Rockstar Games has acquired video game developer Ruffian Games. The Scotland-based studio actually began talks with Rockstar nearly a year ago. Those not familiar with its name should be familiar with more than a few of the games it’s worked on. From numerous Halo titles (including Halo: The Master Chief Collection) to the last two Crackdown games, it has been involved in the gaming industry since 2008.
A name change has occurred during this transaction. Ruffian Games has now been rebranded as Rockstar Dundee. The new name hearkens to Rockstar’s origins in 1988 as DMA Designs, which started in Dundee, Scotland. DSOG has reported that this name change took place on October 6, 2020. For some time, it has been suspected that Ruffian Games was working on undisclosed games for Rockstar. Last October, it even posted about employment opportunities for them online.
We’re #Hiring! https://t.co/W5YqjZODIJ
— Ruffian Games (@RuffianGames) October 11, 2019
Close ties in the developer community are not the only thing they share in common. Both companies are also in close proximity to each other, being only roughly 40 miles apart. Last year, ResetEra expanded further about Ruffian Games’ job postings.
The studio is looking for senior, UI, systems, graphics, gameplay scripting and people with “generalized experience in multiplayer action games developed for PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and future platforms.” at junior and senior levels.
What’s Next?
It still remains a mystery as to what projects the newly acquired studio may be working on. Considering Ruffian’s previous experience with working on titles for Microsoft, it wouldn’t be a far reach to believe it could be something involving the Xbox Series X. Even without the upcoming console’s release, there are plenty of rumors it may be involved with an as of yet unannounced GTA project. One other possibility could be Bully 2.