STACK #212 June 2022

GAMING FEATURE

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For 25 years, Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto series has been revolutionising the way we play and enjoy our video games. The journey has been filled with contention, drama, controversy and court cases, all of which helped propel the franchise to dizzying heights of commercial success. Now, with Grand Theft Auto V just hitting the new-gen consoles, we take a brief look back at that journey.

1997 Londoners, Sam and Dan Houser, fulfil an ambition to work in the music industry and score jobs with BMG Music. BMG, looking to expand into the fledgling video game market, become a publishing label for DMA Design Ltd – the studio responsible for the global hit Lemmings – after hearing about a new game the developer is working on called Race‘n’Chase. Eventually renamed Grand Theft Auto by the Housers, the game is released on PC and later

ported to PlayStation. Taking the open-world elements of another game DMA had just completed for Nintendo (called Body Harvest ), the 2D top-down GTA sees players perform work for the mob, picking up points for committing crimes and hits, and progressively rising through the criminal ranks. GTA is set over three fictional locations based on US cities: Liberty City (NewYork), San Andreas (San

Francisco – although San Andreas was later expanded into a state for GTA: San Andreas ), and Vice City (Miami). The controversial game content immediately meets derision from UK paper The Daily Mail , who call for it to be banned. Rumours circulate that PR guru Max Clifford was recruited to ‘plant’ stories about the game in the press to raise awareness.

Expansion (1999) GTA is a success story, despite polarising games critics. Subsequently, two expansions are released in its wake: GTA: London 1969 , and GTA: London 1961.

1998 In a convoluted process, BMG Interactive Entertainment is sold off, and is eventually acquired by Take-Two Interactive. Sam Houser is approached to set up a new internal publishing arm for Take Two in the US. Sam forms Rockstar Games in NewYork with brother Dan, Terry Donovan, Jamie King and Gary Foreman.

2001 And then there is 3D. Keeping the same gameplay tone as its predecessors, GTA III turns the industry on its head with its groundbreaking 3D depiction of a living, breathing, Liberty City. This is the ultimate playable gangster movie and Rockstar Games have successfully tapped into an older audience, eager to live out their own personal crime fantasy.

GTA III is also the first game in the series to feature licensed songs on radio stations.

1999 Sticking with the top-down view, GTA 2 is set in the near future, featuring a city boasting a more expansive map than its predecessor. Tweaked AI, new weapons, accessible multiple radio stations in vehicles, and the ability to carve out a respectable living as a taxi driver are just some of the new features introduced. Players can also accept work from different gangs. GTA 2 releases to mixed reviews, and sales are well below what was expected – 3D is now prevalent in the medium, and the public are demanding more from their video games… they're about to get it.

This is the game that brings the GTA franchise to the mainstream, and it quickly becomes the bestselling game of 2001. Unsurprisingly, it is initially banned in Australia.

2002 Rockstar Games completes the overall buy-out of DMA Design Ltd and rebrand it Rockstar North.

JUNE 2022

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