Rockstar Changes, No Bully 2?
Take-Two’s 1998 acquisition of Rockstar Games seems like old news, since the two have been joined for what seems like the entirety of Rockstar’s history, and Take-Two has used the Rockstar label in assimilating its many acquired developers. So when Take-Two announced they’d be replacing Rockstar co-founder and GTA director Sam Houser with former BMG games president Gary Dale as Chief Operating Officer, some brows were furrowed in curiosity.
Playthrough suggests rumors of a power struggle near the time of the closing of Rockstar Vienna (née Neo Software), alongside a staff exodus. Meanwhile, analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities tells GamePolitics about the sales of Bully, disproportionately small compared to the hype, and his speculation on Rockstar’s newest IP’s future:
[Bully sales] estimates total 800,000 units at an average wholesale price of around $30, so it will likely generate around $24 million in revenues. Since the game took three years to develop, it likely cost Take-Two close to $15 million in R&D, and my guess is that the company did no better than to break even. I would NOT expect a sequel.
I won’t add my speculation to the crystal-ball-gazing, but my own experience with Bully, fun as it was, left me thinking: “I wouldn’t even know about this game if it weren’t for Jack Thompson and his press machine, let alone want to play.” It makes for interesting thinkin’...
By the by, the list of independent studios bought and rebranded by Take-Two is staggeringly robust: Rockstar Leeds of GTA Portable fame (née Mobius Entertainment); Rockstar Lincoln (née Tarantula Studios); Rockstar North, who makes the GTA series (née DMA Design); Rockstar San Diego (née Angel Studios); Rockstar Vancouver, who did Bully, (née Barking Dog Studios); Rockstar Vienna; in-house Rockstar Toronto and Rockstar London.
That is, by my count, an assload of Rockstars.
Bully 2 ??? Industry Analyst Says No [GamePolitics]
tiny dancer
Posted to Video Games on 5 January 2007
· Comments (3)
Other stuff like this: bully, bully sequel, gary dale, rockstar games, sam houser, take two
I don’t think we’ll see another Bully. I really enjoyed the game BTW. There may have 10 Rockstar studios but they are all working on different games and I’m sure a couple studios work together on bigger games, sans GTA. Rockstar is the house that built Take-Two to what it is today, IMHO. Plus even with the sequels I’m sure a few of those house (R* Toronto) are working on new IP all together… at least their website makes it seem that way.
Kinda makes you wonder if Jack Thompson is actually under Rockstar’s employ.
Ahhh, DMA Design, I hardly knew ye. I played Menace for like 6 weeks straight back in the day, a bit of Lemmings too, and I guess I played some Shadow of the Beast….. liked the opening animation for Blood Money which took up the ENTIRE FIRST DISK of the game, but the game itself wasn’t up to the level of shooter bliss found in Menace….)
They may be the longest running development studio worth a damn, what with EA and Activision morphed into publishers…. kinda too bad about the name change.