Why is Rockstar So Coy?:An Analysis

Every game company (no matter how secretive) does something to treat their fans with respect. Nintendo has their Directs, Bethesda goes all out on fan-fare, and Rockstar, well Rockstar doesn’t really compare. Their weekly Twitch streams and free updates are definitely something to praise and they do have a lot of audacity to not ruin GTA with annualization, but they don’t do much else. In many ways, they are one of the better, more ethical yet strange developers out there. Their absence of communication feels so unfitting when compared to their ambition. Because of this, I’ll be analyzing how Rockstar has changed over the years, and what caused them to become so mysterious.

Third Party Controversies:

Although Rockstar games are hits with mainstream gamers, most don’t know what the company has allegedly put others through. During the final months of L.A. Noire’s seven year development cycle, employees were placed on 65 hour workweeks with tumultuous mismanagement between the two companies. These were leaked by sites such as Gamesindustry.biz and IGN Australia, and while there are points where it feels like a case of a he said/she said controversy, it definitely must have created some unwelcome tension with any independent developer planning to work with Rockstar. This is likely why we haven’t really seen much out of their other studio branch(es) that used to release brand-new games every year.

Marketing Expertise:

Although a long-shot, it’s possible Fallout 4’s marketing cycle could have impacted when Rockstar planned to announce their next game. However Rockstar is very aggressive in their marketing, and this is one of the reasons why GTA 5’s budget cost more than a pretty penny. Rockstar could follow Bethesda’s routine, but if anything, they still likely want to set their influential standard of success.

Over-Saturation:

Another possibility is the chance that Rockstar could be holding back or putting more polish on a game like Agent,due to the other open world titles under Take Two’s publishing label, such as Mafia III. This is all very hard to predict as these games could go separate directions to even themselves out,but it would be financially risky for Take Two if they went on the same route. This is actually more probable than the latter suggestion about marketing because Take Two is still reporting losses and wouldn’t want to take chances, even with Rockstar at the helm.

Conclusion:

In many ways, Rockstar’s silence is feasibly a financial issue, intertwined by prior events gone awry. For a company that is already so hallmarked, this creates an environment where they likely don’t want to take chances that would lead to hostility with gamers. In many ways it’s a smart move. When you don’t have much to show for, it makes yet another home run all more impressive.

Zack Hage is a weekly columnist at The Cube. You can follow more of his work at justouttoday on Instagram, where he covers new releases as well as bi-daily features and reviews.