BETA | THE HISTORY OF GTA
JACKED
The team behind Grand Theft Auto didn’t just create a game; they built a pop culture phenomenon. Here we present two excerpts from David Kushner’s new book Jacked, which tells the unauthorised story behind the GTA series
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
IN THIS EXCERPTwe pick up with Sam and Dan Houser and the founding members of Rockstar Games shortly after moving to America to establish the business. They had a vision, and they had plenty of attitude. All they needed was a name
One day Sam and the others piled into a car for a road trip to Six Flags Great Adventure, the theme park in Jackson, New Jersey. The guys loved roller coasters almost as much as hip-hop and wanted to celebrate their new move with a day on the rides. GTA was on its way to selling more than one million copies worldwide. They still weren’t rich, but they were emboldened. They wanted to brand themselves while they were hot, so that consumers knew they weren’t just buying into a game but a lifestyle. They just needed a name. They would still remain part of Take-Two Interactive but as a branded label. Grudge Games was Donovan’s favorite, suggested
because they were, as Sam once put it, “world-class grudge bearers.” “Minimum ten years,” Dan said. When they had run the idea by Brant, though, he balked. “You know, guys,” he said, “I know where you’re going with that, but it’s a little on the negative side.” During a recent trip to London, Sam had
tossed out the name Rockstar. “I like everything, from the Keith Richards it evokes to the campiness it evokes,” he later said, “and everything in between. . . at the end of the day you can’t fuck with Keith Richards!” “It’s a nod to the past and a snipe at it at the same time,” [marketing man Terry] Donovan agreed. “And also, in a weird way, a snipe at the lameness of the present. In some ways, the golden age of the rock star is done. Not many Keith Richards around now. Now they’re drinking herbal tea!” Foreman had one concern about calling themselves Rockstar: they had better
deliver. “People will make fun of us,” he said. “We’ll get shit, but then pressure would be on. We’ll have to live up to it. We have to make sure our games are really, really good.” Yet that, for them, was a given. Now the co-founders of this label simply had to make it official. Over in the midway at Six Flags, they saw
a vendor selling wooden plaques. For a few bucks, visitors could have their own messages burned into the wood, such as “Bon Jovi Rulez!”. As the acrid smell of sizzling carbon filled the air, they watched the carny etch their new name into the wood: Rockstar Games. They decided to burn one more sign for good measure. Something they could hang next to this one in the Commune back in New York. A phrase to remind them forever of this day when their mission began. A cheeky message, perhaps, for anyone who might ever try to stop them. “Fuck Off Cunts,” it read.
36 | APRIL 2012
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
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