Gordon Hall, one of the founders of Rockstar Leeds, has died, Games Industry reports. He was 51.
While at Rockstar Leeds, the studio developed Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, Vice City Stories, and Chinatown Wars. The studio was originally Möbius Entertainment and was acquired by Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar’s parent company, in 2004. The studio was rebranded Rockstar Leeds.
According to Games Industry, Hall moved to Rockstar San Diego in 2009, lending his expertise to Red Dead Redemption. However, the exec took a break between 2011 and 2013 to research the psychology behind microtransactions and then returned as Activision Blizzard Mobile’s chief creative officer.
“Gordon was simply brilliant to be around, incredibly motivating and ever positive,” Martyn Brown, business development at Five Aces Publishing and co-founder of Team17, is quoted as saying.
“His pursuit of excellence was staggering and he formed a great, trusting bond with those who chose to work (hard) alongside him. As a close friend, he was truly inspirational and socially speaking a real energetic one-off who could endlessly entertain at the drop of a hat, holding everyone in the palm of his hand. Gordon will be very sadly missed.”