Former GTA producer Leslie Benzies suing Rockstar Games over $150M. - Polidicks

[QUOTE]Former Rockstar North studio head Leslie Benzies is suing the company for $150 million alleging "numerous deceptions" from Take-Two, Rockstar, and Sam and Dan Houser. Christopher Bakes, a partner with the Locke Lord law firm representing Benzies, issued a statement regarding the suit today, saying Rockstar's official story of how he left the Grand Theft Auto studio was a lie. In September of 2014, Benzies went on sabbatical from Rockstar North. This January, the studio released a statement saying he decided not to return to work. [B]"In fact, when attempting to resume his duties upon conclusion of his sabbatical on April 1, 2015, Mr. Benzies found himself unable to enter the Rockstar North office because his facilities access device had been deactivated," Bakes said. "After being let inside by building security, Mr. Benzies was then ordered to leave by the Rockstar North office manager without reason."[/B] The lawsuit also accuses the Houser brothers of trying to force Benzies from the company and unjustly terminating $150 million in royalty payments "based upon arbitrary actions by the company's royalty Allocation Committee, a committee that may or may not have actually ever met." Benzies' complaints also were personal in nature, accusing Sam Houser specifically of "mounting resentment" that Benzies received the same compensation from Take-Two as the Houser brothers.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-04-12-leslie-benzies-suing-rockstar-over-USD150-million[/url] Jesus I knew this company was anything but heaven but holy shit what a bunch of colossal cunts. The next GTA will be a huge disappointment, calling it now. Benzies vs Rockstar, pretty good read. [url]https://www.scribd.com/doc/308210028/Benzies-vs-Rockstar[/url]

Rockstar North is a shitty money grubbing studio now. Couldn't care less about them losing 150m

TakeTwo need a slap in the face. They are responsible for all the complaints I have regarding GTA V.

[QUOTE=FetusFondler;50118836]TakeTwo need a slap in the face. They are responsible for all the complaints I have regarding GTA V.[/QUOTE] It's a shame that such talent is subject to that amount of exec. meddling. I wish someone made a worthy GTA clone already.

Why this stupid bullshit have to happen with the most successful devs in industry. First Kojima now Benzies. I really don't like what's happening behind the scenes in the industry.

Is this why GTA V still hasn't received any story expansions?

[QUOTE=Dauge;50118758]"In fact, when attempting to resume his duties upon conclusion of his sabbatical on April 1, 2015, Mr. Benzies found himself unable to enter the Rockstar North office because his facilities access device had been deactivated," Bakes said. "After being let inside by building security, Mr. Benzies was then ordered to leave by the Rockstar North office manager without reason."[/QUOTE] How professional of them!

The Houser brothers are finished without "The Benz" [IMG]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cf2yFCEWEAIPUqj.jpg[/IMG] There's ABSOLUTELY no way the next GTA will be anything above average. This series is done.

Maybe he shouldn't have been absent for 7 months... Taking a 7 month "sabbatical" (vacation basically) doesn't entitle you to anything upon your return. And it sure as shit does not entitle you to $150 million. Take-Two may be bad, but Rockstar is still the best game dev in my opinion. They made the best game of all time and keep updating it with tons free content. No other AAA-dev is doing that right now.

[QUOTE=IliekBoxes;50118947]Is this why GTA V still hasn't received any story expansions?[/QUOTE] It can basically be summed down to T2 not being interested in anything but the online because its the only one of the two that is profitable. Gotta milk them shark cards by hyperinflation of the ingame currency. Really all the problems with R* can be narrowed down to T2, ever since they bought them from Bertelsmann they've just been running it into the ground with shitty executive decisions, they don't let their studios do what they are good at and instead force them into pushing content early, extremely unrealistic deadlines and shifting development decisions on instant with no regard for anything else. Its all about the money and how to make it fast, they don't give a shit about anything else.

