Rockstar Vienna
Gameplay.com (2000–2001) (2003–2006) |
Rockstar Productions GmbH (
As part of Take-Two, Neo Software developed ports, starting with bringing Max Payne to the Xbox. The studio became part of Take-Two's Rockstar Games label in January 2003 as Rockstar Vienna, porting the label's Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, Grand Theft Auto III, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to consoles. The studio worked on Manhunt 2 from January 2004 until May 2006, when the company was abruptly closed in a cost reduction. Rockstar Vienna had become the largest developer in Austria by that time, and its disestablishment left 110 people out of work. Manhunt 2 was completed at Rockstar London, controversially omitting all Rockstar Vienna credits upon release.
History
Early years (1993–1999)
Rockstar Vienna was founded as Neo Software by Peter Baustädter, Niki Laber, and Hannes Seifert. Laber and Seifert had met as
In the following two years, Neo Software worked on Prototype, Dark Universe, Whale's Voyage II, and Cedric (all released in 1995),[8] as well as Mutation of J.B., Spherical Worlds, Black Viper, and Fightin' Spirit (all 1996). During 1996, the company discontinued its publishing activities and established a consulting branch, Neo Consulting.[9] By 1997, Baustädter had left the company for Digital Domain while remaining a shareholder.[4] While developing Rent-a-Hero in 1997, Neo Software's first year without a release, the company underwent structural changes to improve its development capabilities and strengthened relationships with publishers for future releases. Rent-a-Hero was released in 1998.[10] Neo Software worked with the nascent Austrian company JoWooD to release Alien Nations in 1999, which sold over a million copies.[1][11]
Acquisitions and closure (1999–2006)
Later in 2001, JoWooD published Neo Software's sequel to The Clue!, The Sting!.[19] As part of Take-Two, Neo Software developed the Xbox port of Max Payne, which was released in December 2001.[20] Online Pirates was still in development in late 2002. At the time, Seifert commented that Neo Software, which now had forty employees, saw online games as a "market of the future". However, he lamented that the lack of widespread broadband connections in households at the time made games like Online Pirates unviable as mass-market products.[15] On Neo Software's tenth anniversary in January 2003, Take-Two moved the studio to the Rockstar Games label, rebranding it Rockstar Vienna.[11][21] The legal entity, Neo Software Produktions GmbH, was consequently renamed Rockstar Productions GmbH.[22] The studio continued developing ports, bringing Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne to the Xbox and PlayStation 2, as well as Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to the Xbox.[23]
In January 2004, Rockstar Vienna began work on what would become
The development of Manhunt 2 was shifted to Rockstar London and the game was released in October 2007.[24][27] Following the release, Horneman, who had been a producer for the game while at Rockstar Vienna, noticed that the game's credits lacked all names of the Rockstar Vienna employees who had worked on the game before the studio's closure. In a blog post listing all 89 missing credits, he stated that "the majority of the work we did at Rockstar Vienna is in the released game. Rearranged and modified, but it's there."[28][29] He added that he was "disappointed and outraged that Rockstar Games tries to pretend that Rockstar Vienna and the work we did on Manhunt 2 never happened – the work of over 50 people, who put years of their lives into the project, trying to make the best game they could".[30]
Legacy
Rockstar Vienna's demise prompted the creation of many smaller studios in the Vienna area.
Games developed
As Neo Software
Year | Title | Platform(s) | Publisher(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1993 | Whale's Voyage | Amiga, Amiga CD32, MS-DOS | Flair Software | |
1994 | The Clue! | Kompart UK, Max Design | Co-developed with And Avoid Panic by[4] | |
1995 | Prototype | MS-DOS | Max Design | Co-developed with Surprise! Productions[44] |
Dark Universe | Co-developed with Martin[4] | |||
Whale's Voyage II | Amiga, Amiga CD32, MS-DOS | Neo Software | ||
Cedric | Amiga | Co-developed with Alcatraz[45] | ||
1996 | Mutation of J.B. | MS-DOS | Co-developed with Invention[4] | |
Spherical Worlds | Amiga | Co-developed with 4-Matted[4] | ||
Black Viper | Amiga, Amiga CD32 | Co-developed with Lightshock Software[4] | ||
Fightin' Spirit | Co-developed with Lightshock Software[4] | |||
1998 | Rent-a-Hero | Windows
|
THQ, Magic Bytes | |
1999 | Alien Nations | JoWooD | ||
2001 | The Sting! | |||
Max Payne | Xbox | Rockstar Games | Port development |
As Rockstar Vienna
Year | Title | Platform(s) | Publisher(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2003 | Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne | PlayStation 2, Xbox | Rockstar Games | Port development |
Grand Theft Auto III | Xbox | Port development | ||
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City | Port development | |||
2007 | Manhunt 2 | PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Windows | Development completed by Rockstar London |
Cancelled
- Online Pirates / Pirates! Online
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Koller, Daniel (14 October 2018). "Rockstar Vienna: Als Wien die Heimat von "GTA" war" [Rockstar Vienna: When Vienna was the home of "GTA"]. Der Standard (in German). Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
- ISBN 9780262328487.
