Take-Two Interactive
More info
- Creator
- Ryan Brant
- Released
- 1993
- Type
- Publisher
The New York publisher that owns Rockstar and 2K, and with them some of the most profitable franchises around.
Ryan Brant started the company in 1993 and grew it by acquisition. The key purchase came in 1998, when Take-Two bought BMG Interactive and with it Scotland's DMA Design, the studio behind Lemmings and the first Grand Theft Auto. Rockstar Games was formed the same year, and DMA became Rockstar North.
In 2005 it bought Visual Concepts from Sega, which became 2K — today also the publisher of Civilization. That year also brought "Hot Coffee", a disabled sex minigame in GTA: San Andreas that modders unlocked, earning the game a temporary adults-only rating. Founder Brant pleaded guilty in 2007 in a stock-option backdating scandal. In 2022 Take-Two bought mobile developer Zynga for about $12.7 billion.