 Gathering was painted as an artist-friendly, developer-driven publishing operation which would brand its developers above the publishing label and permit them to own their intellectual property, thereby earning the highest royalty rates in the industry at that time.Funded through distribution and co-publishing deals by Take-Two Interactive, Gathering published several PC games including "Railroad Tycoon 2", "Stronghold", "Serious Sam", "Tropico", "Darkstone", "Mafia", and finally "Max Payne" after the company's acquisition by Take-Two in May 2000.After the sudden death of Gathering co-founder Doug Myres in the summer of 2001, Wilson and Miller negotiated a separation for themselves and almost their entire Texas-based crew from Take-Two Interactive.