Houser suggested the cancellation may have been beneficial creatively: “If that had come out, [we] probably wouldn’t have gotten to make Red Dead 2,” he said, indicating the studio’s priorities shifted toward other projects.
Despite that, Houser expressed admiration for Rockstar’s earlier DLC approach. “I like making the stories,” he remarked, praising the model used for GTA IV’s post-launch episodes and Red Dead’s additional content. He added that he personally would have liked to pursue more of those standalone story expansions at Rockstar.
Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser once said he spared GTA IV’s Niko Bellic from death so players could continue to play indefinitely — a choice that led him to make the opposite decision for Red Dead Redemption’s John Marston.
