| Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. | |
|---|---|
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| Type | Public (NASDAQ: TTWO) |
| Founded | 1993 |
| Headquarters | New York, New York, USA |
| Key people | Ben Feder (CEO, President) |
| Industry | Computer and video game |
| Products | Grand Theft Auto series, etc. |
| Revenue |  292.6 million USD (Q4 2007) |
| Employees | 2,002 (2007) |
| Website | www.take2games.com |
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) is an American publisher, developer, and distributor of video and computer games and video game peripherals. The company's headquarters are in New York City, United States, with international headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Development studio locations include San Diego, Vancouver, Toronto and Austin, Texas. Take-Two's subsidiary Rockstar Games created the Grand Theft Auto series, which includes Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto 2, Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, and Grand Theft Auto 4. There are also lesser-known expansions to the original GTA on PlayStation and PC, Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969 and the PC only Grand Theft Auto: London, 1961. As well as GTA, Rockstar developed several other action games, including Manhunt and State of Emergency. In other genres, Rockstar creations include Midnight Club and its sequels, the Western-themed Red Dead Revolver (originally developed by Capcom), and Bully. Take-Two's other subsidiaries include Global Star Software, Gathering (formerly Gathering of Developers aka GoD Games), 2K Games, 2K Sports, Gotham Games, TalonSoft, Jack of All Games (its distribution arm), Frog City Software (developer of the famous Imperialism game), 2K Boston/2k Australia (Creators of Bioshock) and video game peripheral manufacturer Joytech. Gathering will be publishing the oft-delayed Duke Nukem Forever, though it is currently considered vaporware by many in the gaming community. Notable titles from Global Star include the Conflict series (the most recent game in which is Conflict: Global Storm); Sega's ESPN sports titles, for which 2K Sports was the publisher; and the Outlaw sports series, which includes Outlaw Golf and Outlaw Volleyball. In February of 1999, Take-Two published the game Biosys under the company Jumpstart Interactive, a point-and-click adventure which follows the protagonist Professor Alan Russell and is set inside the fictional ecological facility Biosphere Four. In 2004 Take 2 formed two new publishing companies called 2K Games and 2K Sports to manage a group of newly acquired development studios as well as publishing deals with a variety of other well known studios. Take 2 acquired the rights to the ESPN 2K sports games (When EA announced the ESPN deal, they dropped "ESPN" from their games), created by Visual Concepts (football and basketball) and Kush Games (baseball and hockey), from Sega as part of the creation of 2K Sports. On this same year Take Two bought the rights to the Civilization game from Infogrames for $22.3 million.[1][2] In 2005, Take Two embarked on acquisition spree and spent more than $80 million buying game developers.[3] It bought for $32 million the development studios Visual Concepts and Kush Games, for $11.4 million Gaia Capital Group and for around $11.8 million the studio Irrational Games, which develops Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich.. Then late that year in November, Take Two acquired Firaxis for $27 million including possible performance bonuses. [4] In March 2007 Take Two filed a lawsuit against Jack Thompson, to prevent him from filing a public nuisance complaint in Florida court like he did with Bully. At the annual meeting on March 29, 2007, Take-Two investors ousted five of six board members, including the chief executive, Paul Eibeler, who was replaced by Ben Feder[1] Ryan Brant, former chief executive of Take-Two Interactive Software, pleaded guilty in February 2007 to falsifying business records. He faced up to four years in prison but received a lighter sentence in a plea agreement after agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors.[2] In 2005, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged in a lawsuit that Brant, with the company's former chief financial officers, Larry Muller and James David Jr., and its head of sales, Robert Blau, inflated revenue in fiscal years 2000 and 2001. In June the UFC filed a lawsuit against the company over the video game they created for the organization.[3]
Wholly owned subsidiaries
- 2K Games
- Firaxis Games (acquired in 2005)
- Frog City Software (merged into Firaxis Games in 2006)
- PopTop Software (merged into Firaxis Games in 2006)
- 2K Boston/2K Australia (formerly known as Irrational Games, acquired in 2006)
- Take-Two Licensing (formerly known as TDK Mediactive)
- Venom Games, Ltd.
- Firaxis Games (acquired in 2005)
- 2K Sports
- Visual Concepts
- Kush Games
- Indie Built, Inc. (acquired in 2004; closed April 28 2006)
- PAM Development (acquired in 2006)
- 2K Play
- Jack of All Games
- Rockstar Games, Ltd.
- Rockstar North (formerly known as DMA Design)
- Rockstar Leeds (formerly known as Mobius Entertainment)
- Rockstar Japan
- Rockstar London
- Rockstar Vancouver (formerly known as Barking Dog Studios)
- Rockstar San Diego (formerly known as Angel Studios)
- Rockstar Toronto (formerly known as Rockstar Canada)
- Rockstar Vienna (formerly known as neo Software; closed May 11 2006)
- Rockstar Lincoln (formerly known as Tarantula Studios)
External links
- Take-Two's Official Site
- Rockstar Games Official Site
- Gathering Official Site
- 2K Games Official Site
- 2K Sports Official Site (2K Games' sports games label)
- Global Star Software Official Site
- Jack Of All Games Official Site
- Venom Games Official Site
- Take-Two Interactive entry at MobyGames
