Former Rockstar North president sues 'GTA V' studio for $150 million

Longtime Rockstar Games creative lead Leslie Benzies -- who parted ways with the company in 2015 -- filed a lawsuit today against his former employer for $150 million. The move comes a day after Rockstar's own lawsuit against Benzies, filed on Apr. 11.

In a statement, Rockstar cites "significant performance and conduct issues" as the factors leading to Benzies' 2015 resignation from the company.

Leslie Benzies was a valued employee of our company for many years. Sadly, the events that culminated in his resignation ultimately stem from his significant performance and conduct issues. Despite our repeated efforts to address and resolve these issues amicably both before and after his departure, Leslie has chosen to take this route in an attempt to set aside contract terms to which he previously agreed on multiple occasions. His claims are entirely without merit and in many instances downright bizarre, and we are very confident this matter will be resolved in our favor. A core ethos since Rockstar's inception has been the concept of “the team”. It is deeply disappointing and simply wrong for Leslie to attempt to take personal credit for what has always been the tremendous efforts of the entire Rockstar team, who remain hard at work delivering the most immersive and engaging entertainment experiences we can for our fans.

We do not intend to comment further on this matter.

Benzies -- who was a key creative force behind the Grand Theft Auto series, up to and including GTA V -- alleges that Rockstar's sibling co-founders Dan and Sam Houser, along with Rockstar parent Take-Two Interactive, owe him for unpaid royalties. The suit claims that he was forced out of the company, and his promised royalty payments were terminated arbitrarily.

Benzies' revelation about his Rockstar exit, in particular, runs counter to the official line that the studio delivered months ago.

"We can confirm that Leslie Benzies went on sabbatical on September 1, 2014 and has decided not to return to work for the company," a Jan. 2016 statement reads. "We are very grateful for Leslie’s contributions to Rockstar over the last 15 years as we worked together to make some amazing games."

Benzies' lawsuit contends otherwise. A statement from his legal representation -- Locke Lord LLP -- describes "numerous deceptions" that were discovered during Benzies' sabbatical. 

The Housers, along with Take-Two, "sought to force him out of the company  and terminate his portion of royalty payments based upon arbitrary actions by the company's royalty Allocation Committee, a committee that may or may not have actually ever met."

As laid out in the court documents, the "Allocation Committee" is a group consisting of two Rockstar Principals and one "Take-Two appointee." It exists "to pay the Rockstar Principals their share of the profits."

The statement goes on to note that Benzies is owed "in excess of $150,000,000 million in unpaid royalties." He, along with the two Housers, are established as "Rockstar Principals" in their "identical" Take-Two contracts.

"This was the company's way of rewarding Mr. Benzies by bringing him into the highest compensation tier," the statement reads. His ouster is characterized as "a lengthy deception by Sam Houser," with the legal complaint laying out the particulars of that allegation.

Those particulars are summed up in the Locke Lord LLP statement:

During the lengthy mediation, as the complaint describes, Take-Two breached its mediation obligations by issuing an out-of-bounds and inaccurate press statement regarding his sabbatical and that he would not be coming back to work. In fact, when attempting to resume his duties upon conclusion of his sabbatical on April 1, 2015, Mr. Benzies found himself unable to enter the Rockstar North office because his facilities access device had been deactivated. After being let inside by building security, Mr. Benzies was then ordered to leave by the Rockstar North office manager without reason.

The lawsuit claims that, during the sabbatical, the Housers re-worked the terms of their profit-sharing to funnel royalties their way while cutting Benzies out entirely. When Benzies inquired after his missing royalty payments, he was allegedly told "Sam [Houser] thinks you've had enough."

The complaint further states that Sam Houser had "no authority" to justify the decision in such terms.

A separate suit, filed one day earlier by Take-Two and Rockstar, seeks to establish that Benzies willingly terminated his employment in an Apr. 2015 letter, and that he did so without "Good Reason" (as defined in his employment agreement).

The court filing also seeks to clear up the uncertainty around Rockstar's royalty agreement. Benzies contends that, as a principal, he was entitled to payouts that equaled those received by the Housers. Rockstar and Take-Two seek legal clarity on the rules laid out in the royalty agreement.

Specifically, the text of the filing reads:

By this action, Plaintiffs seek a judgment that will finalize the controversy and offer the parties relief from uncertainty. Plaintiffs ask this Court for a judicial declaration that: the Royalty Plan does not establish any minimum allocations or financial parity with the other Rockstar Principals (as defined below) and instead provides the Allocation Committee complete discretion not to award pre-termination bonuses to Benzies; and (2) Benzies did not have Good Reason to terminate his employment but that even if he did have Good Reason (which Plaintiffs deny) Sam Houser would have the sole authority to determine what, if any, royalty percentage should be allocated to Benzies.

You can find the text of Benzies' complaint here and Rockstar/Take-Two's lawsuit here (with thanks to Game Informer's Mike Futter for uncovering the legal documents). 

Mashable reached out to Rockstar for additional comment, though the company hadn't responded at the time of publish.

UPDATED Apr. 12 at 5:41 p.m. EDT with a statement from Rockstar. An earlier version of this story also incorrectly stated that the Rockstar/Take-Two filing was a counter-suit. In fact, that filing came a day before Benzies own. The story has been updated to reflect this important detail, and we apologize for any confusion the earlier story may have caused.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.