Rockstar investigated

March 30th, 2007, 16:57 Posted By: wraggster

Grand Theft Auto games. Torn down off shop shelves by the fan mob hungry for the hugely successful franchise, package ripped open, disc stuck in console and a slice of Rockstar genius enjoyed. But is it like buying meat from the supermarket where you get it all nicely wrapped up and fresh while you're oblivious of the mess back at the slaughterhouse?

A Wired.com article titled 'The Road to Ruin: How Grand Theft Auto Hit the Skids' has taken an interesting look at the history of Rockstar, from its foundation to current day and investigating the controversy that's surrounded the developer and its parent company Take-Two over the last 15 or so years.

While a good portion of the article focuses on the birth of Rockstar, there's some fascinating details buried within. One former Rockstar employee describes the developer's attempt to shrug off 2005's infamous Hot Coffee incident from San Andreas as a hacker act as "bullshit".

In fact, the former employee said he was well aware of the existence of Hot Coffee in the game before it was discovered. "They released that bullshit quote about how this is the act of hackers, which is completely comical", they said.

Corey Wade, a former Rockstar senior product manager, described the blame on hackers as "a colossal PR screwup".

The article also takes an in-depth look at the lawsuits that have plagued Rockstar, as well as the investigation into Rockstar parent company Take-Two by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the following charges of "shady accounting and backdated stock options" levelled at the company.

It describes how on June 9, 2005, a press statement was issued informing of "Take-Two's $7.5 million penalty as a result of the SEC investigation". According to an ex member of the Rockstar PR team, Terry Donovan, one of the Rockstar co-founders along with Dan and Sam Houser, declared, "Don't answer your phones! This is going to get ugly."

Terry Donovan departed Rockstar earlier this year. Rockstar co-founder Jamie King, described as "Sam Houser's right-hand man" has also gone.

And in October 2006, co-founder and once CEO of Take-Two Ryan Brant resigned, Wired.com saying that four months later "he pleaded guilty to falsifying business records and agreed to pay more than $7 million in penalties, bringing his lifetime Take-Two hit to almost $11 million."

Recently, Take-Two has hit the headlines with talks of a possible buyout of the publisher; and today it's been announced that Take-Two's board of directors has been replaced and that CEO Paul Eibeler has departed as shareholder attempts to introduce huge changes have proved successful.

And this is just as Rockstar gives the gaming world its first glimpse of Grand Theft Auto IV

via cvg

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