The noticeable fact that four out of eight studios of Rockstar are British based shows the historical strength of the British gaming industry of development and designing starting from the Atari 2600, the Spectrum and the Commodore 64 in the 1980's. Even though most distrobution is within the UK, the ultimate profits go back across to the US to Rockstar's owner Take Two Interactive, based in New York.
Rockstar's most successful game of all time is the notorious Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas with a sales market of 21.5 million copies sold making GTA: San Andreas the 3rd Best Selling game of all time in 2010.
An example of video game controversy that Rockstar had to deal with is in the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City which came under criticism, for implying allegedly racist hate crimes: The game, taking place in "Vice City" (a fictional Miami) in 1986, involves a gang war between Haitians and Cuban refugees, and the player often serves both gangs to plot against one another. Haitian and Cuban anti-defamation groups highly criticized the game for these actions, including using phrases such as "kill the Haitian idiots" (a phrase used in the game, referring to the Haitian gang with which the character is having a shoot-out). After the threat of being sued by the Haitian-American Coalition, Rockstar removed the word "Haitians" from this phrase in the game's subtitles. Franchises are important to Rockstar as it is the base of their income. The money can be used to create spin-offs and DLC of the actual game itself or another completely different one.
Rockstar has made other titles that have made it big in the gaming industry:
*Max Payne 1-3*GTA I-V
*Red Dead Redemption - Undead Nightmare
*Red Dead Redemption
*GTA Episodes from Liberty City
*Midnight Club Los Angeles & Los Angeles Remix 1-3
*Bully
*Beaterator
*Agent
*Manhunt 1 & 2
*Table Tennis
*The Warriors
*Smugglers Run 1-2 & SR Warzone
*Thrasher
*Wild Metal
*Oni
*State of Emergency
*The Italian Job
*Max Payne 1-3*GTA I-V
*Red Dead Redemption - Undead Nightmare
*Red Dead Redemption
*GTA Episodes from Liberty City
*Midnight Club Los Angeles & Los Angeles Remix 1-3
*Bully
*Beaterator
*Agent
*Manhunt 1 & 2
*Table Tennis
*The Warriors
*Smugglers Run 1-2 & SR Warzone
*Thrasher
*Wild Metal
*Oni
*State of Emergency
*The Italian Job
Rockstar’s success comes from their goal of trying to make the players feel included into the game rather than just an outsider that gives theirs games a unique feel to the audience.
Rockstar has an agreement with Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony, so when Rockstar developed the game they had to make sure the game engine was able to develop on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360 consoles. Rockstar was originally associated with only Sony but now they accept offers that will maximize their profits greatly, like DLC (Down-Loadable Content).
The game engine used was R.A.G.E (Rockstar Advanced Game Engine), developed by the RAGE Technology Group at the video game developer Rockstar San Diego with contributions of other studios. L.A. Noire’s engine was Havok. An Irish company created Havok primarily for video games, it allows for real-time collision and dynamics of rigid bodies in 3D. It adds reality to virtual worlds.
Rockstar dominated many smaller companies that they work with, so when development of a game is needed Rockstar are first in line to be seen too. This is Rockstar’s example of Vertical Integration (V.I). This is important to developers as it means is can maximize their profits with minimum hassle. Also they can split the profits without fuss, as the developer owns the smaller companies.
