Leslie Peter Benzies (born 17 January 1971) is a Scottish video game producer and the former president of Rockstar North, a subsidiary of Rockstar Games. He was the main producer on the ''

Grand Theft Auto ''Grand Theft Auto'' (''GTA'') is an action-adventure video game series created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is prima ...

'' series, taking responsibility from '' Grand Theft Auto III'' to ''

Grand Theft Auto V ''Grand Theft Auto V'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2008's ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', and ...

'' (including '' Grand Theft Auto Online''). Benzies left Rockstar in 2016, and was in a lawsuit with its parent company,

Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns three major Imprint (trade name), publishing labels, Rockstar Games, Zynga and 2K ...

, over unpaid royalties from April 2016 to February 2019.

Early life

Benzies was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

but moved to Elgin when he was young. When Benzies was 11, his father Leonard purchased a Dragon 32 computer. Benzies taught himself how to program and wrote his first game.

Career

Benzies' professional career as a video game programmer began in 1995 at DMA Design (now Rockstar North), where he was team lead developing the

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...

video game '' Space Station Silicon Valley''. This game was released in October 1998, after which he started assembling the team that would create '' Grand Theft Auto III''. In 2005, he and Sam Houser, President of Rockstar Games, received a

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

Special Award. In June 2014, he announced a deal to purchase the St Stephen's Church in Stockbridge, Edinburgh for a little over £500,000. He plans to preserve the building and create a trust composed of members of the community to manage it. Benzies took sabbatical leave from Rockstar on 1 September 2014. In January 2016 it was announced that he had left the company. Benzies later claimed that he was persuaded to take the sabbatical, during which his son and several of his friends were fired from the company and his email access was suspended; when he attempted to return to work, he was ordered to leave by the office manager and says that the company made "scurrilous allegations" about his actions at work. On 12 April 2016, Benzies started legal action against Rockstar Games and its parent

claiming $150 million in unpaid royalties. In January 2017, he set up five new companies including Royal Circus Games which intends to develop games for consoles, PCs and mobile devices. On 29 March 2018, Benzies' litigation against Rockstar and Take-Two suffered a significant setback when the companies succeeded in dismissing 12 out of 18 of his claims, though the court did rule that Benzies "remains entitled to receive certain royalties" as part of his compensation. On 7 February 2019, Benzies's litigation with Take-Two ended with a confidential settlement. On 1 October 2018, it was announced that Benzies' new company was called Build a Rocket Boy. The company has raised £32 million from investors in China and New York for its upcoming game ''Everywhere''. Its first game, '' MindsEye'', published by IO Interactive, was released on 10 June 2025.

Works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benzies, Leslie 1971 births Living people Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame inductees BAFTA winners (people) British video game designers People from Aberdeen People from Elgin, Moray Rockstar Games Video game producers