Rockstar Vancouver 'closing' in favor of Rockstar Toronto

[garyopa]

Rockstar Vancouver merging into Toronto team



Take Two Interactive has announced that they will gradually move their Vancouver studio to a new, larger facility in Oakville, Ontario, alongside the Rockstar Toronto team.

Take Two Interactive has announced 'a studio shuffle' within Rockstar.

Rockstar Vancouver (Bully, Max Payne 3) will be no more... well kinda. The 35-man team will now relocate to join colleagues from Rockstar Toronto (The Warriors, GTA series support, etc).

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."

As you may know, Rockstar's development -regularly- involves teams from half a dozen studios working collaboratively on single releases.

So, that's why this isn't expected to have much impact on the dev process (or, let's hope not).

NEWS SOURCE #1: Rockstar expands its Toronto operations (via) GameSpot
NEWS SOURCE #2: Rockstar Vancouver merged into Toronto team (via) VG247

Our thanks to 'Gauss' for this news item!

[wewii]

Why is it called Rockstar Toronto.... if their studio is in Oakville...... that 2 cities next door. Not even close.