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Rockstar Games expanded its Australian development presence by acquiring Sydney-based Video Games Deluxe and renaming it Rockstar Australia on March 3, 2025. This was an acquisition and rebranding of an established partner—not a publicly confirmed new campus, Melbourne office, or disclosed large-scale hiring drive.
What Rockstar actually expanded
Rockstar’s announcement means that a previously independent Sydney studio is now part of Rockstar’s internal development network. Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar’s parent company, did not disclose a purchase price, the number of employees acquired, or the size of any new investment in the studio. Rockstar’s announcement identified the acquired company as Video Games Deluxe and confirmed its new name: Rockstar Australia.
That distinction matters. The public record supports four related but different conclusions:
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- Rebranding: The studio now operates under the Rockstar Australia name.
- Geographic expansion: Rockstar has a formal internal development presence in Sydney, New South Wales.
- Physical expansion: No reviewed official source confirms a new building, second campus, or enlarged premises.
In other words, “expanded its Australian studio” is best understood as an expansion of Rockstar’s corporate and development footprint, not proof of a newly constructed facility.
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Who is Video Games Deluxe?
Video Games Deluxe was founded by Brendan McNamara in Sydney. McNamara previously founded Team Bondi, the Australian developer behind the original L.A. Noire. Video Games Deluxe’s later work with Rockstar therefore extended an existing relationship with the people and technology associated with that project.
According to Rockstar, the Sydney team worked on the 2017 re-releases of L.A. Noire, L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files, and upgrades to Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition for iOS, Android, Netflix, and modern consoles. The announcement does not say that Video Games Deluxe developed the original L.A. Noire; that was Team Bondi’s project.
The acquisition is consequently less a sudden partnership than the internalization of a studio that had already demonstrated experience supporting Rockstar’s catalogue across remasters, VR, mobile, and technical adaptation.
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Rockstar Australia is in Sydney—not Melbourne
The relevant Rockstar operation is based in Sydney, Australia. Both the acquisition announcement and Rockstar’s job listings identify Sydney as the studio’s location. The available evidence does not establish a Rockstar development studio in Melbourne or a broader multi-city Australian expansion.
Australian Business Register records also show Take-Two Australia Development Pty Ltd using the business name Rockstar Games Australia from June 5, 2025, and Rockstar Australia from February 27, 2026. Those registrations support the formalization of the branding, but they do not by themselves prove a separate legal entity or a particular increase in staff.
View the Australian Business Register record.
Is Rockstar Australia hiring?
Yes. Rockstar’s official careers page has shown Rockstar Australia vacancies in its Code department, including:
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- Graphics Programmer
- Senior Gameplay Programmer
- Senior Graphics Programmer
Individual listings describe the Sydney positions as full-time, permanent, and in-office. The work covers areas such as gameplay systems, graphics, rendering, tools, and related game technology. Job advertisements can close, change, or be replaced, so these should be treated as vacancies visible at the time of publication—not as a staff census or proof that a specific number of new jobs was created.
A public vacancy could represent growth, replacement hiring, recruitment for a particular project, or a broader talent pipeline. It is not enough to infer the studio’s headcount or project assignments.
Is Rockstar Australia working on GTA VI?
That has not been publicly confirmed. Rockstar’s studios commonly contribute to a global development network, so work by the Sydney team on broader Rockstar technology or releases is possible. However, the official acquisition announcement and the cited careers material do not assign Rockstar Australia a specific role on Grand Theft Auto VI.
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That means the acquisition is not evidence that the Sydney studio is responsible for a particular feature, character, location, online mode, or other part of GTA VI. It also does not establish that the move will speed up the game’s release.
Take-Two currently lists Grand Theft Auto VI for November 19, 2026, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. That is useful release context, but it says nothing about the Sydney team’s responsibilities. Take-Two’s fiscal 2026 results contain the current date and platform listing.
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Why the acquisition matters
Rockstar has converted a trusted external partner into an internal team. That can provide practical advantages: closer coordination with Rockstar’s other studios, more direct access to shared technology and production processes, and a stronger way to retain developers familiar with Rockstar’s code and catalogue.
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The Sydney team also adds experience in areas that are valuable to a large publisher: adapting games across platforms, supporting older releases, developing VR software, and handling graphics and gameplay technology. These are reasonable strategic implications of the acquisition, not specific operational promises made by Rockstar.
More broadly, Rockstar gains a formal foothold in Australia while preserving the benefit of an established working relationship. Whether Rockstar Australia will focus mainly on support work, contribute to future major releases, or develop original projects has not been announced.
What remains unknown
Rockstar and Take-Two have not publicly disclosed:
- The acquisition price.
- The number of employees who joined Rockstar.
- Whether every Video Games Deluxe employee joined the new studio.
- The exact legal closing date of the transaction.
- A new studio budget or expansion target.
- Rockstar Australia’s current project assignments.
- Whether the team is contributing to GTA VI.
- Plans for a Melbourne office, another Australian facility, or another acquisition.
- Whether Rockstar Australia will create original intellectual property.
What the announcement means for players
For players, the immediate significance is organizational rather than a confirmed change to a game. Rockstar has strengthened its internal development network in Sydney by absorbing a studio that already worked on Rockstar releases. There is no announced new game, confirmed GTA VI assignment, or stated release-date change tied to the acquisition.
The clearest reading is therefore straightforward: Video Games Deluxe became Rockstar Australia, giving Rockstar a formal Sydney development studio and access to an experienced technical team. Claims about a major new campus, a large quantified hiring expansion, or confirmed GTA VI authorship go beyond what the public evidence establishes.
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