A former member of employees at Rockstar who labored on a raft of Grand Theft Auto video games has pulled their behind-the-scenes improvement weblog after somebody from the studio acquired in contact.
Former Rockstar Games technical director Obbe Vermeij began the weblog on November 11 to debate their time at Rockstar North, the Scottish studio behind the Grand Theft Auto collection.
Quite a lot of eye-catching weblog posts delved into the event of the older Grand Theft Auto video games and even different Rockstar tasks. One revealed recent perception into the collapsed improvement of Agent, a sport Rockstar has by no means formally cancelled, and additional posts mentioned different scrapped tasks, comparable to a Scottish zombie survival sport.
Something about ruining the Rockstar mystique or one thing.
But it appears some employees at Rockstar North weren’t thrilled by the revelations, and Vermeij has now pulled all posts from the weblog. In a press release, Vermeij stated: “Today I acquired an electronic mail from Rockstar North. Apparently a number of the OGs there are upset by my weblog. I genuinely did not assume anybody would thoughts me speaking about 20 yr outdated video games however I used to be fallacious. Something about ruining the Rockstar mystique or one thing.
“Anyway, this weblog is not necessary sufficient to me to piss off my former colleagues in Edinburgh so I’m winding it down. I’ll perhaps simply go away a number of articles with anecdotes that do not have an effect on anybody however me. I might love for Rockstar to open up about improvement of the trilogy themselves, nevertheless it does not appear like that is going to occur anytime quickly. Maybe I’ll strive once more in a decade or two.”
In a follow-up put up on X/Twitter, Vermeij claimed Rockstar hadn’t “pressured” his hand. Rather, “it was only a former colleague letting me know that a number of individuals in North did not just like the Blog. That’s all.”
Vermeij’s feedback revolve across the secrecy Rockstar maintains about its video video games and the way they’re made. The long-running firm retains its playing cards near its chest, hardly ever speaking in regards to the improvement of its video games or cancelled tasks. Sam Houser, Rockstar co-founder and president, hasn’t given an interview to press in years.
However, in recent times numerous media reviews have shone a lightweight on the tradition and working circumstances at Rockstar, notably for the event of 2018 smash hit Red Dead Redemption 2. Since then, Rockstar has reportedly made vital enhancements to the best way it makes video games, that are of eager curiosity forward of the reveal of Grand Theft Auto 6.
Rockstar isn’t alone in its dedication to secrecy. The online game trade, notably within the big-budget, triple-An area, is usually criticised for an absence of transparency, not simply by way of improvement, but additionally by way of success. Unlike Hollywood, for instance, the online game trade doesn’t by by default report gross sales and income figures for particular person titles.
Next month marks the twenty fifth anniversary of Rockstar Games. It plans to launch the hotly anticipated debut trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 sooner or later in early December. Perhaps the corporate plans its personal retrospectives on its previous output. For now, although, Vermeij’ weblog won’t be amongst them.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can attain Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
