Rockstar Dundee

Rockstar Dundee Limited (formerly Ruffian Games Limited) is a British video game developer based in Dundee. Founded in April 2008 by Gary Liddon, Billy Thomson and Gareth Noyce, the company is best known for developing Crackdown 2, released in 2010. In 2020, Ruffian Games was acquired by Take-Two Interactive and became part of Rockstar Games as Rockstar Dundee.

Rockstar Dundee Limited
FormerlyRuffian Games Limited (2008–2020)
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
FoundedApril 2008 (2008-04)
Founders
Headquarters
Dundee
,
Scotland
Key people
ProductsCrackdown 2 (2010)
Number of employees
27[1] (2019)
ParentRockstar Games (2020–present)
Websiteruffiangames.com

History
Former Ruffian Games logo (2008–2020)

Ruffian Games was founded in April 2008 by Gary Liddon, Billy Thomson, and Gareth Noyce.[2] Liddon and Thomson assumed the roles of studio head and creative director, respectively.[3] The team consisted of developers who "have worked on games like Crackdown, Fable II and Project Gotham Racing".[4] Ruffian Games originally consisted of members from Realtime Worlds and Xen Studios, among others.[5] Before the "official" announcement, however, rumours circulated that a studio was in development of the sequel to the Realtime Worlds game, Crackdown. As early as December 2008, rumours emerged that Ruffian Games was formed to create a sequel to Crackdown.[6] In light of these rumours, Realtime Worlds issued a statement claiming that they "'continue to have ongoing discussions' with Microsoft about a Crackdown sequel, although no offer has been made". The rumours, however, ousted Ruffian Games as a Microsoft-funded developer.[7]

After the announcement, not much news circulated regarding the project the developer was currently working on. The developer was keeping its current project under wraps: "Now we're in full production, we're itching to share the fantastic work these guys have been producing" stated Liddon.[8] On 22 May 2009, it was announced that the developer had added 15 new members to its team.[9]

At Microsoft's 2009 E3 conference, Ruffian Games announced their project to be Crackdown 2, which was released 6 July 2010 in North America.[10]

Ruffian Games is made up of a large amount of former Realtime Worlds employees, who moved to this studio after the failure of APB: All Points Bulletin, the main cause of Realtime Worlds' collapse.

The developer was reported to be working on a reboot of the Streets of Rage series for Sega as a digital download title. However, former employee Sean Noonan, while confirming the rumour about the game, stated it was a prototype developed in eight weeks by a small group of employees of the developer.[11]

On 19 February 2013, Ruffian Games revealed their new self-published project Tribal Towers. They also confirmed they weren't currently working on a sequel to the Crackdown franchise.[12]

On 27 January 2014, Ruffian Games announced that Tribal Towers had evolved into a new project entitled Game of Glens.[13] It was announced alongside Square Enix's new venture 'Collective', in which it was one of the 3 launch titles that users could vote on to gather interest in the game.[14]

On 12 August 2014, Ruffian Games revealed Hollowpoint for PlayStation 4 and PC during Sony's Gamescom press conference. The game was set to be published by Paradox Interactive.[15] However, Ruffian announced the end of the partnership with Paradox in March 2016 and the development of the title was put on hold.[16]

On 12 October 2019, it was revealed that the company was working with Rockstar Games on unspecified titles.[17]

By October 2020, the company was acquired by Take-Two Interactive and became part of Rockstar Games as Rockstar Dundee.[18][19][20][21]

Games developed
Year Title Platform(s) Publisher(s)
2010 Crackdown 2 Xbox 360 Microsoft Studios
2012 Kinect Playfit Xbox 360 Microsoft Studios
2017 Fragmental Microsoft Windows Ruffian Games
2019 Crackdown 3 Microsoft Windows, Xbox One Microsoft Studios
RADtv Microsoft Windows Ruffian Games

Additional work
Year Title Lead developer(s) Platform(s) Publisher(s)
2012 Kinect Star Wars Terminal Reality Xbox 360 Microsoft Studios
Nike+ Kinect Training Sumo Digital Xbox 360 Microsoft Studios
2013 Kinect Sesame Street TV Soho Productions Xbox 360 Microsoft Studios
2014 Kinect Sports Rivals Rare Xbox One Microsoft Studios
Halo: The Master Chief Collection 343 Industries Microsoft Windows, Xbox One Microsoft Studios
2019 Crackdown 3: Wrecking Zone Elbow Rocket Microsoft Windows, Xbox One Microsoft Studios

References
  1. "Ruffian Games Limited – Unaudited financial statements for the year ended 30 April 2019". Companies House. 9 March 2020.
  2. "About". Ruffian Games. 2019. Archived from the original on 12 October 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  3. Rob Crossley (20 January 2009). "Ruffian Games Officially Announced – Edge Magazine". Next-gen.biz. Archived from the original on 3 September 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  4. Luke Plunkett (20 January 2009). "Say Hello To Ruffian Games". Kotaku.com. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  5. "Ruffian Games formed". News.bigdownload.com. 20 January 2009. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  6. Wong, Steven. "Joystiq". Gamedaily.com. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  7. Pereira, Chris (19 December 2008). "Crackdown 2 Reportedly in Development at Newly-Formed Studio: News from". 1UP.com. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  8. McElroy, Griffin (22 May 2009). "Ruffian Games expands team by 15, 'itching' to reveal first project". Joystiq. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  9. "Ruffian games expands by 15, still won't say what they're working on «". Digitalbattle.com. 22 May 2009. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  10. "E3 2009: Crackdown 2 Announced; 2010 Release Date". PerezStart. 15 March 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  11. "Footage of Ruffian's Streets of Rage leaks out".
  12. http://www.tribaltowers.com/2013/02/19/ruffians-new-thing/
  13. http://www.ruffiangames.com/2014/01/27/introducing-game-of-glens/
  14. "Scottish devs Ruffian Games add Game of Glens to Square Enix Collective – VG247". 4 February 2014.
  15. "Hollowpoint from Ruffian Games will make its console debut on PS4". 12 August 2014.
  16. Yin-Poole, Wesley (8 March 2016). "Ruffian's Hollowpoint on hold, Paradox partnership dead". Eurogamer. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  17. Nunneley, Stephany (12 October 2019). "Ruffian Games working with Rockstar Games on "upcoming titles"". VG247. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  18. Robinson, Andy (12 October 2020). "Rockstar has taken over Master Chief Collection developer Ruffian Games". Video Games Chronicle. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  19. Valentine, Rebekah (12 October 2020). "Rockstar buys Ruffian Games, rebrands to Rockstar Dundee". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  20. Avard, Alex (14 October 2020). "Rockstar has officially bought Crackdown 2 developer Ruffian Games". GamesRadar+. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  21. "Rockstar Games Acquires Ruffian Games". Business Wire. 14 October 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
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