For a portion successful the precocious 2000s, developers astatine Rockstar New England thought they were moving connected the adjacent large Rockstar game.
They were excited to propulsion the company’s tech and to bring a cult deed into Rockstar’s imaginativeness for the future. They were excited for the accidental to beryllium themselves arsenic a Rockstar studio, having precocious been purchased by the company. They were excited to pb improvement connected Bully 2, the sequel to Rockstar’s critically acclaimed open-world escapade astir beingness successful a backstage school.
But things don’t ever spell arsenic planned, and different obligations connected a merchandise docket get successful the mode of passionateness projects. Rockstar New England’s Bully 2 was shelved successful favour of other, much troubled projects successful development, similar Max Payne 3 and Red Dead Redemption.
“[Rockstar New England] wanted to beryllium benignant of the aureate kid successful the Rockstar thing, but it’s truly hard erstwhile Rockstar North was the 1 that was producing each the aureate eggs astatine that time,” 1 developer says. “Living successful the shadows of idiosyncratic who casts a large shadiness similar Rockstar North, and trying to usurp that role, it’s truly hard and astir impossible. But man, did they try. Oh, did they try.”
To find retired what precisely the workplace was readying with Bully 2 and wherefore it was yet fto spell successful favour of different projects, we precocious spoke to 5 erstwhile employees from Rockstar’s New England workplace and 1 from its New York City headquarters, astir of whom requested anonymity retired of fearfulness of repercussions from Rockstar. Their communicative is 1 of shifting institution cultures, tech that would yet find its mode into Rockstar games arsenic precocious arsenic 2018's Red Dead Redemption II, and disappointment implicit the mode things went.
The Name Rockstar
In the precocious ’90s to mid-2000s, Rockstar Games was connected a spending spree. After the archetypal occurrence of its monolithic bid Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar bought a batch of its third-party spouse studios. One of those studios was DMA Design, renamed Rockstar North, developer of the archetypal Grand Theft Auto. Another was Angel Studios, the developer of Red Dead Revolver, Red Dead Redemption, and the Smuggler's Run and Midnight Club series, which the steadfast acquired and renamed Rockstar San Diego.
Mad Doc Software, founded successful Andover, Massachusetts, in 1999 by erstwhile Activision method manager Ian Lane Davis, was different Rockstar acquisition. Davis holds a doctorate successful artificial quality and robotics from Carnegie Mellon University. According to erstwhile developers Game Informer spoke to, arsenic good arsenic an archived mentation of Mad Doc’s website, A.I. was a halfway pillar of the studio’s pedigree. The website claimed that the studio’s team, composed of developers who antecedently worked connected franchises similar Civilization, System Shock, and Thief, had an “unmatched expertise” successful the field.
For its archetypal decade, Mad Doc operated connected a work-for-hire basis, taking projects for publishers specified arsenic Activision, Sierra Entertainment, Disney Interactive, and Vivendi Games. Prior to its acquisition by Rockstar, Mad Doc mostly developed PC strategy games, specified arsenic the Star Trek: Armada and Empire Earth series.
Empire Earth became Mad Doc’s breadstuff and food erstwhile the workplace took implicit improvement connected the archetypal game’s enlargement pack, The Art of Conquest. Though that archetypal merchandise was met with middling reviews, Mad Doc’s adjacent 2 Empire Earth games, Empire Earth 2 and its enlargement The Art of Supremacy, were palmy capable to pb to deals with publishers similar Bethesda Softworks and Rockstar.
Bully
In October 2006, Rockstar released Bully arsenic a PlayStation 2 exclusive. The game, developed by Rockstar’s Vancouver workplace successful Canada, was a subversion of the look that had made the publisher’s games famous. Where successful different Rockstar titles, similar the Grand Theft Auto series, players controlled a transgression escaped to origin mayhem astir an open-world metropolis oregon state, Bully enactment players successful power of Jimmy Hopkins, a precocious schoolhouse pupil astatine the Bullworth Academy boarding school. Rather than termination people, Jimmy got successful fistfights. Instead of guns, helium had stink bombs and slingshots. Rather than propulsion disconnected robberies oregon heists, Jimmy pulled pranks and went to class. Coincidentally, the crippled was acceptable successful New England, Mad Doc’s backyard.
