Angel Studios (now known as Rockstar San Diego) is an American video game developer based in Carlsbad, California, USA. The company was the developer of the first two Midtown Madness installments before it renamed to Rockstar San Diego.
Overview[]
Foundation - 1984-1998[]
Founded by Colombian artist and businessman Diego Angel in 1984, the company initially focused on animations and visual effects for multimedia productions, including films and music videos. Following Angel's business strategy of avoiding high-risk business sectors, the company began working in the video game industry during the 1990s. Its first video game projects were Ed Annunziata's Ecco: The Tides of Time (1994) and Mr. Bones (1996), for which Angel Studios created cutscenes.
Introduction to the Racing Scene - 1999-2002[]
The company developed its own games in association with Nintendo (Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey Jr. and Ken Griffey Jr.'s Slugfest) and Microsoft (Midtown Madness and Midtown Madness 2), and produced a port of Capcom's Resident Evil 2 for the Nintendo 64. Impressed with the studio's work on Midtown Madness, Rockstar Games approached Angel Studios with a long-term partnership in 1999, which resulted in the creation of two video game series, Midnight Club and Smuggler's Run.
Rockstar San Diego - 2002 onwards[]
In late 2002, Angel was bought out by Take-Two Interactive, who transformed the studio into Rockstar San Diego. Under this name, the studio has developed three further additions to the Midnight Club series, as well as the critically acclaimed Red Dead Revolver, Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto V.