Discover the first game released by Rockstar

Rockstar Games is one of the biggest powers in the gaming industry, currently well-known mainly for titles such as GTA and Red Dead Redemption. But do you know what the first game released by the producer was?

Learn a little more about the company’s history and discover which was the first game it launched after being founded under that name. Can you guess?

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Understanding the trajectory of Rockstar Games

The history of Rockstar Games began with DMA Design, a Scottish games studio founded by David Jones in 1987. DMA was known for successful titles such as Lemmings, and would later become Rockstar North, and it was as DMA that development of the first game released by Rockstar began.

So it is important to highlight here that the studio had already released games before when it was DMA, but in this article we will not take these titles into consideration, focusing on the moment when Rockstar Games was founded with that name and under the tutelage of Take-Two Interactive, a North American company.

It was after this acquisition that Rockstar Games was officially founded in 1998 by Sam and Dan Houser, Terry Donovan and Jamie King. Therefore, we took into account the company’s own website and its line-up of games, which can be seen by clicking here.

Rockstar’s vision has always been to create games that offer more than simple action mechanics, they wanted to explore more complex themes, create immersive worlds and allow players greater freedom in their experiences.

With that, Grand Theft Auto (GTA) was the first step on this path, and although its graphics were simple and its gameplay quite primitive compared to today’s standards, the game brought a new perspective to the industry and to the producer itself.

Grand Theft Auto is one of the most iconic titles in video game history, marking the beginning of Rockstar Games as one of the biggest powerhouses in the industry. Released in 1998, the game not only redefined the action and open-world genres, but also brought an innovative approach that would influence generations of developers. Although the franchise’s global success only really came with Grand Theft Auto III (2001), the first GTA was fundamental in shaping Rockstar Games’ DNA and showing its creative potential.

Grand Theft Auto Development

Development of Grand Theft Auto began in the mid-1990s, still under the name DMA Design. The central idea was to create an action game that offered the player the freedom to move around an open city, interact with different elements of the environment and complete missions.

The open-world concept wasn’t entirely new, but DMA Design sought to take a more expansive and dynamic approach than most games at the time. The game was initially called Race’n’Chase, a title focused on police chases and street racing, but as development progressed, the focus shifted to an action-adventure game in which the player controlled a criminal character in an urban environment.

One of the biggest challenges during development was balancing freedom of exploration with a linear narrative. To achieve this, DMA implemented an open-ended mission system, in which players could accept and complete jobs for different criminal factions spread across the city whenever they wanted.

The top-down perspective was a technical and design choice. While it limited the game’s graphical depth, it allowed the developers to create a large, complex city without compromising hardware performance. The freedom of action, variety of vehicles, and ability to interact with the environment made Grand Theft Auto a unique experience at the time.

Gameplay brought diversity of experiences

Grand Theft Auto’s gameplay is a mix of action, driving, and exploration in an open-world environment. The game is set in three fictional cities: Liberty City, Vice City, and San Andreas, all inspired by major American cities. The player assumes the role of an unnamed criminal whose goal is to complete a series of missions for different crime bosses.

The game’s structure was quite innovative for its time. Instead of following a linear path of missions as in most games, the player had the freedom to choose which tasks to perform, how to complete them, and when to explore the city in search of new opportunities. The variety of missions included everything from car thefts and drug deliveries to assassinations and police chases, providing a great diversity of experiences.

One of GTA’s major innovations was the inclusion of a “chaos” or “notoriety” system. When the player committed crimes, such as running over people or shooting civilians, the police would be called and would begin to pursue them. The intensity of the pursuit increased as more crimes were committed, creating a wanted level system that added an element of risk and strategy to the game.

Additionally, the player could steal and drive a wide variety of vehicles, from sports cars to trucks and motorcycles. This vehicle theft mechanic would become a mainstay of the series, giving players a sense of freedom and control over the urban environment.

Grand Theft Auto Reception

Upon its release in 1998 (by which time Rockstar Games had already been founded under that name), Grand Theft Auto received a mixed reception. Many critics praised the game’s innovative open-world concept and the freedom it offered, but others pointed out issues with the graphics, controls, and top-down perspective, which made it difficult to feel immersed compared to other 3D games that were emerging at the time.

PC Zone magazine highlighted the game’s “unprecedented freedom”, while IGN praised its engaging gameplay and unique style, calling it a “breath of fresh air” in a market saturated with linear action games. On the other hand, some publications criticized the game’s gratuitous violence and its encouragement of criminal behavior, which generated controversy from the beginning (and continued to do so throughout the game’s franchise).

In terms of sales, Grand Theft Auto was initially a modest success, especially in Europe, where the former DMA Design already had a solid fan base. However, it was in the United States, with the growing notoriety of its controversial themes, that the game began to gain more attention, both from the media and from gamers.

Despite its critical reviews, Grand Theft Auto gained a loyal following and generated a great deal of interest in sequels. This success led Rockstar Games to invest further in the concept, culminating in the development of Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999) and, later, Grand Theft Auto III (2001), which would revolutionize the open-world genre and catapult the franchise to the top of the sales charts.

Impact and legacy of the GTA

Grand Theft Auto was a fundamental milestone in the history of Rockstar Games. Although it was not an absolute success and even overshadowed by its successors, the game established the main elements that would define the series: a dynamic open world, the freedom of the player to explore and interact with the environment, and a narrative centered on criminal characters.

Additionally, GTA brought the combination of action, vehicle driving and open-ended missions, a model that would be refined in later games.

The cultural impact of the first Grand Theft Auto cannot be understated either. It kicked off a long-running debate about the depiction of violence and crime in video games, something that Rockstar would continue to grapple with over the years. This controversy, far from hurting the company, actually generated free publicity and increased interest in subsequent games in the series.

With the release of Grand Theft Auto III, Rockstar Games cemented its place at the top of the gaming industry, and the GTA franchise became one of the best-selling and most acclaimed of all time. However, the first Grand Theft Auto remains a landmark title, as it was the starting point of this remarkable journey.