first rockstar game natively designed for playstation hardware

Okay, so, I was digging around the internet, you know, just doing my usual thing, and I stumbled upon this little tidbit about Rockstar Games. You know, the guys behind GTA and all those other awesome games. Apparently, they’ve put out, like, 47 games in total. 47! Can you believe that? And I thought I was busy.

But here’s the kicker. Even though they didn’t officially become Rockstar until December 1998, they actually released their first game back in 1997. Yeah, that’s right. Grand Theft Auto, the one that started it all, was released in November 1997 for MS-DOS and Windows. Then in 1998 they made a version for PlayStation, and later in 1999 for Game Boy Color. That’s ancient history, man!

So, I started to look into this whole PlayStation thing a bit more.

Turns out, there’s this former Rockstar animator, Mike York, who spilled the beans. He said that PlayStation is usually the main platform for these games. Makes sense, I guess. You gotta go where the money is, right?

And then, I found out that to really understand this, we gotta rewind to 1998. Take Two buys BMG, which was part of the ERBE distributor in Spain. Man, this is like a history lesson!

first rockstar game natively designed for playstation hardware

Now, when it comes to the games designed specifically for PlayStation, it gets interesting. Grand Theft Auto 2 came out in 1999, and that was on Windows first, but then they brought it over to PlayStation, Dreamcast, and even Game Boy Color. Crazy, right?

1997: Grand Theft Auto (MS-DOS, Windows)
1998: Grand Theft Auto (PlayStation)
1999: Grand Theft Auto (Game Boy Color)
1999: Grand Theft Auto 2 (Windows, PlayStation, Dreamcast, Game Boy Color)

But here’s something I found out, there is a game called “Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis.” It came out on May 23 for Xbox 360. This one used some kind of special engine, and it was made by Rockstar San Diego. I never knew they made a table tennis game!

Then I found some more history, Rockstar Games started in New York City. Founded by the Houser brothers, Gary Foreman, Terry Donovan, and Jamie King. Later on, they bought DMA Design.

I kept reading, and it looks like the newer games, like the ones for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, they came out on November 18, 2014. But the PC version was delayed, it was released on April 14, 2015. Rockstar said they needed more time to “polish” it. Makes sense, PC gamers are picky, haha!

My Thoughts

So yeah, that’s the scoop on Rockstar and their PlayStation games. It’s pretty cool to see how things have changed over the years. From the early days of Grand Theft Auto to these massive games we have now, it’s been quite a journey. And it looks like PlayStation has always been a big part of it. I just played and played, and I had a blast. Those guys at Rockstar really know how to make a game!