Bully was critically and commercially successful, receiving the highest imaginable reappraisal scores from outlets similar X-Play and 1UP, and a crippled of the twelvemonth information from GameSpot. In March 2008, Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar’s genitor company, announced that the crippled had sold much than 1.5 cardinal copies. For comparison, Grand Theft Auto IV, released successful April 2008, sold much than 8.5 cardinal copies wrong its archetypal month.
Back implicit astatine Mad Doc, Empire Earth 3, released successful November 2007, was critically panned. The institution was successful a pugnacious spot, a erstwhile Mad Doc worker says. “Mad Doc, up until being acquired by Rockstar, was beauteous emblematic of astir autarkic crippled studios successful that it mostly survived by moving connected IP from publishers, portion trying to make and transportation its ain games,” helium says.
Those pugnacious times would beryllium alleviated by a caller partner: Rockstar. After the success of Bully connected PlayStation 2, Rockstar approached Mad Doc astir processing Bully: Scholarship Edition, a remaster with caller missions, characters, and items. Mad Doc led the improvement of Scholarship Edition’s Xbox 360 and Windows PC versions, released successful March and October 2008, respectively, portion Rockstar Toronto developed the Wii port.
In April 2008, Rockstar announced it had acquired Mad Doc Software for an undisclosed magnitude and renamed the workplace Rockstar New England. Speaking successful a news merchandise announcing the acquisition, Rockstar co-founder and president Sam Houser said that making Mad Doc a Rockstar workplace would “enhance our halfway exertion and further enactment our committedness to creating progressive and innovative gaming experiences.”
“We’re anxious to bring our expertise to carnivore successful the character-driven, open-world stories that marque Rockstar Games titles truthful uniquely compelling,” Davis, who became workplace caput of Rockstar New England aft the purchase, said successful the release.
According to developers Game Informer spoke to, opinions connected becoming a Rockstar workplace were affirmative astatine the time. Some staffers, specified arsenic 3D creator Tim Samuels, were excited by the imaginable of making games for 1 of the biggest developers successful the world. “I thought it was really really, truly cool,” Samuels says. “It’s like, Hey, Rockstar! I mean, these guys are triple-A. They’re No. 1, connected the top. [...] We conscionable took it successful stride and started working.”
“Rockstar itself [...] you say, ‘I enactment astatine Rockstar,’ radical were truly successful awe of that,” 1 erstwhile developer says. “It was bully to person immoderate clout to a job. You know? I was excited to enactment connected thing that they had, due to the fact that astir of the games that they’d churned retired [had] been beauteous golden.”
However, immoderate accidental that they gradually started to spot Mad Doc’s workplace civilization vanish aft the acquisition, and that crunch became a much prevalent contented wrong the workplace erstwhile it was nether the Rockstar banner.
“Don’t get maine incorrect – during the making of Empire Earth 3 determination was crunch [at Mad Doc], but it was handled well,” says a erstwhile developer. “There were days to marque up for it. No 1 was cracking a whip implicit our heads. Every present and past we would person ‘fire drills’ connected Fridays. You could enactment the occurrence drills successful aerial quotes due to the fact that it was truly conscionable the shaper astatine the time; it was his mode of letting america retired early. There was a overmuch amended equilibrium betwixt enactment and life.”
Shortly aft Rockstar purchased Mad Doc, Rockstar's erstwhile vice president of improvement Jeronimo Barrera visited the studio, the developer continues. Barrera was determination to tract worker questions but near immoderate feeling uneasy astir their caller employer.
“One of the archetypal reddish flags was erstwhile idiosyncratic asked astir hours and weekends and worldly similar that," the developer recalls. "Jeronimo’s reply was thing to the effect of, ‘Well, we don’t enactment every weekend.’ He's like, ‘For example, I’m not moving this Saturday.’ The accent connected the connection ‘every,’ and past ‘this,’ were a small disquieting successful their effect.” (In 2019, a study from Kotaku detailed Barrerra's reputation wrong Rockstar, citing aggregate employees describing him arsenic "abrasive" and "volatile." One worker besides accused Barrera of intersexual battle portion moving astatine Rockstar. Barrera categorically denied each of the allegations of misconduct.)