- ^ a b "neo History 1993" (in German). Neo Software. 2002. Archived from the original on 25 December 2004.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "neo Crew". Neo Software. 1997. Archived from the original on 8 July 1997.
- ^ "Whale's Voyage". Neo Software. 1997. Archived from the original on 1 February 1998.
- Gamasutra. Archived from the originalon 1 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- ^ a b "neo History 1994" (in German). Neo Software. 2002. Archived from the original on 25 December 2004.
- ^ "neo History 1995" (in German). Neo Software. 2002. Archived from the original on 25 December 2004.
- ^ "neo History 1996" (in German). Neo Software. 2002. Archived from the original on 25 December 2004.
- ^ "neo History 1997" (in German). Neo Software. 2002. Archived from the original on 25 December 2004.
- ^ a b Furtenbach, Micharl (15 March 2017). "Heimat bist du großer Spieleentwickler! (Teil 1)" [You are the home of large game developers! (Part 1)]. Red Bull (in German). Archived from the original on 26 June 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
- Computec Media. 1 June 1999. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2018 – via German Council on Foreign Relations.
- ^ Hobson, Rodney (23 February 2000). "Fun at Gameplay". Citywire. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
- Computec Media. September 2000. p. 26. Retrieved 27 June 2022 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Computec Media. December 2002. p. 218. Retrieved 27 June 2022 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ a b "Form 10-K". Take-Two Interactive. 29 January 2001. pp. F-16, F-17. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
- ^ Fletcher, Laurence (31 January 2001). "Gameplay sells subsidiary for £1". Citywire. Archived from the original on 24 June 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
- Computec Media. April 2001. p. 13. Retrieved 27 June 2022 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Osborne, Scott (25 July 2001). "The Sting! Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- ^ "Xbox Reader's Vote 2001: Best Graphics". IGN. 10 January 2002. Archived from the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- ^ Bramwell, Tom (17 January 2003). "Take-Two buys another Rockstar". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- ^ "Form 10-K". Take-Two Interactive. 31 January 2006. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
- ^ Sinclair, Brendan (11 May 2006). "Take-Two closes Rockstar Vienna?". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- ^ a b Hatfield, Daemon (2 November 2007). "Manhunt 2 Blackballs Rockstar Vienna". IGN. Archived from the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- ^ a b Gibson, Ellie (12 May 2006). "Rockstar Vienna shuts down". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- Gamasutra. Archived from the originalon 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- Gamasutra. Archived from the originalon 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- GamesIndustry.biz. Archivedfrom the original on 26 June 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
- MCV. Archivedfrom the original on 19 July 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- ^ Powell, Chris (3 November 2007). "Rockstar fails to credit some Manhunt 2 developers". Engadget. Archived from the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- Gamasutra. Archived from the originalon 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- ^ Kietzmann, Ludwig (17 January 2007). "Ex-Rockstar Vienna founders vow to make 'Games That Matter'". Engadget. Archived from the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- ^ Sinclair, Brendan (17 January 2007). "Rockstar Vienna vets make Games That Matter". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- Gamasutra. Archived from the originalon 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- GamesIndustry.biz. Archivedfrom the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- MCV. No. 451. p. 9. Retrieved 27 June 2022 – via Internet Archive.
- GamesIndustry.biz. Archivedfrom the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- ^ a b Dasgupta, Julian (30 January 2010). "Koch Media: Deep Silver Vienna geschlossen" [Koch Media: Deep Silver Vienna closed]. 4Players (in German). Archived from the original on 23 September 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
- Gamasutra. Archived from the originalon 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- ^ Pototzki, Tim (29 January 2010). "Koch Media schließt Deep Silver Vienna" [Koch Media closes Deep Silver Vienna]. GamesMarkt (in German). Archived from the original on 15 February 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
- ^ Gilbert, Ben (31 January 2010). "Cursed Mountain dev Deep Silver Vienna shuttered". Engadget. Archived from the original on 26 June 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
- Gamasutra. Archived from the originalon 12 June 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- GamesIndustry.biz. Archivedfrom the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
- ^ Gollert, Knut (May 1995). "Prototype". Power Play (in German). MagnaMedia Verlag. p. 98. Retrieved 14 September 2022 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Löwenstein, Richard (January 1996). "Der Spätzünder: Cedric" [The late starter: Cedric]. Amiga Joker (in German). Joker Verlag. p. 32. Retrieved 22 September 2022 – via Internet Archive.
External links
- Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 23 April 2006)