Take Two Interactive has announced that Rockstar Vancouver, the studio that developed Bully and Max Payne 3, is to be closed down. However, this isn’t actually bad news as it may first appear. The closure is part of Take Two’s plans to build a larger, more conveniently placed team in Canada.
Take Two Interactive has opened a new, purpose built studio in Oakville, Ontario for Rockstar Toronto. As part of the move, staff from the Rockstar Vancouver studio have been offered positions at Rockstar Toronto, which would require a move across the country. If staff members feel they cannot make this move then they will be offered jobs elsewhere within Rockstar.
Jennifer Kolbe, Vice President of Publishing and Operations for Rockstar Games said:
“Expanding Rockstar Toronto and bringing our Canadian development talent together under one roof underscores our commitment to building world-class teams that can make the kind of groundbreaking entertainment experiences Rockstar Games is known for.”
“We believe a single Canadian team will make for a powerful creative force on future projects. We plan to add more than 50 new positions to our combined Canadian team, and are pleased to be entering into this strategic partnership with the Ontario government.”
Source: Take Two Interactive
Forrest_01
Ah, so that’s why they haven’t bothered to patch Max Payne.
The Lone Steven
I thought it was because they had actually managed to get Bullettime to work in the real world and are currently stuck it in thus have been trying to work out a solution for their problem.
The Lone Steven
I’m glad that Rockstar have offered the staff jobs at the new studio as not many publishers would do that and instead would let them all go. It does make sense to have one big team instead of 2-3 teams working on the same game accross the country and having potential communcation problems.