Shortly aft the purchase, developers astatine Rockstar New England began enactment connected galore projects. There was inactive enactment to decorativeness connected the PC mentation of Scholarship Edition, but the workplace besides assisted successful the improvement of different Rockstar games, specified arsenic Grand Theft Auto IV’s 2 communicative expansions and Red Dead Redemption. In summation to enactment work, Rockstar New England was fixed the accidental to make its ain game, a sequel to Bully.
According to immoderate developers, it was a accidental to beryllium themselves.
Houses
The precocious 2000s marked a displacement successful absorption for Rockstar. For overmuch of the company’s aboriginal history, it released games astatine a complaint that co-founder Jamie King called “relentless,” sometimes processing oregon publishing arsenic galore arsenic 9 oregon 10 caller releases a year, not including ports. While the Grand Theft Auto bid has been a monolithic moneymaker for the institution since the occurrence of 2001’s Grand Theft Auto III, the bulk of the publisher’s room from its archetypal decennary was padded retired with forgotten games, specified arsenic Surfing H3O, Austin Powers: Oh, Behave!, and State of Emergency.
After Grand Theft Auto IV launched successful 2008, that docket slowed down. While Rockstar inactive released plentifulness of ports of its older games connected caller platforms, which it continues to bash today, its fig of yearly games dropped to 1 oregon two. After the motorboat of Grand Theft Auto V successful 2013, which went connected to go 1 of the astir palmy amusement properties of each time, Rockstar stopped putting retired caller games connected a yearly basis. Its adjacent tentpole merchandise wouldn’t travel until 5 years aboriginal with the merchandise of Red Dead Redemption II in 2018.
The alteration successful the company’s merchandise docket besides marked a displacement successful absorption for its games. Early on, Rockstar enactment retired a hodgepodge of titles of antithetic genres and qualities, but aft 2008, the steadfast began to thin further into much expensive, much prestigious releases, often focused connected an older assemblage and built astir gunplay. The institution touted the tech down its games much – specified arsenic L.A. Noire’s facial seizure technology. Its improvement budgets sometimes reportedly pushed much than $250 million. A caller Rockstar crippled became an event, thing that didn’t hap often.
Grand Theft Auto IV
Rockstar New England’s program for Bully 2 was successful enactment with this vision, according to developers connected the project. It was a accidental to fto the Bully bid beryllium alongside Rockstar games of the time, specified arsenic Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption. It was a chance, arsenic 1 erstwhile developer recalls, to “shoot for the satellite due to the fact that adjacent if we don’t rather marque it, we’re already overmuch further than if we had aimed a small spot lower.”
“There was a batch of absorption connected character, precise heavy systems, seeing however acold we could propulsion that, and putting it up determination alongside a GTA,” 1 developer connected the task says.
“I deliberation that they wanted to bring that benignant of [world] to the Bully universe,” different says.
For developers astatine Rockstar New England, this meant making the satellite of Bully 2 bigger and deeper than that of the archetypal crippled – and putting a sizeable magnitude of resources into its creation. While Game Informer wasn’t capable to get an nonstop fig of radical moving connected the project, 3 radical accidental astir the full workplace worked connected Bully 2, astatine immoderate point, with wide headcount estimations being astir 50 to 70 people.
“At 1 point, I deliberation it was everybody,” 1 erstwhile developer says. “The workplace itself, that was going to beryllium their game.”
Three antithetic developers told america that the game’s open-world representation wouldn’t person been arsenic large arsenic that of, say, Grand Theft Auto IV, but their estimates connected its planned scope picture it arsenic ranging from the size of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City’s unfastened satellite to “three times” the size of the archetypal Bully’s schoolhouse map. What it would person lacked successful wide size it would person made up for with depth. For example, Rockstar New England planned to marque each gathering successful the crippled enterable, either by mean means oregon by forced entry. “If you could spot it, you could spell into it,” 1 erstwhile developer connected the task says.
Bully
“[The player] was not going to beryllium driving a car anywhere, truthful the full playable abstraction [and] onshore size [was] decidedly going to beryllium smaller,” different developer says. “Mostly due to the fact that kids – he’s not going to beryllium driving – and besides due to the fact that we wanted these precise heavy systems. Like, if you tin spell into each building, that’s a batch of work. We’d alternatively not person a truly monolithic world; possibly standard that backmost a small spot conscionable truthful that we tin marque definite that we person each these meaningful things successful there.”
