provoking controversy for the game. The next year Infogrames decides to sell DMA Designs and ends up selling it to Take2 Interactive. During 1999 Dave Jones left the company and takes a job at Denki. In 2000 the company moves to Edinburgh, Scotland and shortly starts the development of Grand Theft Auto 3.
In 2001 DMA Design and Rockstar Games publishes the controversial Grand Theft Auto III. Finally during 2002 DMA Designs changes its name to Rockstar Studios to become closer with Rockstar Games and tighten the alliance.
Finally the combined team of Rockstar Games and Rockstar Studios has now releases Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
Rockstar Studios website is www.rockstarstudios.com
Rockstar Studios is currently developing Grand Theft Auto 4 as well as porting Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. There are also plans for a game based on Austin Powers to be developed for Playstation 2.
Much of this information was learned from Gamefaqs and Mobygames.