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Rockstar Games Toronto ULC
Rockstar Toronto
Formerly
  • Imagexcel
  • (1981–1995)
  • Alternative Reality Technologies
  • (1995–1999)
  • Rockstar Canada
  • (1999–2002)
  • Rockstar Toronto Inc.
  • (2002–2012)
  • Rockstar Games Toronto Inc.
  • (2012)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Foundedc. 1981; 43 years ago (1981)
Headquarters
Oakville, Ontario
,
Canada
Key people
Kevin Hoare (studio director)
Parent
Websiterockstartoronto.com (archived)

Rockstar Games Toronto ULC (trade name: Rockstar Toronto; formerly Imagexcel, Alternative Reality Technologies and Rockstar Canada) is a Canadian video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Oakville, Ontario. The company was established as Imagexcel and became part of GameTek through its Alternative Reality Technologies (ART) division in March 1995. ART was acquired by Take-Two Interactive in July 1997 and became part of Take-Two's Rockstar Games label in 1999 as Rockstar Canada. In August 2002, the company was renamed Rockstar Toronto to avoid confusion with the newly-acquired Rockstar Vancouver.

Under Rockstar Games, Rockstar Toronto has primarily been a porting house for games developed by other studios of Rockstar Games, but also developed the 2005 game The Warriors, based on the 1979 film of the same name, and co-developed Max Payne 3, as part of Rockstar Studios, in 2011. Following the release of Max Payne 3, Rockstar Vancouver was folded and merged into Rockstar Toronto, with the resulting company moving into new, bigger offices.

History

As Imagexcel and Alternative Reality Technologies (1988–1999)

Imagexcel was established "before the time of He-Man".[1] A notable game produced under the Imagexcel name was Quarantine (1994).[2][3] By the time of Quarantine's development, Imagexcel consisted of programmers Kevin Hoare, Ed Zolnieryk and Andy Brownbill, and artists Greg Bick and Ray Larabie.[4]

On 9 March 1995, it was announced that the company's assets had been acquired by Alternative Reality Technologies (ART), a newly formed division of GameTek.[5][6] As ART, the company developed Quarantine II: Road Warrior, which was released in 1996,[7] and Dark Colony, which was released in 1997.[8] On 31 July 1997, Take-Two Interactive announced that they had acquired several assets from GameTek, including ART, GameTek's European offices, and distribution rights to GameTek's Dark Colony, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune games.[9][10]

As part of Rockstar Games (1999–present)

In 1999, ART became part of Rockstar Games, Take-Two's previously established publishing label, and assumed the name Rockstar Canada.[11] Under this name, the studio created two Grand Theft Auto expansion packs: London 1969 and London 1961,[12] and later ported two Rockstar Games titles to PlayStation 2: Oni (2001) and Max Payne (2001).[13][14]

On 1 August 2002, Take-Two announced the acquisition of Barking Dog Studios, which would be renamed Rockstar Vancouver.[15] As part of the acquisition, Rockstar Canada would be renamed Rockstar Toronto to avoid confusion between the two.[16] Alongside the acquisition, Take-Two announced that the now-renamed Rockstar Toronto was working on a video game adaptation of the 1979 Walter Hill-directed film The Warriors.[17][18] The eponymous game was first shown at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in May 2005,[19] and released in October that year.[20][21] The game was well received,[22][23] and a PlayStation Portable conversion of it was developed by Rockstar Toronto in conjunction with Rockstar Leeds.[24] A spiritual successor to The Warriors, tentatively titled We Are the Mods, was originally planned, but ultimately cancelled.[25][26]

Following the release of The Warriors, Rockstar Toronto developed Wii ports of Manhunt 2 (2007)[27][28][29][30] and Bully: Scholarship Edition (2008),[31][32] and the Microsoft Windows ports of Grand Theft Auto IV (2008, in association with Rockstar New England)[33] and Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City (2010, comprising the two 2009-released Grand Theft Auto IV expoansions packs The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony). In September 2008, Rockstar Toronto was rumoured to be working on a third instalment in the Max Payne series.[34][35][36] In November 2010, Rockstar Toronto teased to be working on next-generation games.[37] The company proceeded to collaborate with all other Rockstar Games studios, collectively referred to as Rockstar Studios, to develop Max Payne 3 (2012), also porting the game Microsoft Windows.[38]

