And brings Us the Name of His Next IP, “Time for a New World”
Over a year since his fallout with Rockstar North, former President and GTA Lead Developer, Leslie Benzies, now has a few new titles trademarked. Among them: “Time for a New World” and “Everywhere.” He went so far as to secure the hashtag #TFANW(Time for a New World). As Benzies is one of the foremost individuals in the gaming industry, this is a big deal.
Benzies’ trademarks are listed under Royal Circus, one of five companies he started since leaving Rockstar. Alas, many reports indicate a heinous departure. A series of revelations led to Benzie’s current lawsuit against Rockstar and parent company Take-Two Interactive. His claim says the company wrongfully and deceptively divested him of due royalties, as mentioned in his legal team’s statement:
“While on sabbatical, Mr. Benzies discovered numerous deceptions on the part of Take-Two, Rockstar, Rockstar North Ltd, Sam Houser and Dan Houser, who sought to force him out of the company and terminate his portion of royalty payments based upon arbitrary actions by the company’s royalty Allocation Committee, a committee that may or may not have actually ever met.”
Thus, Benzies could be looking at $150 million in compensated royalties. For any other developer this might seem excessive, but he is the engine behind the Grand Theft Auto series and Red Dead Redemption. We’re talking Grand Theft Auto III onward, with the critically-acclaimed Grand Theft Auto V being his last project for Rockstar North.
Along with Royal Circus, Benzies now owns VR-Chitect Limited, Starship Group and Everywhere Game Limited. We expect big news with these names in the future, and remain wide-eyed as the lawsuit unfolds. The kind of games we’ll get, however, are shrouded in mystery. Yet some suspect he might compete with Rockstar.
For more news on games and industry, expect more from us here at COGconnected. Happy gaming.