Rockstar Games Toronto ULC is a Canadian video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Oakville, Ontario. The company was established as Imagexcel and became part of GameTek through its Alternative Reality Technologies division in March 1995. ART was acquired by Take-Two Interactive in July 1997 and became part of Take-Two's Rockstar Games label in 1999 as Rockstar Canada. In August 2002, the company was renamed Rockstar Toronto to avoid confusion with the newly-acquired Rockstar Vancouver. Under Rockstar Games, Rockstar Toronto has primarily been a porting house for games developed by other studios of Rockstar Games, but also developed the 2005 game The Warriors, based on the 1979 film of the same name, and co-developed Max Payne 3, as part of Rockstar Studios, in 2011. Following the release of Max Payne 3, Rockstar Vancouver was folded and merged into Rockstar Toronto, with the resulting company moving into new, bigger offices.
History
As Imagexcel and Alternative Reality Technologies (1988–1999)
Imagexcel was established "before the time of He-Man". A notable game produced under the Imagexcel name was Quarantine. By the time of Quarantine development, Imagexcel consisted of programmers Kevin Hoare, Ed Zolnieryk and Andy Brownbill, and artists Greg Bick and Ray Larabie. On 9 March 1995, it was announced that the company's assets had been acquired by Alternative Reality Technologies, a newly formed division of GameTek. As ART, the company developed , which was released in 1996, and Dark Colony, which was released in 1997. On 31 July 1997, Take-Two Interactive announced that they had acquired several assets from GameTek, including ART, GameTek's European offices, and distribution rights to GameTek's Dark Colony, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune games.
As part of Rockstar Games (1999–present)
In 1999, ART became part of Rockstar Games, Take-Two's previously established publishing label, and assumed the name Rockstar Canada. Under this name, the studio created two Grand Theft Auto expansion packs: ' and ', and later ported two Rockstar Games titles to PlayStation 2: Oni and Max Payne. On 1 August 2002, Take-Two announced the acquisition of Barking Dog Studios, which would be renamed Rockstar Vancouver. As part of the acquisition, Rockstar Canada would be renamed Rockstar Toronto to avoid confusion between the two. Alongside the acquisition, Take-Two announced that the now-renamed Rockstar Toronto was working on a video game adaptation of the 1979 Walter Hill-directed film The Warriors. The eponymous game was first shown at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in May 2005, and released in October that year. The game was well received, and a PlayStation Portable conversion of it was developed by Rockstar Toronto in conjunction with Rockstar Leeds. A spiritual successor to The Warriors, tentatively titled We Are the Mods, was originally planned, but ultimately cancelled. Following the release of The Warriors, Rockstar Toronto developed Wii ports of Manhunt 2 and ', and the Microsoft Windows ports of Grand Theft Auto IV and '. In September 2008, Rockstar Toronto was rumoured to be working on a third instalment in the Max Payne series. In November 2010, Rockstar Toronto teased to be working on next-generation games. The company proceeded to collaborate with all other Rockstar Games studios, collectively referred to as Rockstar Studios, to develop Max Payne 3, also porting the game Microsoft Windows. On 9 July 2012, Rockstar Games announced that Rockstar Toronto would be moving into a new, bigger, and custom-built studio within Oakville, Ontario, into which Rockstar Vancouver would be merged. All of Rockstar Vancouver's 35 employees at the time were given the possibility to move to the newly-expanded Rockstar Toronto, or any other Rockstar Games studio. The expansion and move was partially financed by the Government of Ontario. Jennifer Kolbe, vice-president of publishing and operations at Rockstar Games, stated that the move intended to make a single Canadian team that would "make for a powerful creative force on future projects", and aimed at making room for 50 new positions at the company. On 22 November 2012, the company was legally renamed from Rockstar Toronto Inc., over Rockstar Games Toronto Inc., to Rockstar Games Toronto ULC, as such becoming an unlimited liability corporation under the laws of British Columbia. By July 2013, job postings again started teasing a next-generation game in development at Rockstar Toronto. The studio assisted Rockstar North on developing Grand Theft Auto V, which first released in September 2013, as well as handling its Microsoft Windows port, which released in April 2015. For the Microsoft Windows versions of Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto V, respectively, Rockstar Toronto developed a built-in video editor for footage captured in-game. Journalists remarked Grand Theft Auto V Microsoft Windows version as its "ultimate version".
