A former Rockstar San Diego developer has finally revealed why Take-Two ended their popular, and brief, Midnight Club racing game series.
As former senior designer Kris Roberts explained in a new interview, the decision did come down to “non-trivial conflict” between them and Rockstar leadership.
Before they were acquired by Rockstar, Angel Studios impressed the GTA developer with their work on Midtown Madness. Rockstar tapped Angel to make their Midnight Club and Smuggler’s Run games, and then acquired them.
Kris called the conflict legitimate, because Rockstar San Diego missed deadlines making 2008’s Midnight Club: Los Angeles. However, he also referred to creative control, and with how they were perceived compared to Rockstar itself.
In Kris’ words:
The New York perspective was, ‘You’re not GTA’. When you’re the red-headed stepchild project—you know, we’re doing a good job, we’re world-class, but we’re still treated less than. It was challenging.
Rockstar San Diego was working on a 5th Midnight Club game before it was cancelled. They then had layoffs shortly after Red Dead Redemption, which they did support work on, released in 2010.