Rockstar: ‘We’re not in direct competition with Call of Duty or anyone’

Rockstar Games is well-aware of games like Call of Duty, Battlefield, and other blockbuster franchises. But the studio views none of them as direct competition. Rather, company co-founder Dan Houser prefers to make a game the studio is proud of and that returns the money to publisher Take-Two's investors.

"We like it that people make lots of different kinds of games," Houser told The Guardian when asked about Call of Duty becoming the biggest series in the world. "These are the games we like to make, we think we have something to say, but they're not the only kinds of games we think should be made, at all. It's not the Olympics where only one person wins a gold medal. We're not in direct competition with Call of Duty or with anyone.

"Our job is to make something we're proud of and to return the Take Two investors' money to them – those are the only two things we have to worry about. To hopefully sell a lot of copies of a game, doing something we're proud of – that what we focus on," he added.

Given the rave reviews of GTA 5 and $800 million in day-one sales, I'd say their focus is right on target. Personally, I love Houser and Rockstar's approach towards game design. I've never been a fan the trash-talking between companies, though they do make for some catchy headlines.