[QUOTE=orgornot;50118996]Maybe he shouldn't have been absent for 7 months... Taking a 7 month "sabbatical" (vacation basically) doesn't entitle you to anything upon your return. And it sure as shit does not entitle you to $150 million. Take-Two may be bad, but Rockstar is still the best game dev in my opinion. They made the best game of all time and keep updating it with tons free content. No other AAA-dev is doing that right now.[/QUOTE] if someone takes a sabbatical they usually take it under the pretense that they will get their job back once it is over so yeah i would say he is entitled to his job

[QUOTE=orgornot;50118996]Maybe he shouldn't have been absent for 7 months... Taking a 7 month "sabbatical" (vacation basically) doesn't entitle you to anything upon your return. And it sure as shit does not entitle you to $150 million. Take-Two may be bad, but Rockstar is still the best game dev in my opinion. They made the best game of all time and keep updating it with tons free content. No other AAA-dev is doing that right now.[/QUOTE] i dont know, if i were one of the main key people behind a companies [B]major[/B] success, and at times its savior, i'd be obligated to get a 7 month paid vacation. it seems to be that the higher executives saw benz taking this vacation as a waste of company resources and thought they'd do fine without him. i'd imagine in the future this will bite them in the ass.

[QUOTE=.Lain;50118818]Rockstar North is a shitty money grubbing studio now. Couldn't care less about them losing 150m[/QUOTE] RDR was boring and the servers never worked from the beginning and GTAO is a moneygrab. Cockstar sucks in the last few years

HA! I thought something was fishy, I remember reading a Kotaku (I know) article about Leslie leaving the company and it seemed like such a strange story. Here's a quote from [URL="http://kotaku.com/rockstar-north-boss-leslie-benzies-is-out-after-nearly-1752495562"]that article[/URL]: [quote]When I checked in with Rockstar about whether Benzies had returned from sabbatical, they revealed he’d actually left the studio: [B]“We can confirm that Leslie Benzies went on sabbatical on September 1, 2014 and has decided not to return to work for the company.[/B] We are very grateful for Leslie’s contributions to Rockstar over the last 15 years as we worked together to make some amazing games. Leslie helped us build an incredible team that will continue to create great experiences for our fans. Leslie will always be a friend to the company and of course we are going to miss him but we wish him the absolute best for the future.”[/quote] So now that is revealed to be a complete fabrication, what a crazy thing to say.

[QUOTE=orgornot;50118996]Maybe he shouldn't have been absent for 7 months... Taking a 7 month "sabbatical" (vacation basically) doesn't entitle you to anything upon your return. And it sure as shit does not entitle you to $150 million. Take-Two may be bad, but Rockstar is still the best game dev in my opinion. They made the best game of all time and keep updating it with tons free content. No other AAA-dev is doing that right now.[/QUOTE] Thing is a sabbatical is usually formal process decided by the company, so when he left on one there should have been a clear expectation of the terms and when he was to return. The $150 million number I guess is because his contract included royalties on GTA5 and the dispute is that in whatever given timeframe (Sept. 2014 > now, April 2015 > now), he has not been paid royalties due on the game and if I understand right he says they screwed him over and pushed him out of the company while he was taking said sabbatical. [QUOTE=SonicHitman;50119041]i dont know, if i were one of the main key people behind a companies [B]major[/B] success, and at times its savior, i'd be obligated to get a 7 month paid vacation. it seems to be that the higher executives saw benz taking this vacation as a waste of company resources and thought they'd do fine without him. i'd imagine in the future this will bite them in the ass.[/QUOTE] A sabbatical doesn't even necessarily need to be paid. The previous company I worked at allowed long standing employees the opportunity to take up to 1 year for an unpaid leave with the expectation that they still have a job when returning. The most bizarre thing I found about this is the timeline of events - Sept 2014 - He goes on leave April 2015 - He allegedly tries to go back to work but is told to leave/no longer has access January 2016 - T2 release a statement saying he decided not to return to work and will no longer be with them This Maybe this has been brewing for a while - If he was originally forced out of the office a year ago then why did it take T2 8-9 months to release a statement saying he has decided not to work for them anymore?

