Rockstar could function within EA - Houser

By Tom Bramwell Published 13 May, 2008

But are they "the kids in Lord of the Flies"?

Rockstar co-founder Sam Houser has said that he could function as a "much smaller fish in much bigger pond" were EA to acquire Take-Two.

Describing current EA chief executive John Riccitiello as "the real deal", Houser told the Wall Street Journal website that he's "not someone who has any kind of problem with that".

The WSJ went on to speculate that it might be difficult for Houser and others at Rockstar to fit in at EA because they're on 'star-caliber money' at the moment, while ubiquitous Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter described Houser and company as "the kids on the island in Lord of the Flies"; "Are they manageable? No one knows."

Houser also cleared up a few of the rumours about Rockstar's business practices and his own behaviour within the company. He denies he ever wielded a baseball bat in the office ("I would tell you if I did"), says any guns seen around the building were "good replicas" and describes revelations in a former online producer's blog about explosive arguments as "things I can't remember".

Houser, who lives in Broker - sorry, Brooklyn - described himself as "the most conservative guy you'll ever meet" and spoke of how he "fell in love" with the Brighton Beach area of New York, upon which the Russian-dominated Hove Beach in GTA IV is based. "I would just walk around and listen and look," he told the WSJ.

EA has set this Friday as the deadline for Take-Two investors to tender their shares for a possible takeover. If it does happen, the most interesting part of it will undoubtedly be how the resulting company handles Rockstar's integration - or doesn't.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (12) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • krudster #1 4 years ago

    I live in Hove, by the beach. I win.

  • ChrisOTR #2 4 years ago

    And I bet with the weather as it is that's seeming like the best decision in the world right now! :-)

  • Charlie_Miso #3 4 years ago

    i've been to that 'beach'

    you lose.

  • Olemak #4 4 years ago

    "the Brighton Beach area of New York, upon which the Russian-dominated Hove Beach in GTA IV is based."

    That is pretty funny. I really miss Brighton some times. They should base the next GTA there. Haha.

  • Mindstorm #5 4 years ago

    "the kids in Lord of the Flies" lol

  • Madder-Max #6 4 years ago

    We have a baseball bat and a cricket bat (as part of an indoor cricket set) in the office and as we use wireless headsets we are often walking around weilding either whilst pitching on the phone.

    Its funny though cos we are in serviced offices and our neighbours think we are right bastards to work for!

  • Bleh #7 4 years ago

    Everything EA puts his hands on is going down the drain. So please don't....

  • Marshall2008 #8 4 years ago

    If it wasn't for the fact that Microsoft don't want to piss EA off they would have bought Rockstar already.

    They have the cash pool to do it but fear losing EA titles / live integration etc. They could easily have brought bio-ware in-house but as soon as EA made their move Microsoft backed off.

  • MaxiSleep #9 4 years ago

    Big corporates just cant help crushing creativity. It is just their nature :(

  • dadrester #10 4 years ago

    Big corporates just cant help crushing creativity. It is just their nature :(

    Doesn't Take2 count as a "big corporate"?

  • Razz #11 4 years ago

    GTA 2009 - New story and Characters set in New York City
    GTA 2009: Breakin' out Missson expansion pack - New items, island and missions
    GTA 2009: New Spring Who stole ma eggs?!, Redneck farmer goes on the trail of stolen goods
    GTA 2009: Super Summer Slasher Set entirely at night time, play the part of a Jack the Ripper style murder on the streets of Liberty city
    GTA 2009: When the leaves fell... Prepare for the winter with this Gardening expansion pack
    GTA 2009: Force knight Lucas Arts and EA bring you michal the Russian Jedi Knight
    GTA 2010 - Set in London. Homage to the old GTA 1 London
    GTA 2010: Spellbound Complete the story as a young magican recently graduated from swineboils(hogwarts)

    Get the picture. :(

  • twmac #12 4 years ago

    We were joking in the office about how EA, if they could, would release things like the Front-End of a game as DLC if they could.

    Imagine booting up and finding you have to pay before you could select 'New Game'