If its a tax break then go for it rockstar but if its actual monetary backing (I will now yell online) RUN FAR AWAY (I am done now) I don't like gov'ts backing things financially because they don't have any idea how to manager their own money
Rockstar expands its Toronto operations
By
Laura Parker, Associate Editor
Rockstar's Vancouver studio will be gradually moved to a new, larger facility in Oakville, Ontario; studio expansion is being supported by the Ontario government.
Rockstar Games will be expanding its development efforts in Toronto with the opening of a larger studio in Oakville, Ontario.
The new facility will house the current Rockstar Toronto team, as well as the 35-person Rockstar Vancouver team, which will move to the new quarters gradually over the next six months. The publisher said it will offer all existing members of the Vancouver team the opportunity to join Rockstar Toronto or take positions in other Rockstar studios.
According to the publisher, the new Toronto studio expansion is being financially supported by the Ontario government; however, no financial details have been disclosed.
"We believe a single Canadian team will make for a powerful creative force on future projects," Rockstar vice president of publishing and operations Jennifer Kolbe said. "We plan to add more than 50 new positions to our combined Canadian team and are pleased to be entering into this strategic partnership with the Ontario Government."
Rockstar Toronto has worked on several titles for the publisher, including Max Payne 3, The Warriors, and the Grand Theft Auto series. Rockstar Vancouver has worked on Bully and Max Payne 3.
By
Laura Parker, Associate Editor
Laura Parker is the Associate Editor of GameSpot Australia. She loves adventure games, sparkly stuff, Trivial Pursuit, cake, Master Chief, earthworms, and rhetorical questions. She once stole a sandwich from Peter Molyneux.
80 comments
I love how an Australian is reporting on Canadian gaming news. You can't get much further away from Toronto than Australia. Aren't there TONNES of game journalists in the San Fran area? I mean, it is still far away from Toronto, but not that far from Canada as a whole.
Nothing against Laura, love to see her smile, still, I just think it is weird. Besides, the time difference must make for some odd logistics You'll likely never get a phone interview because everyone will be sleeping!
1 Like Hmmm...I don't like the sound of that.
Federal and provincial level provide lots of tax breaks for video game developers already. Doesn't seem necessary.
1 Like I hope "being financially supported by the Ontario Government" doesn't mean taking a loan so large you can't pay it back, even if your next title sells over a million copies.
@hadlee73 *cough38Studioscough*Yeah, hopefully this won't be an issue, but I do find it a little strange that a company as successful as Rockstar needs to be financially supported by... well, anybody.
It sounds like Dalton McGuinty and the Liberal party will be supporting this studio expansion.
Great news for Ontario and the GTA. Our provincial government really knows where the new big businesses are.
@Zerosumgame Which is based in Waterloo and not Oakville. And tbh they're doing fine for the time being especially with their networking side of things.
1 Like Nice to know Rockstar is expanding. Max Payne 3 was awesome. I was expecting for it for so many years and its getting me so excited to play it these days. I hope they can make a sequel for it sometime, even though they haven`t putted that traditional line in the end of the MP 1 and 2: "Max Payne`s journey through the night will continue". But for the ending of it, i think there will be a sequel in some years from now.
@brunod_f Fingers crossed! I loved it as well. Even with the changes in tone, I feel like it did the series justice, and updated it in a way that still gave it a unique look and feel without just retreading old ground. I'm sure Rockstar would be wise to sit on the franchise for a while, though, and wait before they decide to give Max another particularly bad day.
2 Like I live in Toronto and I would like to know how much of my taxes are going to be wasted in that deal.
@metalkid9 It will help your economy yes but they are spending your money to move them in...a tax break is a good idea a loan is not
1 Like Everytime the government gets involved, they spend 4 times as much as they have to. You'll be twice as angry when Rockstar moves out of Toronto in a few years, when a better deal for them comes around.
1 Like This is interesting. I work on the boarder of Mississauga and Oakville. I will have to check out the exact location they are going to be at. Will be cool to know that great game development is going to be so close to home!
You can tell when a studio / developer is awesome when even the government supports them. This article surprised me though because alot of governments these days try to blame violent games like GTA for violence etc =/
just the aussies and californians, and even then its just the radical cooks who are mad the times are changing ie. J. Thompson
I hope we'll see more of Max in the future, Max Payne 3 was a fantastic game imo. Def. one of the best 3rd person shooters iv'e played in a while, only downside was then it had to many cutscenes.
1 Like I wish R* would do another game like Warriors or another Manhunt but....if I was them I'd make the setup of the plot just like the first game, death row inmate wakes up in a dead city and forced to perform in snuff films......
How the game would unfold however would be different but the executions and stealth would remain...
Another Bully would be nice too....
@MJ12-Conspiracy Maybe they should try to step into the RPG universe... with thier talent im sure they'll come up with something good :)
This comment has been deleted
1 Like I used to like Rock* games for what they have done so far, but MP3 wasn't that good. I still love Rock* for GTA and Manhunt,... but MP3 destroyed my childhood fav character( Max Payne 1/2, still play them )
4 Like @shayan_47 MP3 turned out a lot better than I was expecting. Wasn't the best but still good.
1 Like Rockstar delivers the most quality games on the market, they deserve to grow even further.. best company imo.. =] (... just bought max payne 3 :)..)
1 Like Nothing like government subsidy. Hopefully Australia and England take the hint and start sponsoring some game development. Toronto especially is a development hothouse
6 Like A good sign for Rockstar indeed. Some studios are closing up shop entirely. Personally I think having the government supporting them will prove pointless because a company like Rockstar can stand on their own two feet. Government involvement only makes more problems. I hope R* does the right thing once they've established themselves, and refuse further government aid.
@KamuiFei "Some studios are closing up shop entirely." Please tell me one of those are BioWare or EA!!
1 Like @KamuiFei It's all about how much they can play off of each other and write off taxes. As long as the company is actually successful (It's Rock*, that's not even a concern for them), they both come out on top.
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