Some snippets from the suit [QUOTE][I][U]Denial of Royalties, Attempted Return, and Ouster[/U][/I] 73. It soon became clear to Mr. Benzies that the “sabbatical” was actually an expulsion – the commencement of Defendants’ campaign to oust Mr. Benzies. By September 2014, Sam Houser had ceased all communications with Mr. Benzies. Mr. Benzies’ company Blackberry was remotely disabled without notice and his company email account was locked, over Mr. Benzies’ objections. Mr. Benzies requested access to the account during the sabbatical, which was wholly rejected. 74. During Mr. Benzies’ sabbatical, Sam Houser terminated or forced-out some of Mr. Benzies’ key support staff. Mr. Benzies was not consulted about those decisions or any other business decisions during his sabbatical. 75. During the sabbatical, Mr. Benzies had infrequent contact with Rockstar through Ms. Kolbe. He was not allowed to speak with any other colleagues at Rockstar, and was not allowed access to any data. Long-time colleague Andy Semple refused to meet with him. Mr. Benzies was now completely cut-off, including from colleagues he had worked with for up to twenty years. 76. While Mr. Benzies was on his sabbatical and through the date of this Complaint, Sam Houser and Dan Houser (through the “Allocation Committee” comprised of the Housers, and one Take-Two representative) awarded themselves at least $93,000,000 in profit sharing distributions derived from the exploitation of GTA 5, and potentially as much as $523,000,000. During that period, Sam Houser awarded Mr. Benzies no shared profits, a violation of the 2009 Royalty Plan, his own fiduciary duty to Mr. Benzies, and the long-standing actual practice of treating the Rockstar Principals identically with respect to royalties. Mr. Benzies also failed to receive quarterly reports describing the “royalty pool” (as was his contractual right, and Take-Two’s contractual obligation, under the 2009 Royalty Plan), until March 2015. He received no notice that any Plan profit shares were distributed to his fellow Rockstar Principals.[/QUOTE] This company is a mess. Glassdoor reviews tell the tale [QUOTE][url]https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Rockstar-Games-RVW8896528.htm[/url] [url]https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Rockstar-Games-RVW8395464.htm[/url] [url]https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Rockstar-Games-RVW4520266.htm[/url] [url]https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Rockstar-Games-RVW4360368.htm[/url] [url]https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Rockstar-Games-RVW2199469.htm[/url] [url]https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Rockstar-Games-RVW2104542.htm[/url] [url]https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Rockstar-Games-RVW2105040.htm[/url] [url]https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Rockstar-Games-RVW2033158.htm[/url] [url]https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Rockstar-Games-RVW874264.htm[/url] [url]https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Rockstar-Games-RVW139234.htm[/url] [url]https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Rockstar-Games-RVW8586841.htm[/url] [url]https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Rockstar-Games-RVW7437017.htm[/url] [url]https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Rockstar-Games-RVW4965457.htm[/url] [url]https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Rockstar-Games-RVW4866109.htm[/url] [url]https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Rockstar-Games-RVW4124838.htm[/url] [url]https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Rockstar-Games-RVW3181780.htm[/url] [url]https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Rockstar-Games-RVW2468214.htm[/url] [url]https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Rockstar-Games-RVW1013620.htm[/url][/QUOTE]

Take Two needs to die and it can take the empty shell of Rockstar with it.

Those glassdoor links don't work

[QUOTE=KingKombat;50119228]Those glassdoor links don't work[/QUOTE] Fix'd.

