Neo software
| Rockstar Productions GmbH
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1993 |
| resolution | 2006 |
| Seat |
Vienna , Austria
|
| management | Hannes Seifert , Niki Laber, Peter Baustädter |
The neo Software Produktions GmbH from 2003 to 2006 Rockstar Productions GmbH (d / b / a Rockstar Vienna ), from 1993 until the final resolution in 2006 alongside Max Design one of the most successful and best-known Austrian development studio for computer games.
history
Neo Software was founded in 1993 in Hirtenberg , Lower Austria , by Niki Laber, Hannes Seifert and Peter Baustädter as neo Software Produktions GmbH . The first project of the then still small team was the successful game Whale's Voyage , which was released that same year. In 1994 neo Software published the title Der Clou! , 1995 the side-scrolling shooter Prototype and Whale's Voyage II: Die Übermacht . In 1998, the company published a title with pre-rendered 3D graphics, Rent-A-Hero , which only sold well locally in Germany and Austria.
In 1999 neo Software achieved a great success with the game Die Völker , which sold almost one million pieces internationally. JoWooD acted as the publisher for “Die Völker” . The successor, " Die Völker II ", which appeared in 2001, was no longer developed by neo Software, but by JoWooD itself.
In 2000 the studio became part of the gameplay group and began developing the title Der Clou! 2 and Online Pirates. At the beginning of 2001 the sequel to Der Clou! released.
As a rock star Vienna
In 2001, neo Software was taken over by the American publisher Take 2 Interactive . From then on, neo no longer developed its own projects, but mostly commissioned work or porting for Take 2 or its subsidiary Rockstar Games . As a result, neo was responsible for the Xbox version of Max Payne , among other things . Two years later, on neo's tenth birthday in 2003, the studio was renamed Rockstar Vienna , which marked the end of the name neo Software.
In the following time, the studio, now called Rockstar Vienna, developed, among other things, the Xbox versions of GTA III and GTA: Vice City and the Xbox and PS2 versions of Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne .
The studio was unexpectedly closed on May 11, 2006. The 97 employees, according to their own statements, stood in front of exchanged locks on the morning of that day and could no longer enter their offices.
As Deep Silver Vienna
The former Rockstar Vienna employees, including the two company founders Hannes Seifert and Niki Laber, went into business again with the new Games-That-Matter studio and took over part of the old workforce. Legally, this studio no longer had any links to neo Software, but a large part of the former employees worked there. The German publisher Deep Silver (a division of Koch Media ) took over the same studio only a short time later and renamed it Deep Silver Vienna . At the beginning of 2010, shortly after the publication of the first own title, Cursed Mountain , Deep Silver Vienna was also closed. Koch Media stated that it wanted to consolidate all development capacities at its headquarters in the Munich suburb of Planegg, and the title Ride To Hell , which is currently under development, should be completed there.
Well-known games (selection)
- Whale's Voyage (1993)
- The highlight! (1994)
- Prototype
- Whale's Voyage II: Overpowering (1995)
- Rent-A-Hero (1998)
- The Peoples (1999)
- The highlight! 2 (2001)
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2003, Xbox version)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Micharl Furtenbach: You are a great game developer at home! (Part 1). In: Red Bull . January 18, 2016, accessed August 12, 2019 .
- ^ Intelligent Artifice: Rockstar Vienna closes its doors
- ↑ GameSpot : Rockstar Vienna vets make Games That Matter
- ↑ Golem.de : GC: Deep Silver Vienna - Koch Media buys Games That Matter
- ↑ Der Standard , February 3, 2010: Layoffs - Game studio Deep Silver Vienna locks up
- ↑ gamezone.de: Koch Media - Deep Silver Vienna closed