Bolstered by Rockstar New England’s pedigree successful artificial intelligence, the workplace was experimenting with ways to marque the player’s actions much meaningful than successful erstwhile Rockstar games. Take, for example, the grant strategy successful the archetypal Red Dead Redemption. If protagonist John Marston helps a nonplayer character, his grant standing rises. But if the subordinate directs Marston to perpetrate crimes, past Marston’s grant falls. While this affects however NPCs respond to Marston retired successful the world, circumstantial NPCs don’t retrieve his idiosyncratic actions.
In Bully 2, however, Rockstar New England was trying to make ways for characters to retrieve Jimmy, for determination to beryllium bully and atrocious consequences for his actions.
“We truly wanted to marque definite that radical remembered what you did, truthful if you pulled a prank connected your neighbor, they’d retrieve it,” says 1 developer. “That your actions had much meaning beyond a 20-foot radius and the five-second memories of the [non-playable characters] adjacent you.”
Parts of this strategy tin beryllium seen successful Red Dead Redemption II, 2 developers archer Game Informer. Players spot changes successful protagonist Arthur Morgan’s behaviour based connected his honor. If Morgan has precocious honor, he’s a much compassionate character. If Morgan has debased honor, he’s driven by greed and apathy. Similarly, if Morgan robs a store, helium can’t conscionable locomotion backmost into it a fewer minutes aboriginal arsenic if thing happened. The store clerk remembers Morgan and denies him service, asking him to leave.
“The mode that you interact with different characters successful the world, much than conscionable with your weapon oregon with your fist, they person immoderate consciousness of representation – a batch of that worldly [originated successful Bully 2],” 1 developer says.
“From what I retrieve speechmaking [in] immoderate of the plan docs and my conversations with radical is that you could physique relationships with characters successful the world,” helium says astir Bully 2. “You’d be, like, champion friends with the cook successful the mansion oregon whatever, oregon the cook could truly hatred you oregon something, and that would unfastened up antithetic options. I don’t cognize to the grade of wherever that ended up – if that got pared down into a wide ‘you’re bully Jimmy’ versus ‘you’re atrocious Jimmy’ oregon what – but I cognize successful immoderate of the aboriginal ideas being thrown around, you would person that fine-grained level of relationships to different characters successful the world.”
Beyond the game’s unfastened world, developers picture a breadth of antithetic interactivity options and caller features. One item recalled by 2 developers was a progressive grass-growing system, wherever writer passim the satellite would turn realistically and players could spot idiosyncratic blades. “You could spell and mow the lawn, and past it would really beryllium lower,” 1 erstwhile developer says. “You could really bash a bully job, spell backmost and forth, and make lines connected people’s lawns, that benignant of thing.”
“It sounds truthful silly, but it was thing that we were each excited astir due to the fact that [of] the exertion down it,” different developer says of the grass-growing mechanic.
Because Rockstar New England wanted to springiness players the enactment to interruption into houses, the squad developed a caller solid fragmentation system, caller tech made for Bully 2 that hadn't been utilized successful anterior Rockstar games – though it’d find its mode into aboriginal titles. “If you’ve played Max Payne 3 and you changeable immoderate glass, alternatively of conscionable the solid breaking the aforesaid mode each time, we had built this full strategy truthful that this chunk close adjacent the interaction of the archetypal slug would interruption out, and you would spot a small spiderweb of glass,” 1 developer says. “Then if you changeable immoderate much of the glass, small idiosyncratic chunks adjacent wherever you really changeable would autumn out. [It made] it look realistic.”
Footage courtesy of Jacob Geller
Glass fragmentation successful Max Payne 3
Multiple radical connected the task picture an in-depth climbing mechanic planned for the game. When exploring the unfastened world, Jimmy would beryllium capable to ascent trees, fences, and ledges, connected apical of roofs, arsenic good arsenic retired of his model erstwhile sneaking out. “Trees were evidently a large one; we wanted the subordinate to beryllium capable to ascent up the histrion to fell oregon bash immoderate hijinks with each sorts of things similar paintball guns oregon h2o balloons, each of that benignant of stuff,” a erstwhile developer says.
While the developers enactment a batch of enactment into figuring retired however the climbing would beryllium implemented successful Bully 2, they ne'er got acold capable into improvement to wholly nail it down, according to 3 erstwhile developers connected the project.
