NEWS - Friday, August 2, 2002
Rockstar unveils a brand new studio
Take-Two Interactive today announced the formation of Rockstar Vancouver, through the acquisition of Barking Dog Studios, Ltd. Take-Two acquired Barking Dog for $3 million in cash, as well as 242,450 shares of restricted common stock. Take-Two’s development studio, formerly known as Rockstar Canada, will be renamed to Rockstar Toronto, to avoid confusion with Rockstar Vancouver. Rockstar Toronto has developed the PlayStation 2 versions of Rockstar’s Oni and Max Payne. Even more surprising is that their current project is based on the old Paramount movie The Warriors, which tells the violent tale of warring urban gangs in New York. Specific systems and release dates have yet to be named. Barking Dog developed the popular PC game Homeworld: Cataclysm (the next game in the Homeworld series), Crave’s and Electronic Arts’ Global Operations, as well as participated as a developer on Counter-Strike Beta 5 as well, widely perceived as one of the best Counter-Strike versions ever. Founded in 1998 in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Brian Thalken, Peter Grant, Sean Thompson, Christopher Mair, Glenn Barnes and Michael Gyori, Barking Dog Studios is working on two new titles under the Rockstar brand. Though both games have yet to be announced, one is said to be a military game, and the other to be an original title. "Barking Dog has a strong history of developing cutting edge technology and content, with a particular strength in military action," Sam Houser, president of Rockstar Games. "Going forward Rockstar will continue to look to its internal development studios...for the development of premier original entertainment software content." "We are delighted to be joining the Rockstar team," said Brian Thalken, a founding member of Barking Dog. "We would not have considered selling our company to any other publisher. Rockstar makes the kind of cutting edge games that we love to play and that we have always dreamed of making. With our creative and technical talent and Rockstar’s proven capability to produce, market, and promote their products, we expect to deliver world-class entertainment software for many years to come." "We have experienced a great deal of success with the strategic expansion of Rockstar Games, and the addition of talented internal development teams," said Kelly Sumner, CEO of Take-Two. "As the entertainment software industry continues to expand...we are confident that the projects that will emerge from Rockstar Vancouver and The Warriors product in development at Rockstar Toronto, will match the outstanding creative accomplishments that Rockstar has achieved with its titles to date.Source: http://xbox.ign.com/
