Rockstar's rise and fall told by the common worker
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Jul 25th 2007 at 5:26PM }
This is the tale of Jeff Williams, a web producer, who on his personal blog tells the inside story of the average man at Rockstar games, from just after Grand Theft Auto III's launch, to right before the "Hot Coffee" incident. A feature he says the company was well aware of, but due to massive turnover and disregard for the depths some PC gamers will go, Rockstar ended up lying about their knowledge of "Hot Coffee." That lie, along with other Rockstar games, helped create the video game censorship and regulatory issues we face today.Although not nearly as devastating as the EA Spouse chronicles, Williams does spin the tale of a company that hit it big with the GTA franchise, a franchise he says had little to do with the Rockstar he worked for, and never found another. Jeff says, "It was obvious to me from the start that the company had built itself on one major hit game. The question was whether they knew how to capitalize on that and create other hit games. Manhunt was my answer, and that answer was 'no'."
By the end he says Manhunt turned a lot of people off, burnout was high, management was inexperienced and it just fell apart with "Hot Coffee," which he says the company was well aware of the whole time. Rockstar still hasn't found another viable franchise as we all sit and wait for Grand Theft Auto IV. A good read to understand the average man's experience at a company, away from the suits and the PR spin.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kinsman @ Jul 25th 2007 5:34PM
Even with its problems, Rockstar, thank you; every art form needs to be dragged through a valley of trouble and controversy before it matures into something respected and true, and however clumsily, you were the agent of the beginning.
MosquitoControl @ Jul 25th 2007 5:36PM
I still don't think it should matter if they knew about it.
If they never intended for it to be accessed, that should be good enough. It was an unfinished mess, I don't think there's a chance it was an intentional easter egg.
So knowing something is there, and turning it off, should be fine. It's like painting over crappy wallpaper.
Burritoclock @ Jul 25th 2007 5:51PM
"The question was whether they knew how to capitalize on that and create other hit games. Manhunt was my answer, and that answer was 'no'."
Yes, Manhunt was such a failure they made a sequel... wait...
(not referring to the AO and all that, but to say rockstar couldn't make another "hit" game. Manhunt was not as big a seller as GTA, but it did well.
Tony @ Jul 25th 2007 5:55PM
I really don't think he was referring to Manhunt in terms of sales. The context is that he simply didn't believe in the game and apparently every one there felt kind of weird about it.
Tony @ Jul 25th 2007 5:55PM
As for Hot Coffee... the problem is still that it was in there and they lied about it being in there. The ESRB would still have to be informed about it.
Leo @ Jul 25th 2007 6:00PM
This essay has very little to do with Hot Coffee, though. It's mostly about the internals of the company-something very often overlooked in the wake of Jack Thompson and game controversies.
rokerovakero @ Jul 25th 2007 7:06PM
The could have easily erased that "hot coffee" from te game, they were planning to have it, but in the end decided it was too much to have porn in here, but eventually it was going to come out, and the fact that couple months after release it did.
making manhunt an over the top sadistic game, should give an idea, that these guys are just trying to stir controversy for their games and profit for it. GTA is a great original game, but they don't need to start adding stupid stuff like that, that only created that hideous idiot, Jack Thompson, and crazy censorship of r everyone, not just Rockstar.
Gavin @ Jul 25th 2007 7:41PM
I think all these people defending Manhunt are probably just Wii fans who never played the first game but are just holding up hope that the sequel will be awesome with waggle controls. The first game was exceptionally mediocre in all aspects. The story was pretty much non-existant and dull, the levels were tedious, the AI wasn't anything special, and the combat was extremely repetitious and boring. Manhunt wasn't that great....
matt @ Jul 25th 2007 7:54PM
"It was obvious to me from the start that the company had built itself on one major hit game. The question was whether they knew how to capitalize on that and create other hit games."
I liked Midnight Club. That was a hit game. So was Bully. Oh, and Table Tennis was great fun too.
fawazr @ Jul 25th 2007 8:29PM
I think he's defining "hit" by virtue of sales. This makes sense considering overall game sales would be strong indicators of his own job security.
Of all the games you've listed, only the Midnight Club series can be considered "hit." But remember that the Midnight Club series isn't nearly as relevant as it once was and sales have declined dramatically for each new installment.
The GTA franchise was (is?) Rockstar's bread and butter and has sold 40+ million copies. Nothing else in their portfolio comes close.
SuperChuck @ Jul 26th 2007 2:49AM
Maybe it's just me, but this guy mostly seems like a pretentious web guy who's upset because he wasn't the center of attention. He complains that the company threw parties, which he did his best to avoid. He had personal issues with Manhunt being too violent. His reference to the "entire art department" included print design, web design, and a game producer (no modellers? game artists?).
It seems like he went from a web firm in the midst of the web bubble to a game firm. At that point, in the web world, you were a demigod if you could string together a few lines of HTML. In the software world (and games in particular), the web guy is almost a second-class citizen who you shove in a corner and hope he doesn't bother you too much.
Beaudry @ Jul 26th 2007 11:20AM
"Right now this post is on the front page of Joystiq, and their summary of this part is a little misleading. If I've stirred anything up with this, I do apologize - my understanding was that all of this was settled long ago."