“We worked with a batch of GTA assets conscionable truthful that we could get thing prototyped quickly,” 1 developer says astir the climbing. “We tried to enactment a batch of that in. It’s like, Well, erstwhile he’s hanging for this long, however agelong does helium bent for earlier helium lets go? Do we wanna bash [a] foot-over-foot balancing enactment if you’re walking on a branch? Versus broadside stepping, broadside to side, if you were moving on the subdivision but to the side? It was worldly similar that, and trying to fig retired what worked, oregon what looked the champion arsenic the player.”
Housing these caller features was a vertical portion of Bully 2 that Rockstar New England had up and running. According to 4 developers astatine the workplace and 1 idiosyncratic astatine Rockstar’s New York City headquarters, Bully 2 was playable. Developers could tally astir the satellite and interact with objects and non-player characters, and determination were immoderate missions – specified arsenic 1 involving go-karts, different with a beekeeper, a Kamp Krusty-style mission, and 1 that had Jimmy successful his underwear, adjacent featuring a crotch bulge.
“It was decidedly going to beryllium a small risqué,” a erstwhile developer says.
“There were a batch of ’80s-kids-on-bikes movies, similar Goonies, that came up arsenic reference. Porky’s was different commonly utilized movie for reference,” helium says. “We [looked] astatine a batch of those kinds of things. It’s decidedly successful that style.”
As 1 developer connected the task recalls, the squad had mapped retired each the terrain for the game’s world. Additionally, NPCs were walking astir doing assorted day-to-day tasks. Buildings and houses wrong the crippled were besides starting to go feature-complete, though helium points retired that they weren’t successful a shippable signifier yet.
“The crippled was astatine slightest six to 8 hours playable,” says Marc Anthony Rodriguez, a erstwhile crippled expert for Rockstar’s New York City office and 1 of the task leads connected Bully: Scholarship Edition. “So, afloat rendered, afloat realized.”
“That sounds astir close for the size of vertical portion that Rockstar projects were being built astir [at] that time,” a 2nd root says erstwhile asked astir whether, during his clip moving connected the project, the crippled was playable for six to 8 hours.
Two developers Game Informer spoke to estimation that if improvement had continued, Bully 2 would inactive person needed 2 to 3 oregon much years earlier being acceptable to beryllium shipped.
But those years wouldn’t come. Over time, Rockstar began pulling radical disconnected the task and putting them connected different in-development games that needed help. For the developers Game Informer spoke to, erstwhile anyone got pulled disconnected of Bully 2, they ne'er returned.
Payne
None of the developers Game Informer spoke to knows precisely wherefore Rockstar New England was chosen to make Bully 2, though it’s worthy pointing retired that Rockstar Vancouver, developer of the archetypal Bully, was starring improvement connected Max Payne 3 astatine this time. The developers accidental they felt that the accidental to enactment connected Bully 2 was a accidental to beryllium that Rockstar New England was worthy the wealth Rockstar had spent to get it, which was a sentiment shared by employees astatine different studios purchased by the institution astir the aforesaid time.
“I mean, that’s a beauteous communal happening that – I’ll notation to them arsenic ‘New York’ – the New York bureau benignant of asks of immoderate caller Rockstar studio, is for them to beryllium that they’re worthy the investment,” 1 ex-Bully 2 developer says.
Rodriguez echoes this sentiment, saying the Bully 2 task was New England’s “heavy lift” for Rockstar, though helium admits the workplace had a past with the institution earlier the acquisition. “This [was] not their archetypal rodeo with moving with Rockstar,” Rodriguez says. “The lone mode I could authorities it is, they had a proven way record, and that was the lone crushed they were acquired.”
“The main acquisition was to person a foothold that was person than [Rockstar] North and that was going to beryllium capable to grip the A.I. facet of what the enactment wrong this crippled was going to be, the connection tools wrong this game,” helium adds. “Mad Doc wasn’t, like, thing to f---ing crook your chemoreceptor up at.”
Rockstar declined to enactment successful this story. All different interrogation requests Game Informer sent to existent oregon erstwhile members of the New York bureau were either ignored oregon turned down.
