After officially exiting Grand Theft Auto studio Rockstar North, former president Leslie Benzies has recently incorporated a total of five new companies, some of which are directly involved in video game development.
According to the UK’s Companies House records, the new studios include Royal Circus Games Limited, Starship Group, Everywhere Game Limited, and VR-Chitect Limited. The identity and purpose of the fifth company was not disclosed in the report although it was revealed that Royal Circus will focus primarily on the development of video games for consoles, PC, and mobile devices.
Royal Circus has also filed trademarks with the Intellectual Property Office for the title, Time for a New World, as well as the hashtag #TFANW, hinting at the studio’s first IP.
It also looks like Benzies is looking to expand beyond video game development as one of his other new companies, VR-Chitect Limited, will focus on the development and production of virtual reality headsets, glasses, and software. Whether the headsets he aims to produce under this new studio will be primarily used for gaming purposes is still unknown.
As previously mentioned, Benzies officially left Rockstar North back in early 2016 and a few months after decided to file a lawsuit against his former company and its parent company Take Two Interactive, claiming that he was effectively forced out of the company. Legal proceedings for the case are still ongoing but Benzies is demanding a total of $150 million from his former employer.
(Source: Scotsman via GamesIndustry)
