The appearance of computers and software marked the beginning of IT development in the 20th century. Among the first most popular IT developments were video games. The Rockstar Toronto company became one of the first manufacturers of video games in Canada. It is the world’s leading company in the sphere! What was its way to success and which games became world-popular? Learn more at toronto-future.
How did Rockstar Toronto join the IT sphere of the city?
The idea of creating the company belongs to the heads of Take-Two Interactive, an American video game holding. Their names were Terry Donovan, Gary Foreman, Dan and Sam Hauser. Initially, the company was officially registered under that name and began to cooperate with the GameTek video games publisher via ART Centre. In 1997, it was bought by the holding’s representatives and began to release computer games under the Rockstar brand. In the early 20s, the company was named Rockstar Toronto.
Later, Rockstar Toronto started to develop games engaging different studios of the label. For example, the game The Warriors, which was based on the 1979 film of the same name by Walter Hill and the novel by Sol Yurick.
History of Rockstar Toronto development
On March 9, 1995, Rockstar’s assets were bought by representatives of the ART centre by GameTek. After that, the company released such military-themed video games as Max Payne, Dark Colony and Manhunt.
On July 31, 1997, employees of the Take-Two Interactive American video game holding bought several assets of GameTek, including ART, the company’s offices in Toronto and the rights to sell video games.
In 1999, ART merged with the Take-Two Interactive label and became an international corporation selling video games. The company began producing portable games for the new generation of Windows software and partnered with other companies that were engaged in the production of computer games.
In 2007, Gary Dale, who previously worked in the Take-Two Interactive joint American holding of video games, headed the company. As a result, sales of video games have increased, their technical characteristics have been improved and new design methods have been developed with the help of websites and applications.
In 2012, the company moved to more spacious offices in Toronto. The company’s president, Jennifer Kolbe, said that a team of IT specialists will work in the new building. The reason was they needed to attract 50 new specialists to work at Rockstar Toronto, so the working conditions had to be better. In addition to developing new games, they also created a modern video editor for editing AR footage.
250 million copies of the company’s next-generation computer games were sold in 2014. Then the company’s employees were awarded the most prestigious BAFTA Fellowship for the creation of complex multi-level virtual worlds and successful activities in the gaming field over the past 10 years. During that time, they released several dozen computer games on various topics, such as Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, The Warriors, Manhunt 2 and others.
Even after that, Rockstar Toronto didn’t stop developing its activities. In 2019, its management announced the purchase of Dhruva Interactive company from Starbreeze Studios and increased sales of computer games. Its employees created a communication service, released their own game launcher and provided free simultaneous access for online users.