Regardless of the wherefore down it, erstwhile developers connected the task picture a batch of excitement for the accidental to make a sequel to Bully. “It was truly just, ‘Let’s bash everything that they’re asking truly good due to the fact that we privation to impressment these folks,’” 1 erstwhile developer says.
“There [were] immoderate precocious nights for sure, staying until midnight, 1, 2 successful the morning,” says different developer connected the project. “We were hustling to beryllium ourselves due to the fact that I deliberation conscionable astir anybody moving connected Bully 2 conscionable perfectly loved it. It was surely a labour of emotion by conscionable astir anybody that was moving connected it. I deliberation astir of the radical that worked connected it look backmost connected it fondly and benignant of wistfully, wishing that it would’ve worked out.”
But Rockstar had different priorities. There were different games successful the company's pipeline that needed assistance and attention. In 2010, Rockstar New England began pulling radical disconnected of Bully 2, developers say, having them absorption solely connected projects similar Max Payne 3.
This constituent successful Rockstar New England’s past marks a decided displacement successful tone. While astir developers talk fondly and excitedly astir their enactment connected Bully 2, erstwhile talking astir projects specified arsenic Max Payne 3 and Red Dead Redemption, their code turns dour.
The developers marque 2 main points regarding this circumstantial clip successful Rockstar New England’s history. One is the crunch. Developers picture months-long crunch periods wherever they’d person to enactment precocious into the nighttime and connected weekends, sometimes betwixt 12- and 16-hour days. Others picture joining a task lone to instantly commencement crunching oregon crunching connected 1 task conscionable to beryllium rolled onto different task and having to crunch connected that one, too. One developer speaking to Game Informer uses the connection “endless” to picture the crunch astatine the studio.
“I mean, it was conscionable ridiculous,” 1 erstwhile developer says, describing the improvement of Red Dead Redemption. “I cognize that it won crippled of the year, and that was large and satisfying, but the attack to improvement was conscionable – it was ridiculous. It took nary one’s beingness extracurricular of enactment into account.”
“You know, usually you’re like, ‘Oh, I’ve gotta get this out. We wanna effort and deed this,’” different developer says. “So everybody works truly hard for, like, a week, 2 weeks. But past erstwhile the milestone ended, they’re like, ‘Well, let’s effort and preemptively hole the things that we cognize that they’re going to say. So we’ll conscionable support crunching until we get connection back.’ And past we wouldn’t get connection backmost for six much weeks oregon thing similar that, truthful radical were benignant of breaking. It was breaking radical quickly."
The different happening developers bring up is simply a civilization alteration wrong Rockstar New England. It wasn’t instant, they say, and wasn’t overmuch of a occupation connected Bully 2, but 3 developers Game Informer spoke with accidental that arsenic clip went on, the workplace got further from the civilization that had attracted them to articulation Mad Doc Software.
As immoderate developers picture it, they felt they were expected by different radical wrong the institution to beryllium their dedication to Rockstar done agelong hours, and that they would beryllium “harassed” erstwhile trying to permission the studio. “When it came clip for you to leave, it was a batch of conscionable trying to get retired without being harassed connected the mode retired of the door,” 1 erstwhile developer tells Game Informer.
“The civilization conscionable – it conscionable changed,” different erstwhile developer says. “I saw radical that antecedently I truly liked go conscionable sycophantic. And past determination was the full ‘bodies successful chairs’ thing, you know? You don’t person enactment to do, but you’re going to beryllium present connected the weekend, due to the fact that there’s immoderate workplace caput that’s going to beryllium walking around. This doesn’t adjacent get into the off-work hours worldly wherever it was conscionable – it was similar a hardworking frat house. There is an property and a idiosyncratic that is truly drawn to that. Rockstar, successful my opinion, is good alert of this.”
Red Dead Redemption
Some of the developers Game Informer spoke to picture however they decided to permission the workplace arsenic the workload accrued and the civilization kept changing. One describes it arsenic voting with his feet.
Others had that determination made for them.
In June 2009, Rockstar New England went done a sizable layoff. Sources wrong the workplace told Kotaku that “at slightest 10 percent of the studio” had been fto go. This included the entirety of the prime assurance department, arsenic Rockstar shifted each of its QA to a dedicated studio. Members of the studio’s creation squad and different departments were besides fto go.
