Rockstar Toronto

Imagexcel was established "before the time of He-Man".[1] A notable game produced under the Imagexcel name was Quarantine (1994).[2][3] By the time of Quarantine's development, Imagexcel consisted of programmers Kevin Hoare, Ed Zolnieryk and Andy Brownbill, and artists Greg Bick and Ray Larabie.[4]

On 9 March 1995, it was announced that the company's assets had been acquired by Alternative Reality Technologies (ART), a newly formed division of GameTek.[5][6] As ART, the company developed Quarantine II: Road Warrior, which was released in 1996,[7] and Dark Colony, which was released in 1997.[8] On 31 July 1997, Take-Two Interactive announced that they had acquired several assets from GameTek, including ART, GameTek's European offices, and distribution rights to GameTek's Dark Colony, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune games.[9][10]

In 1999, ART became part of Rockstar Games, Take-Two's previously established publishing label, and assumed the name Rockstar Canada.[11] Under this name, the studio created two Grand Theft Auto expansion packs: London 1969 and London 1961,[12] and later ported two Rockstar Games titles to PlayStation 2: Oni (2001) and Max Payne (2001).[13][14]

On 1 August 2002, Take-Two announced the acquisition of Barking Dog Studios, which would be renamed Rockstar Vancouver.[15] As part of the acquisition, Rockstar Canada would be renamed Rockstar Toronto to avoid confusion between the two.[16] Alongside the acquisition, Take-Two announced that the now-renamed Rockstar Toronto was working on a video game adaptation of the 1979 Walter Hill-directed film The Warriors.[17][18] The eponymous game was first shown at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in May 2005,[19] and released in October that year.[20][21] The game was well received,[22][23] and a PlayStation Portable conversion of it was developed by Rockstar Toronto in conjunction with Rockstar Leeds.[24] A spiritual successor to The Warriors, tentatively titled We Are the Mods, was originally planned, but ultimately cancelled.[25][26]

Following the release of The Warriors, Rockstar Toronto developed Wii ports of Manhunt 2 (2007)[27][28][29][30] and Bully: Scholarship Edition (2008),[31][32] and the Microsoft Windows ports of Grand Theft Auto IV (2008, in association with Rockstar New England)[33] and Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City (2010, comprising the two 2009-released Grand Theft Auto IV expoansions packs The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony). In September 2008, Rockstar Toronto was rumoured to be working on a third instalment in the Max Payne series.[34][35][36] In November 2010, Rockstar Toronto teased to be working on next-generation games.[37] The company proceeded to collaborate with all other Rockstar Games studios, collectively referred to as Rockstar Studios, to develop Max Payne 3 (2012), also porting the game Microsoft Windows.[38]

On 9 July 2012, Rockstar Games announced that Rockstar Toronto would be moving into a new, bigger, and custom-built studio within Oakville, Ontario, into which Rockstar Vancouver would be merged.[39][40][41] All of Rockstar Vancouver's 35 employees at the time were given the possibility to move to the newly-expanded Rockstar Toronto, or any other Rockstar Games studio.[42][43] The expansion and move was partially financed by the Government of Ontario.[44][45] Jennifer Kolbe, vice-president of publishing and operations at Rockstar Games, stated that the move intended to make a single Canadian team that would "make for a powerful creative force on future projects",[46][47] and aimed at making room for 50 new positions at the company.[48][49] On 22 November 2012, the company was legally renamed from Rockstar Toronto Inc., over Rockstar Games Toronto Inc.,[50] to Rockstar Games Toronto ULC, as such becoming an unlimited liability corporation under the laws of British Columbia.[51]

By July 2013, job postings again started teasing a next-generation game in development at Rockstar Toronto.[52] The studio assisted Rockstar North on developing Grand Theft Auto V, which first released in September 2013, as well as handling its Microsoft Windows port, which released in April 2015.[53] For the Microsoft Windows versions of Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto V, respectively, Rockstar Toronto developed a built-in video editor for footage captured in-game.[54][55] Journalists remarked Grand Theft Auto V's Microsoft Windows version as its "ultimate version".[56]