Leslie Benzies, the former president of Rockstar North officially launched his new gaming studio. The studio remains nameless at the moment, but should receive one very soon.
The studio itself, which has offices in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Los Angeles, California, has also announced their first project titled “Everywhere.” Lead by Benzies, as well as other former GTA developers Colin Entwistle and Matthew Smith and 30+ employees, “Everywhere” is a fully open world game allowing players to do, well, everything and anything. The game will use Amazon’s Lumberyard for its engine.
Benzies, in an interview with Venturebeat,com, said this of “Everywhere”:
“Everywhere has a lot of traditional game mechanics but we’re going for something more that draws inspiration from, well, everywhere. Players are getting smarter and require more from their games, and we want players to have the real freedom to live in our worlds in the ways they want to. We’re aiming to offer a huge variety of game modes and styles that not only tell our stories but also enable players to live in the identities and adventures they most want to explore.”
While this could lead a lot of fans thinking it’s a Grand Theft Auto esque game, Benzies says “Everywhere” will be unlike anything he’s ever done before.
Benzies has plenty of experience with the Grand Theft Auto/Rockstar game series after working on titles such as Grand Theft Auto III, GTA IV, GTA V, GTA Online, and Red Dead Redemption. However, after taking a sabbatical in 2014, Benzies sued Take-Two Interactive for $150 million in unpaid royalties. Take-Two then counter sued citing a “breach of contract” and “no good reason to quit” excluding him from collecting the pre- and post-termination royalties otherwise promised in Take-Two’s compensation plan. All of this lead Benzies to form his own studio and continue and what he does best, make games.
Everywhere is expected to release on PC and other unspecified consoles. Stay tuned for more updates.
