(continued)

The doughy Houser grew up in the suburbs of London with an actress mother and a lawyer father, and graduated from Oxford with a degree in geography. He has demonstrated a sixth sense for controversy in the 10 years since he and his partners first created Rockstar.

Rockstar Games is currently valued at $2 billion, roughly double the net worth of the Yankees"When we started," he recalls, "pretty much all console games were for kids. We wanted to create games that satirized the real world, not some kid's fantasy." Their insistence on marketing to adults changed the industry and made them insanely rich. Since its inception in 1998, the company has grown to 700 employees and spawned nine satellite offices. Rockstar is currently valued at $2 billion, roughly double the net worth of the Yankees.

But success has bred controversy. Months before its release, GTA IV drew its first lawsuit threat—from antiviolence video game activist Jack Thompson, who recognized a bit too much of himself in the character of a hapless lawyer murdered by the protagonist. And several New York politicians recently took up Spitzer's soiled cudgel and publicly condemned the franchise. Such distractions are business as usual for the Rockstar crew. "We've taken a fairly antiestablishment stance," says Houser, leaning back into a plush leather couch. "I don't think we've sold out too bad."

This article is from the May/June issue of Radar Magazine. For a risk-free issue, click here.

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