Rockstar North

Updated 29 October 2026 · Fan site. Not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive.

Rockstar North is the Edinburgh studio that leads development of the Grand Theft Auto series. David Jones founded it in Dundee in 1988 as DMA Design, which made Lemmings in 1991 and the first GTA in 1997. Take-Two bought it in 1999, and it took the Rockstar North name in May 2002. Since GTA III in 2001 it has led every main GTA game.

What is Rockstar North?

Rockstar North is the Scottish studio behind the main Grand Theft Auto games. It is part of Rockstar Games, which is owned by Take-Two Interactive. Before it carried the Rockstar name it was DMA Design, a small Dundee developer best known for Lemmings. Wikipedia names Andrew Semple as studio director, with Aaron Garbut and Rob Nelson as co-heads.

Who founded DMA Design?

David Jones founded DMA Design Limited in Dundee in 1988, when he was 22. His early team was Mike Dailly, Steve Hammond and Russell Kay, friends from a local amateur computer club, and Gary Timmons and Brian Watson joined soon after. Jones had wanted the name Acme, but it was taken. According to Wikipedia, DMA had no official meaning, and Jones later joked that it stood for "Doesn't Mean Anything".

What games did DMA Design make before GTA?

The studio's first release was the shooter Menace in October 1988, followed by Blood Money in April 1989, both published by Psygnosis. The breakthrough came in February 1991 with Lemmings, the puzzle game about guiding a stream of little creatures to safety. Wikipedia puts its lifetime sales at about 20 million copies across 21 platforms.

Other DMA titles include Walker and Hired Guns (both 1993), Unirally for the SNES (1994), and two 1998 Nintendo 64 games, Body Harvest and Space Station Silicon Valley.

How did DMA Design become Rockstar North?

The studio changed hands several times in a few years. Gremlin Interactive bought DMA Design in April 1997 for £4.2 million. That same year DMA released Grand Theft Auto. In March 1998 Take-Two bought BMG Interactive, which brought it the GTA rights, and set up Rockstar Games that December. In September 1999 Take-Two bought DMA itself from Infogrames for a token £1 plus around US$12.3 million of debt, according to Wikipedia.

An Edinburgh office opened in Leith in 1999 with 25 staff, and the Dundee office closed in March 2000. David Jones left in early 2000 and went on to found Denki. The studio was renamed Rockstar Studios in March 2002 and then Rockstar North in May 2002.

Which GTA games did Rockstar North make?

The studio led the move to 3D with Grand Theft Auto III in 2001, which Wikipedia says sold 6 million copies in its first year, then made Vice City (2002), San Andreas (2004), GTA IV (2008) with its expansions collected in Episodes from Liberty City, and GTA V (2013). Outside GTA it made Manhunt (2003) and helped on other Rockstar titles such as Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2.

Who is Leslie Benzies?

Leslie Benzies took on the senior leadership role at the Edinburgh branch after the move from Dundee. He took a sabbatical in September 2014, and his departure was announced in January 2016. In April 2016 he sued over roughly $150 million in royalties. The case was dismissed on 8 February 2019 after a confidential settlement, according to Wikipedia.

How big is Rockstar North?

Wikipedia charts the growth: 22 staff in November 1992, around 60 people on the GTA III team, 220 at the studio for GTA IV, a core of 360 on GTA V, and 650 employees in 2018. The studio was at Calton Square from 2004 to 2014 before moving to Barclay House on Holyrood Road, which it bought for £31 million in July 2021.

Recent events

On 30 October 2025 Rockstar dismissed 31 employees at the studio, which the IWGB union described as union busting, and the same day GTA VI was delayed. In May 2026, staff at Rockstar North and four other UK studios formed the Rockstar Games Workers Union within the IWGB Game Workers Union.