Rockstar Vancouver
 | |
| Rockstar Vancouver | |
Formerly called |
|
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Video game industry |
| Fate | Merged into Rockstar Toronto |
| Founded | May 1998 |
| Defunct | July 9, 2012 |
| Headquarters | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
Number of employees | 35 (2012) |
| Parent | Rockstar Games |
Rockstar Games Vancouver ULC (formerly Barking Dog Studios Ltd.), doing business as Rockstar Vancouver, was a video game studio located in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia. Rockstar Vancouver developed Bully, a controversial title for the PlayStation 2, on October 17, 2006.[1]
On July 9, 2012, Rockstar Games announced that the studio would be closed in favour of merging the team with Rockstar Toronto at an expanded facility in Oakville, Ontario. The move was financially supported by the Government of Ontario.[2]
History
Barking Dog Studios founded in May 1998 by Glenn Barnes, Christopher Mair, Sean Thompson, Michael Gyori, Peter Grant and Brian Thalken, all former employees of Radical Entertainment. Barking Dog, with publishing assistance by Sierra Studios, moved on to produce an expansion to the 1999 PC Magazine Game of the Year Homeworld entitled Homeworld: Cataclysm. Homeworld had been developed by Relic Entertainment but Sierra chose instead to use Barking Dog to develop the game.
Barking Dog was retained by Valve Software to develop the Beta-5 version beta of the popular first-person shooter Counter-Strike. Their legacy can be seen on the Counter-Strike map de_train where their cartoon dog logo can be seen on the side of a railcar. Barking Dog produced other games such as Global Operations, and Treasure Planet: Battle at Procyon. They were acquired by Rockstar Games in August 2002, and became known as Rockstar Vancouver.
Many of Barking Dog's employees later split off to form their own companies, such as Slant Six Games, Big Sandwich Games, Hellbent Games, Kerberos Productions and Ironclad Games.
In 2003, Take-Two mentioned in their financial results that Rockstar Games was working on the Spec Ops franchise but in early 2005 the project was seemingly cancelled.[3][4] It was later revealed that Rockstar Vancouver was the developer of the cancelled Spec Ops project[5] with musician Josh Homme to develop the soundtrack for the game.[6]
Games developed
| Title | Year | Platform(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| as Barking Dog Studios | |||
| Homeworld: Cataclysm | 2000 | Microsoft Windows | |
| Counter-Strike | With Valve | ||
| Global Operations | 2002 | ||
| Treasure Planet: Battle at Procyon | |||
| as Rockstar Vancouver | |||
| Bully | 2006 | PlayStation 2 | |
| Max Payne 3 | 2012 | Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | As part of Rockstar Studios |
References
- ↑ Rockstar Games (October 17, 2006). "Rockstar Games: Bully In Stores Now". Rockstar Games. Retrieved September 9, 2007.
- ↑ "Rockstar Games Expands Toronto Development Studio". Take-Two Interactive. July 9, 2012. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
- ↑ "Rockstar Hints at Upcoming Games". IGN. February 27, 2003.
- ↑ "Spec Ops [PS2 – Cancelled]". Unseen64. October 29, 2009.
- ↑ Ian Sorensen. "Ian Sorensen – Resume". Retrieved April 6, 2012.
- ↑ "Queens Thrill Fans At New York Gig, Reveal Video Game Plans Rockstar's 'Spec Ops' will feature tunes by Josh Homme, bassist Alain Johannes.". MTV. March 22, 2005.