Cowboys, Gangsters, And Austin Powers: The 25-Year History Of Rockstar Games

Only a select number of video game studios have celebrated their silver anniversary, and with the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer arriving this week, GameSpot is taking a deep dive into the history of Rockstar Games. After 25 years in the industry, Rockstar has cemented itself as one of the biggest developers around–a company that hasn’t just released blockbuster games, but highly influential titles that have had a lasting impact on the industry around it.

Officially formed in December 1998 after Take-Two Interactive acquired the assets of British video game publisher BMG Interactive–including DMA Design’s Grand Theft Auto–Rockstar Games was born from a massive restructuring effort led by several BMG executives.

The new publisher spent the next couple of years working on projects like GTA 2, Earthworm Jim 3D, and two Austin Powers games for the Game Boy Color through its various studios, but it was Rockstar North’s GTA 3 that really put the company on the map and broke new ground for the open-world genre when it was still in its infancy.

The rest of the 2000s was an interesting time for the company, as it worked on multiple projects including Midnight Club 2, Manhunt, Bully, Table Tennis, and The Warriors between multiple GTA sequels, spin-offs, and ports for almost every major gaming platform. Yes, Rockstar Games made a table tennis game and it is one of the best things ever. The 2010s saw the studio slow down its output as it focused on bigger blockbuster games like Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3, as well as helped finish up Team Bondi’s LA Noire. For the last decade, however, the company has been defined by Grand Theft Auto 5, easily its biggest success story.

While the core single-player game was an ambitious sandbox of bank heists and chaos, GTA Online is what kept the lights on for this entry. The multiplayer component was a huge hit, as millions of people flocked to its servers, communities were formed, and a live-service experience was born. Rockstar also worked to keep GTA 5 relevant by updating the game for new console generations and porting it over to PC in 2015. The rest is history, and while you can see more in the video above, you see Rockstar reveal the next chapter of the GTA saga on December 5.