Rockstar Vienna - Closed by Take Two

11
May
2006
By Chris | 11th May 2006 at 22:42 GMT in General | 15 Comments

Rockstar's Vienna studio has reportedly been closed by Take Two recently, according to the blog of Jurie Horneman, an employee.

Horneman says:

This morning, as I came into work, I was greeted by security guards. It turned out Take-Two has closed their Rockstar Vienna office, effective immediately, "due to the challenging environment facing the video game business and our Company during this platform transition".

After reading this I headed on over to the Rockstar Vienna website but it appears it is down at the moment, so I'm not sure what's going on there.

For those of you who don't know, Rockstar Vienna worked on the the Max Payne series, as well as the Xbox versions of GTA3 and Vice City.

Rockstar Vienna's closure leaves over 100 developers without a job.

Source: GameSpot, Intelligent Artifice

Righty's photo
Righty 12th May, 2006 @ 10:22 - Permalink

Thats pretty bad. That might mean that there won't be so many GTA games out there, or that R* might be shutting down.

Wheelman101's photo
Wheelman101 12th May, 2006 @ 15:44 - Permalink

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

dude that suck if R* wont make any more GTA games :'( ,and they wont be anymore fun :bashhead::bashhead::bashhead: that sucks!!!!

adzpsp's photo
adzpsp 12th May, 2006 @ 16:01 - Permalink

thats just strange.

888ball's photo
888ball 12th May, 2006 @ 16:39 - Permalink

Well i cant really blame Take Two, i guess they're spending money very fast. Vienna wern't too important.

adzpsp's photo
adzpsp 12th May, 2006 @ 16:49 - Permalink

as long as i get the gta games im ok

tommy vercetti guy's photo
tommy vercetti guy 12th May, 2006 @ 19:55 - Permalink

Umm, Righty (you too wheelman101), did you read the whole thing? R* Vienna doesnt make GTA, they make Max Payne, you know, guy that leaps into the air and goes slow motion? Well, I bet they closed them down because they werent producing games at all in like the past 3 years so they were just a waste of space.

Slayer's photo
Slayer 13th May, 2006 @ 19:29 - Permalink

I agree with TVG, it's probably over with R*'s Max Payne. Maybe next Max Payne will be released by somebody other, maybe it won't be released at all. Too bad, I liked Max Payne I & II very much, it was so damn fun to dive into the air while in slow motion and then kill 10 enemies with dual wield guns.

R* Vienna was probably just spending money, not producing games, so it was logical that it'll get closed sooner or later. Although I think that R* can be a sucessful company even if it produces only GTAs. Most of their games weren't popular at all, and for lots of them you've probably never heard of.

And to everyone that mentioned GTA in this topic: Read t3h 1st post!

adzpsp's photo
adzpsp 13th May, 2006 @ 19:41 - Permalink
I agree with TVG, it's probably over with R*'s Max Payne. Maybe next Max Payne will be released by somebody other, maybe it won't be released at all. Too bad, I liked Max Payne I & II very much, it was so damn fun to dive into the air while in slow motion and then kill 10 enemies with dual wield guns.

R* Vienna was probably just spending money, not producing games, so it was logical that it'll get closed sooner or later. Although I think that R* can be a sucessful company even if it produces only GTAs. Most of their games weren't popular at all, and for lots of them you've probably never heard of.

And to everyone that mentioned GTA in this topic: Read t3h 1st post!

:cigar: do you think they will bring out a max payne for psp? :erm:

Slayer's photo
Slayer 13th May, 2006 @ 19:56 - Permalink

If you've read my post, I said that I think there won't be any more Max Paynes form R* at all. All that they need is GTA, if you ask me.

adzpsp's photo
adzpsp 13th May, 2006 @ 19:59 - Permalink
If you've read my post, I said that I think there won't be any more Max Paynes form R* at all. All that they need is GTA, if you ask me.

: :pissed: well i want a max payne on psp :pissed:

:cry: i mean it would be well cool max payne would be just right for the psp

888ball's photo
888ball 13th May, 2006 @ 20:04 - Permalink

Please go easy with the smilies.

I guess Rockstar have higher priorities than Max Payne right now.

adzpsp's photo
adzpsp 13th May, 2006 @ 20:05 - Permalink
Please go easy with the smilies.

:drool: i was just testing them :rofl2:

honistly i think along the lines before they got closed they should have made one. (max payne for psp)

mvi's photo
mvi 13th May, 2006 @ 21:59 - Permalink

Still that's a nasty thing to do leaving all those employees in the lurch if they didn't have any warning.

Artur's photo
Artur 20th May, 2006 @ 19:06 - Permalink

Does this mean their won't be anymore XBOX GTA games? I own an XBOX and all my GTA games are on it and it would be horrible for no more games. Actually there aren't going to any more GTA games on PS2 and XBOX except maybe LCS (released for xbox since they already have a PS2 version) and VCS if they make a PS2 version. Then the others are going to be on PS3 and XBOX 360.

Never mind. I should have read the post more carefully. I read it from the home page first and it said that Rockstar Vienna made the XBOX versions of the games so I was kind of worried. It only says that they made the GTA3 and Vice City verisons and they already have a San Andreas for the XBOX so it should be okay.

Gerard's photo
Gerard 20th May, 2006 @ 19:31 - Permalink

This has nothing to do with GTA Games. Rockstar North make GTA games, Rockstar Vienna make different games. It means these different games will cease to exist, be sold to other developers, or integrated into another studio belonging to Rockstar.