Technology magazine Wired has posted an article that recounts the controversial story of GTA and its makers, charting the various moral criticisms, lawsuits and scandals that have surrounded Rockstar's iconic game since its inception in the '90s.
Titled "The Road to Ruin: How Grand Theft Auto Hit the Skids," author David Kushner's piece certainly makes for interesting reading - you might want to skip the bits about audit committees, hedge funds and stock options, though - and offers some gossip-column style dirt on the regime behind-the-scenes at developer/publisher Rockstar.
About the company's execs, one ex-employee is quoted as saying, "The money turned them into jackasses very quickly." While Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser's former assistant remembers being "commanded to clean snow out of his home satellite dish." Another reveals that Rockstar HQ was a bad place to be if any of its games received negative press, describing the reaction as "a shitstorm of yelling and screaming."
And while we're in no position to comment on the driving force behind GTA and whether they're a bunch of jumped up jackasses owned by a company that can't keep its accounts in order, what we do know is that without Rockstar the world of gaming would be a lot less interesting.
You can read the full Wired articleright here.
March 30, 2007
