One of the fathers of Grand Theft Auto has left Rockstar

News
By published

One of the three people most directly responsible for the massive success of the Grand Theft Auto series has left Rockstar Games. Leslie Benzies, who was head of lead GTA studio Rockstar North, left the company after a lengthy sabbatical, according to a statement given to Kotaku.

Rockstar said Benzies took a sabbatical from his work at Rockstar North starting on September 1, 2014, about a year after the initial release of GTA 5 and likely just as work was finishing up on its current-gen versions. Sometime after that, Benzies decided to not return to the studio, though Rockstar only confirmed his departure when prodded by Kotaku.

Rockstar North is now led by GTA 5 art directors Aaron Garbut and Rob Nelson, who both also have numerous Rockstar credits to their names. Hopefully they'll work on releasing whatever Agent is these days next.

Seen something newsworthy? Tell us!

Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan
Former GamesRadar+ News Writer

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar+.