Rockstar Games is a video game publisher and developer founded in 1998 by former employees of BMG Interactive after it was acquired by Take-Two Interactive. The company is best known for the hugely popular and critically acclaimed Grand Theft Auto series. Rockstar Games was established to create a "cool" gaming label that treated games as a legitimate form of entertainment like films and music, rather than just as toys. The company applied strategies from the music industry to its marketing and development and focused on making immersive open world games with mature, provocative content for an older audience. This approach has led to major commercial success for Rockstar's flagship Grand Theft Auto franchise which helped establish the emerging genre of "sandbox" games that provide
1. ROCKSTAR GAMES
Why would a games company want to call
themselves Rockstar?
TASK: What words do you associate with
this word? tinyurl.com/rockstarword
2. Rockstar Games
• Games publisher and developer.
• Established in 1998 by five Brits.
• Subsidiary of US game publishers Take
Two.
• Headquarters in New York
• Most famous by the Grand Theft Auto
series.
3. How it was formed
• BMG (Bertelsmann Music Group) created a
games publishing division called BMG
Interactive.
Pandemonium 2 for the
PlayStation (1997)
Three Lions for the
PlayStation (1998)
4. Grand Theft Auto
• Released for the PC in
1997 and PS in 1998
• Developed by DMA
Design
• City based, top down
action game that gave
the player real freedom
• Controversial content
used to sell the game
• Sold 1 million
5. GTA‟s Significance
• Ground breaking
freedom
• Adult content and 18
certificate -
designed for „mature
gamer‟
• Provocative
marketing
• BMG‟s Interactive
most successful
game
6. • 1998 - BMG sell Interactive division to
New York games publishers Take Two
Interactive.
• BMG Interactive employees Sam
Houser, Dan Houser, Jamie King, Terry
Donovan and Gary Foreman pitch the
idea of creating „cool‟ gaming publishing
label.
• Rockstar Games created in 1998.
• Described as Take Two‟s „high-end
video game publishing division‟.
7. The big idea
• “Above all, I wanted to start a label for
the games industry like the labels you
saw in the record industry. At that time,
games were positioned as either toys or
bits of technology. But I was interested
in a hip, happening label, more about
lifestyle, not toys or technology. A valid
form of entertainment. Take-Two said
off you go.” Sam Houser, 2000
8. Sam Houser
• Founding member
and President of
Rockstar
• Born 1972
• Join BMG record
group at 17 • Applied skills
• Worked in A&R and learnt in the
Marketing recording industry
• Join BMG in the games
Interactive industry
• Obsessed with
• Worked on original details
Grand Theft Auto
9. The plan
• Make a games brand that was „cool‟
• Create games that would appeal to
wider audience - people with interest in
films, music and popular culture
• Deliver integrity between design,
product and marketing.
• Apply development and marketing
strategies used in other areas of
entertainment
11. DMA Design
• Established in 1988 in Dundee to make
games for the Amiga
• First success space called Blood Money
• Huge success with Lemmings – sold 20
million units on 21 different formats
• Made Uni-racers for N64, caught
attention of Nintendo.
• Developed Body Harvest for N64
launch.
12. Race N Chase
• Top down, city based cops and robbers
game
• Became Grand Theft Auto and was
published by BMG Interactive
• Gremlin bought DMA, who were then
themselve bought out by Infogrames but
due to BMG link, DMA weren‟t part of
the deal
13. GTA 2 and beyond
• Released GTA: London 1969 in 1999
followed by GTA 2 which sold 2 million
copies.
• Developed and released GTA 3 as DMA
Design
• After the successful release of GTA 3
Rockstar Game bought DMA, renamed them
Rockstar North and moved the studios to
14. Student Case Study
• In pairs, choose a game from the
Rockstar catalogue (not GTAIV) and
begin your own case study.
• Include information on the production,
marketing, distribution and consumption
of this game.
15. Things to include:
• Where it was developed (which Rockstar division),
what were the cultural influences/references? Dates it
was released and on what consoles?
• How it was marketed? Look at the posters, cover art
and trailers and analyse them in the context of
Rockstar‟s reputation for provocative marketing. Is
there a website for the game, what kind of things are
on the website? Is there a relationship between this
and other brands?
• How it was distributed and previewed. Where was it
made available? Online only or in shops? Are there
gameplay previews?
• How it was received by critics and gamers? Look for
games reviews and pick out some key quotes
regarding the games USP. Who is the target
audience and how can you tell? How many units did
it sell and how much money has it made Rockstar?
Work in pairs and construct a Powerpoint to be
