LO1 - Rockstar company overview/Buisness report

Rockstar Games was origininally founded back in 1998 in new york city and have since then made many sucessfull video game franchises. Rockstar north is currently based in Edinburgh, Scotland    When they were originally made they primarily made PS1 and dreamcast games, there first release was the original Grand theft auto and was developed by DMA design now known as Rockstar north. By 2001 Rockstar began to make games for the next generation of consoles such as the PS2 and the XBOX, there first release was GTA3 on that gen of console. Nowadays rockstar make games on many platforms such as the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox one and PC, there most recent successus have been GTA5 and Red dead redemption. They recently made games on the next gen consoles so they will have had to develop there games to work on more advanced game engines such as unreal engine 4 as these will allow them to make more advanced games with features that would have been able to use and allow them to get more advanced graphics. Rockstar is structured like any normal video game company as it has publishers, programmers, directors, artists, environment creators etc.

The founders of Rockstar north are Dan Houser, Terry Donavan, Gary foreman, Jamie king and Sam Houser. The current CEO of rockstar north is Terry Donavan.

Platform technology

Platform technology is the software that the game company in question makes games on such as consoles like the PS4, Xbox one and PC. If we look at rockstar games we can see by the games they've most recently made they are primarily making games on the PS4, Xbox one, PC.

GTA V - released on september 17 2013 on xbox 360 and ps3
             - released on the 18th of november for Xbox one and PS4
             - released on april 14 2015 on PC

Bully - released on october 17 2006 on playstation 2, xbox 360, wii and PC

Max Payne 3 - released on may 15 2012 on xbox 360 and ps3
                      - released on june 1 2012 on PC

Red dead revolver - released on may 3rd 2004 on xbox
                              - released on may 4th 2004 on ps2
                              - released on december 18th 2012 on ps3

As you can see from this rockstar make a variety of different games for example they make open world games such as GTA V and Red dead redemption, they also make third person shooters like Max Payne. Because they make games in different genres they can appeal to many different markets thus allowing them to earn more money.

All this information was gathered from http://uk.ign.com/companies/rockstar-games

When they develop a game for multiple platforms they must use a game engine that can suite the the platform they want to make their game on otherwise their game will not be able to run on their desired platform so they need to optimise their game accordingly. For example they had to make GTA V on PS3 AND Xbox 360 so they will have had to use a game engine that is compatible with both platforms.

Rockstar will have specific members of their staff who will regulate their games, this is where they check for content that may be deemed as offensive to people of certain backgrounds or religious beliefs. They will then feedback to the creative team and give the game a PEGI rating.

For developing their most recent games rockstar used the RAGE game engine to run their games. Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) is a game engine developed by the RAGE Technology Group at the video game developer Rockstar San Diego with contributions by other Rockstar studios. The engine has been used on several different platforms such as Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and the Xbox One. RAGE initially evolved from the Angel Game Engine originally developed by Angel Studios for use in the sixth generation console era versions of the Midnight Club series and other Rockstar San Diego games.