Rockstar Gamesis well known in the gaming industry as one of the titans of open-world game development.Rockstar Gameshas an extensive library of quality games for the time that they were released, making its mark with just about every title released in the last two decades. Many of the games that Rockstar develops are highly praised for their quality, gameplay mechanics, and engaging story. Game franchises such asGrand Theft Auto,Red Dead Redemption,Max Payne, and more have received nothing but praise in their release and still to this day. Though one thing many of them have in common is the lack of a female protagonist.
Many of the games Rockstar Games develops usually have a deeply involved story that players can lose themselves in. On top of this, many of Rockstar’s games also feature a large open-world for players to explore and immerse themselves in. Despite thehigh-quality storytelling in many of Rockstar’s games, there has been almost no story centered around a female protagonist playable by the player. Though this might seem surprising, Rockstar does have a few games in its catalog where players can play as female protagonists if they choose, though they may be difficult to find today.
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Rockstar Leeds, as Mobius Entertainment
Rockstar Games has been around for a long time, so long that it has 10 subsidiaries, all that help develop and publish games under its large umbrella. Before many of these subsidiary companies were under Rockstar, they were publishing and developing games on their own. Some of these games indeed featured female protagonists, though now it seems to be a rare occurrence, as many of the bigger games feature male protagonists.EvenGrand Theft Auto5,having three protagonists, all of whom are male. Some fans might not be happy about not having a strong female counterpart in Rockstar’s story-heavy games.
Before Rockstar Leeds was known as such, it was called Mobius Entertainment, and the games it developed were mainly on the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance. Two of these games featured a female protagonist, though unsurprising, given the brand that the games were made for.These games wereBarbie Horse Adventures: Blue Ribbon RaceandBarbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue,the former released for the Game Boy Advance and the latter released on the PS2, both in 2003. Though both were co-developed with Blitz Games, they are the only games in Rockstar Leed’s history to feature a female protagonist. Both games were not received well by critics.
Rockstar Leeds would become a supporting developer under the Rockstar umbrella,porting high-quality games such asThe Warriors,Manhunt 2,andMidnight Club 3: Dub Editionto PSP.Rockstar Leeds would eventually help with development on titles such asRed Dead Redemption 2,Grand Theft Auto 5,andMax Payne 3.
Mad Doc Software was the name of a game development company that launched in 1999 and was renamed Rockstar New England in 2008. Mad Doc Software mainly developed games in theStar Trek ArmadaandEmpire Earthseries, producing multiple games for each franchise. Though Mad Doc Software seemed to develop real-time strategy games exclusively, they would go on to help co-developDungeon Seige: Legends of Arannawith game studio Gas Powered Games.Dungeon Siege: Legends of Arannais an action RPGwhere players can create their own character, meaning players had the option to play as a female protagonist.
Though Rockstar Games would eventually acquire these game development studios, one of Rockstar’s first studio acquisitions was responsible for the originalGrand Theft Autogames in the late 90s. Originally founded as DMA Design Limited in 1987, the studio would go on to test the waters with various game titles for the Amiga, Commodore 64, Atari, and more. It wasn’t until the originalGrand Theft Autowas developed and released in 1997 that DMA Design Limited would become much more notable.After development finished onGrand Theft Auto 2andGrand Theft Auto 3, DMA Design Limited became Rockstar Studios.
The originalGrand Theft Automay surprise some fansin that it did include the option to play as a female protagonist.Grand Theft Auto 1had the option of four women that the player could choose to play as, though this didn’t change the gameplay or story whatsoever and was more for flavor than anything. These first-ever female protagonists in theGrand Theft Autouniverse were known as Ulrika, Mikki, Divine, and Katie. Though theGrand Theft Autoseries wouldn’t stop with the first iteration, the Game Boy Color version ofGrand Theft Auto2included two selectable female protagonists, Gretchen and Candy.
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Female Protagonists in Rockstar’s Current Games
Though it has been a long time since the first twoGrand Theft Autogames allowed player selection, this was sort of brought back inGrand Theft Auto 5with the option of three playable characters. This was done much better and more thoroughly thanGTA 1andGTA 2, allowing the playable characters to be much more fleshed out and central to the plot as opposed to a simple portrait.InGrand Theft Auto: Online, players can create a female character for themselves to play as in the online play. This is the only other time the player can play as a female in the world ofGrand Theft Auto, which isn’t the worst option in the world, as there is a lot of content to go through.
Other than theGrand Theft Autoseries,Red Dead Redemptionhas had its fair share of success comparable to theGTAseries. With a large and detailed story with a complicated cast of characters in theRed Deaduniverse, there are many strong female characters that are involved, most notably fan-favorite Sadie Adler. Players have been wanting aprequel toRed Dead Redemptionfeaturing Sadie Adler, though there is no telling what Rockstar’s plans are for the future of the series. Thankfully, much likeGrand Theft Auto: Online,fans can create their own western femme fatale inRed Dead Onlineand still experience what Rockstar’s wild west has to offer.
