Crackdown 2 Developer Ruffian Games Acquired by Take-Two

As detailed and explained in some official documents identified for the first time by the editorial staff of TheGamer and verified by VGC, the Scottish studio Ruffian Games, developer of Crackdown 2 and Master Chief Collection, last week would have been acquired by Take-Two.

According to the documents, Take-Two acquired a controlling stake in the company (over 75%) and changed its registered office to the London office of the GTA company, while Ruffian announced last year that it was working on more games with the developer of Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar games.

New job advertisements advertised by the studio asked for people with general experience in multiplayer action games developed for PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and future platforms.

For the uninitiated, among other things, the studio recently completed the porting of Halo Reach on Xbox One and PC with 343 Industries. The latter also hosts developers who have worked on both the Manhunt series and Grand Theft Auto.

The Dundee-based developer is best known for 2010’s Crackdown 2, as well as additional work on Kinect Star Wars, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and Crackdown 3: Wrecking Zone.

A recent report from Kotaku said work on the next unannounced GTA title was still early in development and that it may be moderate in size at release, in part to reduce employee stress and crisis, before being regularly expanded over time.