[QUOTE]92. The evidence does not support the threatened claims levied against Mr. Benzies by Rockstar and Take Two. For example, the Defendants threatened to justify Mr. Benzies’ ouster by claiming that Mr. Benzies had caused undue delays in the GTA 5 and GTA Online development and delivery process by failing to properly perform his job duties. However, emails from Sam Houser directly contradict those false assertions. a. On December 19, 2013 (which followed the release of both GTA 5 and GTA Online), Sam Houser wrote to Mr. Benzies: “We’re going to keep this world growing and building forever. Amazing opportunity on so many levels!” On December 23, 2013, Sam Houser wrote to Mr. Benzies: “Being together – you and me – not in a creepy way – is what goes through my mind …” On December 31, 2013, Sam Houser wrote to Mr. Benzies: “Thanks man! Hope you’re having the most amazing time there!!! Let’s start ’14 where we left ’13. Dominating!!! So excited for what lies ahead and to be in this with you. Fingers crossed. Happy New Year! Love from all of us in London. Sam.” On January 1, 2014, Sam Houser wrote to Mr. Benzies: “Hey man, Happy New Year! Just let off some serious fireworks! Thanks again for everything this year. I’m so proud and honored to be your friend and comrade! Here’s to together forever!!! Fingers crossed. Love, Sam.” On March 13, 2014, Sam Houser wrote to Mr. Benzies: “Hope you’re good? Hope everyone a great night [sic]. I was so proud of everyone. Thanks for being my partner and my friend. We’re going to keep dominating on whole new levels. Right??? Fingers crossed. Love, Sam.” Unaware of the impending wrongdoing by the Defendants, Mr. Benzies wrote back to Sam Houser, “Hey Sam, All is good. That was a wonderful night. Thank you too for being a friend and partner. We’ve just started. Love Leslie.” In response, Mr. Houser wrote: “So amazing to experience that together. Onwards and upwards forever. Fingers crossed. Love, Sam.” Only months later, Sam Houser and the Defendants implemented their plan to oust Mr. Benzies.[B] This enabled the Housers to divert Royalty Pool profit shares that belonged to Mr. Benzies to themselves instead, making the Housers tens (if not hundreds) of millions of dollars richer.[/B][/QUOTE] WTF. I'm glad this is coming out I hated the bullshit move with shutting down alternative multiplayer clients like FiveM (I know it was T2 who sued but it's likely R* was involved in the suit) Also [QUOTE]GTA Online has the potential to achieve the greatest profit margin of any game created in the GTA franchise. In November 2015, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick announced that two years after its initial release, nearly 8,000,000 people were still playing GTA Online each week. GTA Online has generated at least [B]$500,000,000[/B] in revenue, based in part on a significant cash-generating tool contained in the game.[/QUOTE]

I've heard nothing but horror stories from Rockstar Studios now that I'm looking for an internship. They basically only hire graduates and interns because they look up to the studio and they'll work there for shit pay and shit hours. Minimum 10 hour work days at close to minimum wage, and asking for a raise after a year just gets you replaced by another intern or graduate.

[QUOTE=Grenadiac;50119223]Take Two needs to die and it can take the empty shell of Rockstar with it.[/QUOTE] What the fuck why? They've been consistently making awesome games for a long time. And I really don't see how one producer would somehow make all of the difference in any game. If he's not working on GTA anymore, I doubt that will make even a slightest bit of a difference.

[QUOTE=simkas;50119261]What the fuck why? They've been consistently making awesome games for a long time. And I really don't see how one producer would somehow make all of the difference in any game. If he's not working on GTA anymore, I doubt that will make even a slightest bit of a difference.[/QUOTE] It's not just him - much of Rockstar's creative talent is gone and the company is not a good place to work for the remainder. They'd really be better off somewhere else and shitty business practice like this needs to fucking [B]die[/B].

[QUOTE]91. Take-Two and Rockstar responded by making scurrilous allegations, a revenge tactic they had used before with other respected employees, this time deploying it against Mr. Benzies in an attempt to concoct false grounds for termination for Cause and to intimidate him into not pursuing his royalty claims. Take-Two and Rockstar threatened to use these false charges against Mr. Benzies if he continued to assert his rights. This was a shocking development given that Sam Houser himself had orchestrated and encouraged a company culture involving strip clubs, personal photography of employees in sexually compromising positions, and other conduct grossly in violation of standard workplace norms.[/QUOTE] :ohno:

GTA 5 was my first, thought it was pretty average..

I hope Benzies opens up his own studio. [editline]12th April 2016[/editline] Also holy shit he sure did open a can of worms for rockstar. It's just getting dirtier and dirtier.

sam houser seems very emotionally manipulative judging by these emails.

[QUOTE=orgornot;50118996]Maybe he shouldn't have been absent for 7 months... Taking a 7 month "sabbatical" (vacation basically) doesn't entitle you to anything upon your return. And it sure as shit does not entitle you to $150 million. Take-Two may be bad, but Rockstar is still the best game dev in my opinion. They made the best game of all time and keep updating it with tons free content. No other AAA-dev is doing that right now.[/QUOTE] You haven't the faintest how AAA gaming works.

[QUOTE=benzi2k7;50119433]sam houser seems very emotionally manipulative judging by these emails.[/QUOTE] He always has been a dick throughout all of the years.

[QUOTE=Skunky;50118950]How professional of them![/QUOTE] At least the security actually let him in because even they were confused about the situation, compared to some of these stories where a major dev practically gets bouncer'd and kept out like a common thug.