Rockstar North Co-Founder Leaves After 17 Years

[TIMELESS]

[headline]Rockstar North President Leaves After 17 Years[/headline]

One of the massive creative forces behind the GTA franchise and President of Rockstar North, Scotsman Leslie Benzies, has left the company after 17 years. Leslie had been on sabbatical since September 2014 and decided not to return to the company, for reasons unknown. Leslie also worked on Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne 3, Manhunt, L.A. Noire and previous installments in the GTA franchise. Rockstar North will be continuing on under the leadership of Aaron Garbut and Rob Nelson.

 

We can confirm that Leslie Benzies went on sabbatical on September 1, 2014 and has decided not to return to work for the company. We are very grateful for Leslie’s contributions to Rockstar over the last 15 years as we worked together to make some amazing games.

 

Leslie helped us build an incredible team that will continue to create great experiences for our fans. Leslie will always be a friend to the company and of course we are going to miss him but we wish him the absolute best for the future.

 

Whether this will delay any upcoming Rockstar games or not, we'll just have to wait and see. I certainly hope not, GTA VI is years away as is, and apparently an upcoming sequel to Red Dead Redemption could be announced at E3 this year for a late 2016 release.

[Camel]

I don't see why it should delay any future games but I hope the new(probably not new but new to the position) guys keep R* going in the same direction and don't turn into EA. :eek:

[Eudemon]

He's been on leave since late 2014 and was probably enjoying himself so much that he realised I don't need to work and can keep on enjoying myself. It will be telling though in future games just how much he did for the team and the games if standards start to slip.

[Ikarus695]

he has money, Rockstar is a worldwide company, so he dont care if he leaves or not,

 

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every one would take him, even Ubisoft

[Paladin Skylark]

He was responsible for the GTA 3 port to PS2, etc.

 

So he's the guy who kick started GTA on the consoles, he had a ton of big ideas.

[Camel]

Wasn't GTA 3 released on the PS2 first followed by Xbox, PC and mobiles? I also distinctly(faintly) remember GTA, GTA London and GTA 2 being on the PS1. But that was many moons ago and I'm a little fuzzy on things more than 1 moon ago.

 

Still can't see them changing direction though after how much of a success V was. They would be incredibly stupid to force a change now.