Rockstar Games is well known in the gaming industry as one of the titans of open-world game development. Rockstar Games has an extensive library of quality games for the time that they were released, making its mark with just about every title released in the last two decades. Many of the games that Rockstar develops are highly praised for their quality, gameplay mechanics, and engaging story. Game franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne, and more have received nothing but praise in their release and still to this day. Though one thing many of them have in common is the lack of a female protagonist.

Many of the games Rockstar Games develops usually have a deeply involved story that players can lose themselves in. On top of this, many of Rockstar's games also feature a large open-world for players to explore and immerse themselves in. Despite the high-quality storytelling in many of Rockstar's games, there has been almost no story centered around a female protagonist playable by the player. Though this might seem surprising, Rockstar does have a few games in its catalog where players can play as female protagonists if they choose, though they may be difficult to find today.

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Rockstar Leeds, as Mobius Entertainment

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Rockstar Games has been around for a long time, so long that it has 10 subsidiaries, all that help develop and publish games under its large umbrella. Before many of these subsidiary companies were under Rockstar, they were publishing and developing games on their own. Some of these games indeed featured female protagonists, though now it seems to be a rare occurrence, as many of the bigger games feature male protagonists. Even Grand Theft Auto 5, having three protagonists, all of whom are male. Some fans might not be happy about not having a strong female counterpart in Rockstar's story-heavy games.

Before Rockstar Leeds was known as such, it was called Mobius Entertainment, and the games it developed were mainly on the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance. Two of these games featured a female protagonist, though unsurprising, given the brand that the games were made for. These games were Barbie Horse Adventures: Blue Ribbon Race and Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue, the former released for the Game Boy Advance and the latter released on the PS2, both in 2003. Though both were co-developed with Blitz Games, they are the only games in Rockstar Leed's history to feature a female protagonist. Both games were not received well by critics.

Rockstar Leeds would become a supporting developer under the Rockstar umbrella, porting high-quality games such as The Warriors, Manhunt 2, and Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition to PSP. Rockstar Leeds would eventually help with development on titles such as Red Dead Redemption 2Grand Theft Auto 5and Max Payne 3.

Rockstar New England as Mad Doc Software

Mad Doc Software was the name of a game development company that launched in 1999 and was renamed Rockstar New England in 2008. Mad Doc Software mainly developed games in the Star Trek Armada and Empire Earth series, producing multiple games for each franchise. Though Mad Doc Software seemed to develop real-time strategy games exclusively, they would go on to help co-develop Dungeon Seige: Legends of Aranna with game studio Gas Powered Games. Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna is an action RPG where players can create their own character, meaning players had the option to play as a female protagonist.

Though Rockstar Games would eventually acquire these game development studios, one of Rockstar's first studio acquisitions was responsible for the original Grand Theft Auto games in the late 90s. Originally founded as DMA Design Limited in 1987, the studio would go on to test the waters with various game titles for the Amiga, Commodore 64, Atari, and more. It wasn't until the original Grand Theft Auto was developed and released in 1997 that DMA Design Limited would become much more notable. After development finished on Grand Theft Auto 2 and Grand Theft Auto 3, DMA Design Limited became Rockstar Studios.

The original Grand Theft Auto may surprise some fans in that it did include the option to play as a female protagonist. Grand Theft Auto 1 had the option of four women that the player could choose to play as, though this didn't change the gameplay or story whatsoever and was more for flavor than anything. These first-ever female protagonists in the Grand Theft Auto universe were known as Ulrika, Mikki, Divine, and Katie. Though the Grand Theft Auto series wouldn't stop with the first iteration, the Game Boy Color version of Grand Theft Auto 2 included two selectable female protagonists, Gretchen and Candy.

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Female Protagonists in Rockstar's Current Games

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Though it has been a long time since the first two Grand Theft Auto games allowed player selection, this was sort of brought back in Grand Theft Auto 5 with the option of three playable characters. This was done much better and more thoroughly than GTA 1 and GTA 2, allowing the playable characters to be much more fleshed out and central to the plot as opposed to a simple portrait. In Grand Theft Auto: Online, players can create a female character for themselves to play as in the online play. This is the only other time the player can play as a female in the world of Grand Theft Auto, which isn't the worst option in the world, as there is a lot of content to go through.

Other than the Grand Theft Auto series, Red Dead Redemption has had its fair share of success comparable to the GTA series. With a large and detailed story with a complicated cast of characters in the Red Dead universe, there are many strong female characters that are involved, most notably fan-favorite Sadie Adler. Players have been wanting a prequel to Red Dead Redemption featuring Sadie Adler, though there is no telling what Rockstar's plans are for the future of the series. Thankfully, much like Grand Theft Auto: Online, fans can create their own western femme fatale in Red Dead Online and still experience what Rockstar's wild west has to offer.

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