I knew one day that my day job would crossover with my hobby of writing about video games. An interesting document arrived in my inbox today, at first it wasn’t particularly interesting, it looked just like a normal mechanical equipment schedule. Mechanical equipment schedules are something I receive a lot of daily, so I opened the document expecting to see the usual building supplies and things I would need to cost.
It was only when I read past the initial consultant heading that I realised this document was a bit more interesting, well for me anyway. I’m used to costing building equipment for large projects and well-known clients but I have never had a job to cost for a gaming company before. That gaming company is none other than Rockstar Games, the makers of probably the most anticipated game in history – Grand Theft Auto 6.
Rockstar Dundee Studio 3
The project name for this particular job is Dundee Studio 3 Fit Out for Rockstar Games. I knew Rockstar had a studio in Dundee, 3 years ago they acquired Ruffian Games and turned it into Rockstar Dundee. Given that this project is called Dundee Studio 3, I would assume that this is a third Dundee studio or perhaps an extension. I’ve never personally been to Rockstar’s Studio in Dundee so I don’t know how big the building is and a Google search just brings up one studio in Dundee.
I guess that this is either a refurbishment or the existing studio in Dundee or it is another physical location within Dundee. Perhaps acting as an extension to the existing studio. Or Rockstar has taken over more space within The Vision Building which houses the Dundee studio.
The screenshot above is from the mechanical specification (equipment schedule) that a consultant engineer has put together. The specification lists all the mechanical equipment that is to be fitted inside the building. Things like pipework, heating, ventilation ductwork, extract fans, air transfer grilles, and various other mechanical building equipment are all listed in this document.
The client address given in the specification is Rockstar North’s corporate address in Edinburgh.
Studio 3 is probably quite a large area
As I mentioned above I am not sure if this is a refurbishment of the existing studio, an extension or a brand new building Rockstar has taken over for a new studio space. What I can tell you is it must be a pretty big space. For example, the equipment schedule lists 150 air diffusers that supply air into a given area of the building, usually for heating and cooling. That is a hell of a lot of diffusers. If there are 150 of these supplying just one area, then it is a very large, open area. So it could either be a large office space or maybe a large motion capture studio.
The diffusers are listed under two references, however (SG1 and SG2 – SG = Supply Grille). This tells me that they are indeed split over two areas. The SG1 area has a quantity of 104 diffusers, which still makes this a very large area.
Also listed in the equipment specification are SIlencers. No, not silencers you put on the barrel of a gun to run around like John Wick but rather duct silencers. Duct silencers, also known as attenuators reduce the noise of the air as it rushes through ductwork. So Rockstar wants these areas to be pretty quiet and free from background noise.
Rockstar Games are expanding their Dundee studio space
Wikipedia lists Rockstar Dundee’s studio as being inside The Vision Building. A quick look and measure on Google Maps puts the building at about 90 metres long and 49 metres wide. It does look like Rockstar isn’t the sole occupant of The Vision building, so I guess that they have perhaps bought more space within the building to expand. The question is, expanding for what?
The careers page for Rockstar Dundee on the official Rockstar Games site does list a few current openings. Including animation, game design/scripting and coding. But my expert opinion on how big this new Studio 3 could be is that it could hold a lot more than a few extra employees.
Given the amount of mechanical equipment that is going into Studio 3, it is a large space. I didn’t have a lot of time to look through the consultant specification document, as my job was to cost certain items of equipment. But I will look through it more tomorrow to see if it mentions anything else of interest.
Rockstar Games are to release the next installment of Grant Theft Auto, GTA 6 in 2025 and it will be coming to PS5.
