Gordon Hall, co-founder of Rockstar Leeds, has died aged 51.
Hall - who founded Möbius Entertainment in 1997 before it was bought by Take-Two and turned into Rockstar Leeds in 2004 - worked on games like Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.
Hall began his career by developing Commodore 64 game Force One in 1987, which he later sold for £2000. He had worked as studio president at both Rockstar Leeds and Rockstar San Diego, and had latterly been chief creative officer for Activision Blizzard Mobile at The Blast Furnace.
“I could fill books with our tales of our adventures – and the crazy thing is so could hundreds of others too, his heart was so big,” Jason McGann, fellow co-founder of Möbius Entertainment and Rockstar Leeds, told Game Republic, a North England games industry network (thanks, Eurogamer).
“For me, the time I spent living with him in Harrogate through the mid-to-late 90s are my fondest memories; we were both broke, young, free and hungry for success. We’d work hard and play hard – we’d make our plans, and with someone like Gordon, we always got them done (one way or another).”
"Gordon was simply brilliant to be around, incredibly motivating and ever positive," added friend and former colleague Martyn Brown, who co-founded Team17 and now works at Five Aces Publishing.
"I saw many times first-hand how he worked with people and lifted their capabilities above and beyond, driving his team, project, and company to unbelievable heights of success.
"He was an incredibly generous soul who spent a lot of time encouraging all, especially students at local universities."
Talking to the BBC, a Rockstar representative added: "We were very saddened to hear of the recent passing of Gordon Hall.
"During his time with us, Gordon helped create some truly amazing games and was instrumental in the creation of the classic, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. May he rest in peace. Our condolences go out to his family and friends for their loss."
