Rockstar Vancouver Studio Closes as Part of Bigger, Better Plans

Rockstar Games has dissolved Rockstar Vancouver, the lead development studio behind Max Payne 3, as a part of multiple major changes to its Canadian game studios.

Rockstar hopes to retain a 35 person development team from the studio. This team was offered staff positions at Rockstar Toronto, which will be relocating to a brand new, larger office in Oakville, Ontario.

Staff members who could not complete the cross country move were offered jobs at other studios. Rockstar also plans to add 50 new positions to its Canadian team in the months ahead.

In an interview with The Sixth Axis, Jennifer Kolbe, the Vice President of Publishing and Operations at Rockstar, described the reasoning behind these changes.

“Expanding Rockstar Toronto and bringing our Canadian development talent together under one roof underscores our commitment to building world-class teams that can make the kind of ground breaking entertainment Rockstar is known for,” Kolbe said. “We believe a single Canadian team will make a more powerful creative force on future projects.”

Rockstar Toronto has not been the lead development studio for a game in some time. They last game they had a large influence over was 2005′s action title The Warriors. It is uncertain whether their current support role will change after these major moves.