Dan Houser Focused on New Projects Rather Than GTA 6

Unlike his older brother, Dan Houser is often forced to remain in the public eye to promote his new products created at Absurd Ventures.

In every interview, he inevitably gets asked about Rockstar Games and GTA 6. The same happened during Variety’s Strictly Business podcast.

GTA 6 Gameplay Trailer

The head of his own company stated that he has not watched Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look or anything related to it. He deliberately avoids anything that could distract him from his work, especially when it comes to open-world video games. He does this to come up with new ideas rather than getting caught up in comparisons with what others have created, and that applies to more than just GTA.

Open-World Video Games

Houser does not play these kinds of games because he too quickly starts thinking about various aspects of their development. He weighs their strengths and weaknesses and imagines how the meetings might have gone where developers decided whether to add a particular feature.

Masterpieces That Are Distracting

The writer gave several examples. After starting work on RDR 1, he did not watch a single Western.

He also watched the acclaimed series The Sopranos only after leaving Rockstar. Before that, he had seen just one episode, the finale, which he watched with his girlfriend, now his wife, when it originally aired. He watched all six seasons during COVID-19. He considers the show exceptional and is glad he did not see it while writing for Grand Theft Auto, as it would have influenced his scripts too heavily. This is the kind of thing Dan tries to avoid.

Criteria For His Own Success

There was a lot of pressure while working on GTA. At the same time, there were always questions about whether what they were creating was something worth being proud of. Even when it comes to Rockstar games that were not successful in financial terms, the creative director remains satisfied if he believes he did a good job.

Future Projects

Absurd Ventures continues to work on numerous franchises.

• A Better Paradise is being transformed into a dystopian sci-fi video game.
• Absurdaverse will receive an open-world game with a greater emphasis on comedy. More information is promised in the next few months.
• American Caper, in comic-book form, is heading toward the season finale, which will be released on November 11 as a double issue.

The gaming community is looking somewhat cautiously at the company’s ambitions, especially given the experience of Build A Rocket Boy, the studio founded by another Rockstar veteran, which suffered a spectacular collapse.

It is far too early to draw similar conclusions about AV. Alongside Dan Houser, the company employs industry veterans such as Lazlow and Michael Unsworth. The games division is headed by Greg Borrud, who previously led development on Mass Effect, Destroy All Humans!, The Saboteur, and other video games.