10 Beloved Video Game Studios That Didn't Deserve To Be Shut Down

6. Rockstar Vancouver

Bully game
Rockstar

Despite GTA and Red Dead being huge franchises for Rockstar, there's one forgotten game made by the studio that rivals those mammoth releases in terms of reputation: Bully.

Developed by Rockstar Vancouver back in the early 2000s, the title garnered instant controversy for casting players as a school-ground thug and letting them loose to cause havoc in a small open world.

The studio went quiet for a while after the release of that game, but eventually resurfaced when they were put in charge of crafting 2012's Max Payne 3. Despite releasing an excellent sequel however, the huge production budget and constant delays led to the title underperforming, and the studio was quietly canned shortly after.

Thankfully most of the staff were moved over to the publisher's Toronto studio, but it's still a shame that we won't get any more games headlined by one of Rockstar's best developers.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.