Former Rockstar President, Leslie Benzies, has allegedly created a new GTA Online rival game as part of his new venture 'Royal Circus Games Limited', after he reportedly quit Rockstar Games amid his ensuing $150 million lawsuit against the parent company. The lawsuit seems to have been filed to recover alleged unpaid royalties.
Benzies has apparently started five new game studios, with his upcoming title 'Time for a New World' being trademarked as his studio's first game. It is known that he led to the development of several GTA titles from GTA 3 to GTA 5, amounting to a total of eight projects in one of the most celebrated yet controversial franchises in video-game history.
The lawsuit alleges that Rockstar, Rockstar North, and Take-Two had fired him out of the company and deceptively terminated his royalty payments. GTA masterminds Sam Houser and Dan Houser have also been accused of conspiring against him, according to the allegations made in the lawsuit.
However, the Dan brothers have denied his accusations and this could have spurred Benzies into unearthing a new competitor to GTA franchise in the name of vengeance.
Although the legal dispute between Benzies and Rockstar unabatedly carries into the New Year, fans of the GTA community might just see the rise of a new action-RPG franchise, overshadowing the beloved Grand Theft Auto series in the coming days.
Meanwhile, two other Rockstar North Ex-employees Matthew Smith and Colin Entwistle are starting their own video game company titled 'Everywhere Game Limited'. Their upcoming game has a working title 'Everywhere', which is currently under development on Amazon Lumberyard, the retail giant's free game engine.
Folks at Polygon have gone a step further to dig out more information on Benzies' team and his ongoing project through an email interview with Benzies and Smith. Check out the full details here.
