Back  in 1997, when "Rockstar" was only used in reference to a rock musician, and the Houser brothers were working at BMG Interactive preparing to publish DMA Design's first Grand Theft Auto game, prior to Take-Two purchasing BMG as "Rockstar Games", Colin MacDonald started work at DMA Design, which would later be acquired by Rockstar Games and become Rockstar North.

He started during a pivotal point when DMA Design had just recently been purchased by Gremlin Interactive, who had "Disney-esque ambitions" MacDonald says, and Grand Theft Auto didn't quite fit into their mold. In fact, GTA was one of several projects being undertaken at DMA at the time, and it was not the shining star you would think - doubts were had over whether the game was actually fun.

Luckily, DMA Design's founder Dave Jones was the visionary who kept the game from the chopping block and insisted they stay the course. If it wasn't for Jones' foresight, the Houser brothers love for the game, and the future acquisition of DMA, we wouldn't be about to see the 10th major GTA game release this year: Grand Theft Auto V. That's not including the numerous smaller GTA titles which have been released over the years, nor the mammoth GTA IV DLC.

Edge recently caught up with MacDonald and discussed those early days at DMA, as well as the afterlife at Dave Jones next studio following the sale of DMA to Take-Two and Rockstar, Realtime Worlds. It is an interesting read, and I've only summarised the Grand Theft Auto-side of the story above, so check out the full story for more.

Source: Edge