Red Dead Redemption 2 Is About The Death Of Rockstar

It started way back in 2008 with GTA IV, and the company's first real attempt to get away from the "bad boy" image that came from the first "3D GTAs", Bully and Manhunt.

Essentially, the studio were growing up. Founders Sam and Dan Houser, alongside Leslie Benzies, Lazlow Jones and a regular team of creatives, were now in their thirties. As many people do when ageing through this period where the last vestiges of immaturity die off and the "real you" takes hold, they were no doubt assessing the legacy of Rockstar as a studio.

Dan Houser later noted to The Guardian in 2012 that with GTA IV, after years of aping films like Scarface and Boyz N the Hood with Vice City and San Andreas respectively, "It was time to move on and do our own thing."

GTA IV's push for realism was an attempt to "make a world that feels like it exists [...] The old graphics were far more cartoony because that was all we could do, so the story and the writing needed to be as well”

“It's all about tone. What we're aiming for is to make everything consistent. The whole game should feel like an integer where everything is balanced against itself and all bits are equally good.”

Interestingly though, it's these older, more "cartoony" games that became the signature element of early Rockstar.

Cont.