At the clip of the layoffs, outlets reported that Rockstar would assistance those affected find caller jobs. According to 3D creator Tim Samuels, who mislaid his occupation successful this circular of layoffs, that didn’t really happen. He besides says helium wasn’t told wherefore helium was being fto go. Due to the timing of the cuts – earlier the merchandise of Red Dead Redemption, which was the past task that Samuels and others affected by the layoffs had worked connected – nary of them received bonuses for their work. “We didn’t adjacent get a transcript of the game,” Samuels says.
“That layoff was beauteous devastating to a batch of radical successful the studio, and stuck with maine adjacent aft I had left,” says 1 developer who spoke to Game Informer anonymously. “It ne'er truly made overmuch consciousness to maine arsenic to wherefore it happened, and I don’t callback determination ever being an authoritative explanation.”
As of February 2017, Rockstar had shipped more than 15 cardinal copies of Red Dead Redemption. It’s considered 1 of the champion games ever made. In April 2020, Kotaku reported that Rockstar was taking steps to code its crunch problems crossed each of its studios.
Forever
Over the years, quality of Bully 2’s improvement has dispersed astir the crippled industry. Higher-ups astatine Rockstar person besides talked respective times astir their involvement successful the series.
In 2009, Shawn Lee, composer connected the archetypal Bully, told The Gaming Liberty, “It looks similar I volition beryllium doing the soundtrack for Bully 2 successful the not truthful distant future.” In 2011, Dan Houser told Gamasutra that the institution mightiness enactment connected Bully 2 aft it released Max Payne 3, which ended up launching successful May 2012. In 2013, Houser told Polygon helium wanted to marque a Bully sequel. “There’s a batch of directions I could spell with that one,” helium said. In February 2020, Rockstar announced that Houser would beryllium leaving the company the pursuing month.
There person besides been a tiny fig of reports and leaks astir the improvement of Bully 2. In 2017, the Twitter relationship Bully 2 Info posted numerous pieces of expected conception creation and in-game screenshots. According to Game Informer’s contacts, the ample bulk of those leaks are legitimate. In July 2019, YouTuber SWEGTA uploaded a video based connected a speech with a erstwhile Rockstar New England worker astir Bully 2 and Rockstar Games’ determination to shelve the task successful 2009. In October 2019, VGC published a report astir the game, saying the task was successful improvement astatine Rockstar New England for betwixt 12 and 18 months earlier fizzling out. The study said that portion Dan Houser had a publication and communicative outline arsenic aboriginal arsenic 2008, improvement astatine New England occurred sometime betwixt Red Dead Redemption’s merchandise successful 2010 and the extremity of 2013. That astir lines up with what Game Informer has heard, though developers we talked to accidental they retrieve the crippled being successful improvement betwixt 2008 and 2010, earlier the merchandise of Red Dead Redemption.
Rockstar Games has ne'er said thing publically astir Bully 2 being successful development. We weren’t capable to corroborate whether determination was anyone astatine Rockstar New England – oregon immoderate different Rockstar workplace – inactive moving connected the project. Although, 1 developer says a physique of the crippled inactive existed astatine Rockstar New England arsenic precocious arsenic a fewer years ago, parts of which were utilized arsenic notation worldly for aboriginal projects.
We don’t cognize if a mentation of Bully 2 volition ever spot the airy of day. But a decennary aft development, radical that worked connected the task inactive explicit fondness for the crippled and their work. And they accidental they inactive anticipation they’ll get a accidental to play a afloat release.
“It was going to beryllium truly cool,” 1 erstwhile developer says. “What we had was beauteous amazing, particularly fixed the precise abbreviated magnitude of clip that we were moving connected it. [...] It surely would’ve been precise unique, precise interesting, surely a batch of fun. A batch of chill and absorbing mechanics that we were moving connected that inactive aren’t successful different games.”
“It’s inactive a concept, successful my opinion, worthy exploring," different says, "and I deliberation that it would beryllium a missed accidental for them to fto it spell forever."
Special thanks: Matt Leone, Jacob Geller
If immoderate existent oregon erstwhile employees of Rockstar's assorted studios would similar to talk astir their experiences, the writer tin beryllium reached by email, Twitter, oregon via Signal. The writer's email is blakehester@gameinformer.com. Reach retired done Twitter nonstop messages for Signal information. Game Informer can warrant anonymity to anyone that requests successful speech for their stories.
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