Rockstar London Limited is a British

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

and a studio of

Rockstar Games Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...

based in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Mark Washbrook established the company in November 2005 within Rockstar Games' European publishing offices. The studio's first game was ''

Manhunt 2 ''Manhunt 2'' is a 2007 stealth game by Rockstar Games. It was developed by Rockstar London for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 2, Rockstar Leeds for the PlayStation Portable, and Rockstar Toronto for the Wii. It is the sequel to 2003's ''M ...

'', which it took over from

Rockstar Vienna Rockstar Productions GmbH (trade name: Rockstar Vienna; formerly Neo Software Produktions GmbH) was an Austrian video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Vienna. Peter Baustädter, Niki Laber, and Hannes Seifert founded the ...

after that studio was shut down in May 2006. Rockstar London later developed '' Midnight Club: L.A. Remix'' and co-led the development of ''

Max Payne 3 ''Max Payne 3'' is a 2012 third-person shooter video game developed and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on May 15, 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360; a Microsoft Windows port was released on May 29, 2012, followed by an OS X p ...

''. Washbrook left the company in January 2011.

History

Mark Washbrook established Rockstar London for publisher

"from scratch". The setup was in progress by November 2005 at Rockstar Games' European publishing headquarters, then also known as Rockstar London, on

King's Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents), is a major street stretching through Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

. Washbrook assumed the role of

studio head Studio manager, studio director, or studio head is a job title in various media-related professions, including design, advertising, and broadcasting. Design and advertising A design or advertising studio manager's responsibilities will typically ...

. After

was shut down in May 2006, Rockstar London was tasked with completing the former's ''

''. The game was announced as Rockstar London's debut title in February 2007 and released that October. It developed '' Midnight Club: L.A. Remix'', a

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...

adaptation of '' Midnight Club: Los Angeles'', which was released in October 2008. In January 2011, Washbrook announced his resignation. His departure coincided with that of Mark Lloyd, the studio head of

Rockstar Lincoln Rockstar Lincoln Limited (formerly Spidersoft Limited and Tarantula Studios) is a British video game developer based in Lincoln, England, Lincoln. It is the quality assurance and Language localisation, localisation studio of Rockstar Games. St ...

. Rockstar Games stated that neither departure would affect the studios' active projects. Washbrook went on to work for

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...

and, alongside Lloyd, joined

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

's mobile-focused Activision Leeds studio in May 2012. Rockstar London was one of four studios—alongside

Rockstar New England Rockstar New England, Inc. (formerly Mad Doc Software, LLC) is an American video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Andover, Massachusetts. Ian Lane Davis founded the company as Mad Doc Software in November 1999 after worki ...

Rockstar Toronto 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 ...

, and

Rockstar Vancouver Rockstar Vancouver Inc. (formerly Barking Dog Studios Ltd.) was a Canadian video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Vancouver. The studio is best known for developing ''Bully'' (2006). Six former Radical Entertainment deve ...

—leading the development of ''

'', released in 2012. The studio worked alongside all other Rockstar Games studios on ''

Red Dead Redemption 2 ''Red Dead Redemption 2'' is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the ''Red Dead'' series and a prequel to the 2010 game ''Red Dead Redemption''. The story is set in 1899 and f ...

'', which was released in October 2018.

Accolades

Rockstar London was a finalist for the "Best New UK/European Studio" award at the 2008 Develop Industry Excellence Awards.

Games developed

References

{{Take-Two Interactive 2005 establishments in England British companies established in 2005 British subsidiaries of foreign companies Companies based in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Rockstar Games subsidiaries Take-Two Interactive divisions and subsidiaries Video game companies established in 2005 Video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game development companies