Rockstar Toronto

Rockstar Toronto
Subsidiary of Rockstar Games
Industry Game development
Founded 1999 (as Rockstar Canada)
2002 (as Rockstar Toronto)
Headquarters Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Products The Warriors
Owner Take-Two Interactive
Parent Rockstar Games
Website http://www.rockstartoronto.com/

Rockstar Toronto (formerly Rockstar Canada) is an in-house game development team for Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive, located in Oakville, Ontario, Canada, just outside of Toronto.

History

Rockstar Canada was renamed Rockstar Toronto in 2002 after Rockstar Games bought Vancouver-based Barking Dog Studios and renamed it Rockstar Vancouver.

While initially focusing on developing brand new titles such as The Warriors, Rockstar Toronto later took the responsibility of porting Rockstar titles to the Wii console and PC. They co-developed the PC version of Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City with Rockstar North, which was released on April 13, 2010.

On July 9, 2012, Rockstar announced that it was expanding.[1] The studio moved to a brand new facility in Oakville and hired 50 new positions.[1] Rockstar Vancouver studio was closed and 35 developers were to be merged with the Toronto team.[2][1][3] It was the second big game developer lured to the Toronto area after Ubisoft Toronto also announced plans to expand.[1]

In the media

Rockstar Games has appeared numerous times in the media ranging from gaming magazines, websites, and television shows. Rockstar Toronto has gained the most media coverage for its development of the game The Warriors, based on the American cult classic 1970s movie of the same name. The Warriors game overall received positive reviews[4] and made about $37 million worldwide.

Collaborations

Rockstar Toronto collaborates with many of its fellow Rockstar studios around the world. Rockstar Toronto has developed games for every major gaming console and has worked with popular companies, such as Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. Rockstar Toronto collaborated with Bungie (game developer famous for its Halo title) to port Oni to the PlayStation 2 in 2001, with Remedy Entertainment on Max Payne to bring it to the PlayStation 2 in 2001, with Rockstar London to bring Manhunt 2 to the Wii in 2007, with Rockstar Vancouver and Rockstar New England to bring Bully: Scholarship Edition to the Wii in 2008 and with Rockstar North to bring Grand Theft Auto IV and later its episodes to the PC in 2008 and 2010. Rockstar Toronto also works daily with other Rockstar studios on various other Rockstar developed titles. Rockstar Toronto recently collaborated with other Rockstar Studios for the recent game Max Payne 3.

Releases

Name Release Date Platform Collaboration
Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969[5] April 30, 1999 PC, PlayStation DMA Design, Tarantula Studios
Oni[6] January 29, 2001 PlayStation 2 Bungie
Max Payne July 23, 2001 PlayStation 2 Remedy Entertainment
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne[7] December 3, 2003 PlayStation 2 Remedy Entertainment, Rockstar Vienna
The Warriors[8] October 17, 2005 PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox Rockstar Leeds
Manhunt 2[9] October 29, 2007 Wii Rockstar London, Rockstar Vienna
Bully: Scholarship Edition March 4, 2008 Wii Rockstar Vancouver, Rockstar New England
Grand Theft Auto IV[10] December 2, 2008 Microsoft Windows Rockstar North
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City April 13, 2010 Microsoft Windows Rockstar North
Max Payne 3 May 15, 2012 PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows Rockstar Vancouver, Rockstar New England, Rockstar London
Grand Theft Auto V[5] September 17, 2013 PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows Rockstar North

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Mudhar, Raju (2012-07-11). "Rockstar, maker of Grand Theft Auto, L.A. Noire and more, moves Vancouver office to the GTA.". The Toronto Star. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
  2. "Rockstar Games Expands Toronto Development Studio". Take-Two Interactive. 2012-07-09. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  3. "The big and the small of Toronto’s gaming industry celebrate milestones". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
  4. "The Warriors for PlayStation 2 Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  5. 1 2 "Job Openings - Rockstar Toronto". Rockstargames.com. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
  6. "Oni - PlayStation 2 - GameSpy". Ps2.gamespy.com. Retrieved 2012-04-25.
  7. "Careers at Rockstar Toronto | Rockstar Games". Rockstartoronto.com. Retrieved 2012-04-25.
  8. "The Warriors - PlayStation 2 - GameSpy". Ps2.gamespy.com. Retrieved 2012-04-25.
  9. "Manhunt 2 - Wii - GameSpy". Wii.gamespy.com. Retrieved 2012-04-25.
  10. "Grand Theft Auto IV - PC - GameSpy". Pc.gamespy.com. Retrieved 2012-04-25.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, March 15, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.