Rockstar Lincoln

Spidersoft was founded by Steve Marsden and David Cooke, with assistance from Andrew Hewson, on 5 May 1992.[1]^:208 Marsden and Cooke had previously developed Technician Ted for ZX Spectrum, which was published by Hewson's Hewson Consultants in 1984.[1]^:79 Although Hewson Consultants shut down in 1991, a successor, 21st Century Entertainment, was founded by Hewson just a few weeks after the prior's closure.[1]^:187 Spidersoft mostly developed ports or adaptations of other games, predominantly to Game Boy, Game Gear and MS-DOS, including pinball-based video games developed by Digital Illusions and published by 21st Century Entertainment.[1]^:208 Following the success of Pinball Fantasies in 1992, and its subsequent ports to other platforms, including Spidersoft's 1995-released ports to Atari Jaguar, Game Boy, PlayStation and Super Nintendo Entertainment System, 21st Century Entertainment acquired a controlling stake in Spidersoft.[1]^:203 Through the purchase, 21st Century Entertainment aimed at ensuring a steady supply of further pinball games and avoiding the need to rely on third-party contractors, such as Pinball Fantasies developer Digital Illusions, which appeared to want to cease operations in the pinball games niche market.[1]^:203 By that time, Spidersoft had around 20 employees.[1]^:208 In March 1998, 21 Century Entertainment's British headquarters shut down.[2]

On 1 June 1998, Take-Two Interactive announced that they had acquired Spidersoft, which would henceforth be known as Tarantula Studios.[3] As part of the deal, Tarantula Studio would shift its focus on game development solely for Game Boy and Game Boy Color, starting with Montezuma's Return!, In-Fisherman Bass Hunter (unreleased) and an unannounced project for the former platform, as well as Three Lions and Space Station Silicon Valley for the latter.[3] Notable games developed by Tarantula Studios include Las Vegas Cool Hand (1998),[4] Montezuma's Return! (1998),[5] Rats! (1998),[6] Space Station Silicon Valley (1999),[7][8] Jim Henson's Muppets (1999),[9] Evel Knievel (1999),[10][11] Grand Theft Auto (1999),[12][13] Grand Theft Auto 2 (2000),[14] Austin Powers: Welcome to My Underground Lair! (2000),[15][16] and Austin Powers: Oh, Behave! (2000).[17][18] Amongst Tarantula Studios' games, some have received very negative reception; on IGN, Evel Knievel and Jim Henson's Muppets each received a review score of 2.0/10, the site's lowest-ever score for a Game Boy Color game, where Evel Knievel was said to be the overall worst game on the platform.[19] Tarantula Studios' last projects under that name were the PlayStation ports of Wildfire Studios' Kiss Pinball and Illusion Softworks' Hidden & Dangerous, both released in 2001 to negative reception.[20]

In 2002, Tarantula Studios became part of Take-Two's Rockstar Games label under the name Rockstar Lincoln.[21] In January 2011, long-time studio head of Rockstar Lincoln, Mark Lloyd, announced that he had resigned from the company.[22][23] His leaving coincided with that of Mark Washbrook, founder and former studio head of Rockstar London.[24][25] Rockstar Games reassured that neither departure would affect projects in development at their studios at the time.[26][27] While Washbrook went on to work with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Lloyd founded his own video game consultancy service, Titanium Consultancy, which was later voluntarily wound down.[24] In May 2012, both Washbrook and Lloyd signed with Activision to work for their mobile-focused Activision Leeds studio.[28] Later renamed The Blast Furnace, the studio also hired Gordon Hall, co-founder and former president of Rockstar Leeds, in August 2012.[29] Lloyd was succeeded by Tim Bates as general manager.[30]