Rockstar Games Acquires Sydney-Based Studio Founded by L.A. Noire Director

Video Games Deluxe has also worked on upgrades to Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition.

Written by Manas Mitul | Updated: 4 March 2025 12:24 IST

Rockstar Games Acquires Sydney-Based Studio Founded by L.A. Noire Director

Photo Credit: Rockstar Games

Rockstar Games has worked with Video Games Deluxe on L.A. Noire re-release

Highlights

Video Games Deluxe will be renamed Rockstar Australia
The studio has als worked on L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files
Video Games Deluxe was founded by L.A. Noire director Brendan McNamara

Rockstar Games has acquired Sydney-based games studio Video Games Deluxe, the Grand Theft Auto maker announced Monday. The newly acquired developer will be renamed Rockstar Australia as the Take-Two Interactive subsidiary expands its portfolio of studios around the world. Video Games Deluxe has collaborated with Rockstar in the past, most notably working on the re-release of L.A. Noire.

The Australian game studio has also worked on upgrades to Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition for iOS and Android, Netflix, and current-generation consoles, and on L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files.

Video Games Deluxe Becomes Rockstar Australia

Video Games Deluxe was founded in 2013 by Brendan McNamara, the creative director of L.A. Noire. McNamara had previously founded Team Bondi, the original developers of the Los Angeles-set detective thriller from 2011 that paid homage to film noir. Rockstar Games had served as publisher for L.A. Noire.

“After working together closely over many years, we are excited to have Video Games Deluxe join the team as Rockstar Australia,” Rockstar Games Head of Publishing, Jennifer Kolbe, said in a statement announcing the acquisition.

McNamara called working with Rockstar Games over the past decade an “honour”

“We are thrilled to be a part of Rockstar Games and to continue our efforts to make the best games possible,” the Video Games Deluxe founder said in the statement.

Video Games Deluxe, now Rockstar Australia, joins the Rockstar Games family of studios that includes Rockstar Dundee, Rockstar India, Rockstar LA, Rockstar Leeds, Rockstar Lincoln, Rockstar London, Rockstar New England, Rockstar Toronto, and the two crown jewel studios that develop the two tentpole franchises at Rockstar Games — Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar North and Red Dead Redemption maker Rockstar San Diego. Rockstar Games also owns Cfx.re, the studio that works on FiveM and RedM mods for Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2, respectively.

Rockstar Games' effort to expand comes as the studio gears up to launch perhaps the biggest game in its storied history — Grand Theft Auto 6. GTA 6 is set for launch in Fall 2025 across PC, PS5 and Xbox Series S/X.

L.A. Noire

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Good
All existing DLC
Designed for Switch's unique controls
Smart writing

Bad
Huge download
Frame-rate troubles
More expensive than PS4/Xbox One

Read detailed Rockstar Games L.A. Noire review

Genre Action-Adventure

Platform Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3 (PS3), PlayStation 4 (PS4), Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC: Windows

Modes Single-player

PEGI Rating 18+

More Rockstar Games Games

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Further reading: Rockstar Games, Rockstar, Video Games Deluxe, Rockstar Australia, GTA 6

Manas Mitul

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In his time as a journalist, Manas Mitul has written on a wide spectrum of beats including politics, culture and sports. He enjoys reading, walking around in museums and rewatching films. Talk to Manas about football and tennis, but maybe don’t bring up his video game backlog. More