On 9 July 2012, Rockstar Games announced that Rockstar Toronto would be moving into a new, bigger, and custom-built studio within Oakville, Ontario, into which Rockstar Vancouver would be merged.[39][40][41] All of Rockstar Vancouver's 35 employees at the time were given the possibility to move to the newly-expanded Rockstar Toronto, or any other Rockstar Games studio.[42][43] The expansion and move was partially financed by the Government of Ontario.[44][45] Jennifer Kolbe, vice-president of publishing and operations at Rockstar Games, stated that the move intended to make a single Canadian team that would "make for a powerful creative force on future projects",[46][47] and aimed at making room for 50 new positions at the company.[48][49] On 22 November 2012, the company was legally renamed from Rockstar Toronto Inc., over Rockstar Games Toronto Inc.,[50] to Rockstar Games Toronto ULC, as such becoming an unlimited liability corporation under the laws of British Columbia.[51]

By July 2013, job postings again started teasing a next-generation game in development at Rockstar Toronto.[52] The studio assisted Rockstar North on developing Grand Theft Auto V, which first released in September 2013, as well as handling its Microsoft Windows port, which released in April 2015.[53] For the Microsoft Windows versions of Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto V, respectively, Rockstar Toronto developed a built-in video editor for footage captured in-game.[54][55] Journalists remarked Grand Theft Auto V's Microsoft Windows version as its "ultimate version".[56]

Games developed

As Imagexcel

Year Title Platform(s) Publisher(s) Notes
1988 Techno Cop Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Sega Genesis, ZX Spectrum Gremlin Graphics, U.S. Gold, RazorSoft Co-developed with Gray Matter
1990 The Ultimate Ride Amiga, Atari ST Mindscape
1994 Quarantine 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, MS-DOS, PlayStation, Sega Saturn GameTek —

As Alternative Reality Technologies

Year Title Platform(s) Publisher(s)
1996 Quarantine II: Road Warrior MS-DOS Mindscape, GameTek
1997 Dark Colony Classic Mac OS, Microsoft Windows Strategic Simulations

As Rockstar Canada

Year Title Platform(s) Publisher(s) Notes
1999 Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 Microsoft Windows, MS-DOS, PlayStation Rockstar Games Expansion pack for Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto: London 1961 Microsoft Windows, MS-DOS
2001 Oni PlayStation 2 Ported only; game developed by Bungie West
Max Payne PlayStation 2 Ported only; game developed by Remedy Entertainment

As Rockstar Toronto

Year Title Platform(s) Publisher(s) Notes
2005 The Warriors PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox Rockstar Games —
2007 Manhunt 2 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Wii Supportive development for Rockstar London; also ported to Wii
2008 Bully: Scholarship Edition Microsoft Windows, Wii, Xbox 360 Supportive development for Mad Doc Software; also ported to Wii
Grand Theft Auto IV Microsoft Windows Ported only, together with Rockstar New England; game developed by Rockstar North
2010 Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City Microsoft Windows
2012 Max Payne 3 macOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Developed as part of Rockstar Studios; also ported to Microsoft Windows
2013 Grand Theft Auto V Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 Supportive development for Rockstar North; also ported to Microsoft Windows
2018 Red Dead Redemption 2 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Stadia, Xbox One Developed as part of Rockstar Studios

References

  1. ^ "Home". Rockstar Canada. Archived from the original on 3 June 2002.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^ O'Connor, Alice (15 January 2015). "Have You Played... Quarantine?". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  3. ^ DeMaio, Pasquale (1994). "QUARANTINE CD-ROM from Gametek/Imagexcel". Game Bytes Magazine. No. 21. Archived from the original on 10 February 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  4. ^ "Blueprint: Quarantine". PC Zone. No. 19. Dennis Publishing. October 1994. pp. 30–31. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
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  8. ^ Soete, Tim (19 September 1997). "Dark Colony Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
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  11. ^ "Studio". Rockstar Toronto. Archived from the original on 18 March 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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  23. ^ Staff, Gamespot (8 February 2007). "The Warriors Fighting Styles Spotlight". gamespot.com. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
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  31. ^ Anderson, Luke (21 January 2008). "Bully: Scholarship Edition Impressions". gamespot.com. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
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