Nearly half a decade after parting ways with Rockstar Games—the powerhouse studio he helped build into a multi-billion-dollar juggernaut—co-founder and master storyteller Dan Houser is finally lifting the veil on his next creative chapter. In a wide-ranging, exclusive interview on Variety’s “Strictly Business” podcast, Houser provided the first substantive details regarding the video game projects currently in development at his new media company, Absurd Ventures.
Formally launched in 2023 following his 2020 exit from Rockstar, Absurd Ventures is designed as a transmedia incubator. Rather than focusing exclusively on traditional game development, Houser and his executive team—featuring veteran Rockstar alumni including Jeffrey “Lazlow” Jones, Michael Unsworth, and game development chief Greg Borrud—are architecting entirely new intellectual properties from the ground up. These universes are expanding simultaneously across graphic novels, fiction podcasts, books, animated series, and, crucially, open-world video games.
During his appearance on the podcast, Houser revealed that Absurd Ventures is actively working on two distinct, highly anticipated video games: an open-world comedy centered on cutting-edge character memory and systemic humor, and a dystopian sci-fi project inspired by the company’s inaugural narrative universe, A Better Paradise.
Yet, as the industry counts down to the November 19 launch of Grand Theft Auto VI—the first major GTA title developed entirely without his guiding hand—Houser remains deliberately isolated from the cultural noise. In a candid reflection on creative independence, industry pressures, and his deliberate policy of media avoidance, Houser discussed why he refuses to look in the rearview mirror, how he deconstructs modern game design, and what it truly means to start over after defining a generation of interactive entertainment.
Detailed Chronology: From Rockstar’s Pinnacle to Absurd Beginnings
To understand the weight of Dan Houser’s latest announcements, one must contextualize the monumental footprint he left behind. As the chief writer and creative director behind era-defining franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, Bully, and Max Payne 3, Houser set the gold standard for cinematic storytelling and satirical world-building in video games. When he officially departed Rockstar Games in March 2020—following an extended sabbatical after the grueling production of Red Dead Redemption 2—it marked the end of an era.
For the next three years, Houser operated largely behind the scenes, laying the groundwork for a radically different kind of creative enterprise. In 2023, he pulled back the curtain to reveal Absurd Ventures. Eschewing the traditional studio model where a single game takes eight years to make in total secrecy, Houser structured Absurd Ventures as a "world-building company."
The strategy was clear: establish multi-platform intellectual properties first, letting audiences engage with the lore via fiction podcasts, comic books, and animated shorts before dropping them into interactive digital sandboxes. The company rapidly established three foundational pillars:
"A Better Paradise": A chilling dystopian sci-fi thriller.
"American Caper": A gritty, satirical look at crime, failure, and modern Americana.
"The Absurdaverse": A high-concept comedic universe designed to stretch the boundaries of satirical storytelling.
The evolution of these universes has been swift. Over the past few years, Absurd Ventures has rolled out serialized fiction podcasts and graphic novel volumes, building a dedicated fanbase while quietly assembling a world-class team of developers. Now, the enterprise has reached its critical inflection point: the transition from transmedia world-building to fully realized, AAA-caliber video games.
The Next Frontier: Inside Absurd Ventures’ Two Debut Games
During his conversation on Strictly Business, Houser finally broke his silence on the core video game projects currently occupying his time and creative energy. While titles and exact release windows remain under wraps, the thematic descriptions alone are enough to send shockwaves through the gaming community.
1. The Open-World Comedy Project
Houser’s first major reveal centered on an unannounced open-world game that leans aggressively into humor.
"One is an open-world comedy which is trying to really lean into comedy and character memory, and that we’ll have more information on in the next few months," Houser shared on the podcast.
The emphasis on "character memory" is particularly intriguing. In traditional open-world games, non-player characters (NPCs) often exist in a state of perpetual amnesia, resetting their behaviors or dialogue trees the moment a mission ends or the player looks away. By highlighting memory as a core mechanical and narrative pillar, Houser hints at a systemic comedy engine where the world actively remembers the absurd, chaotic choices players make, potentially revolutionizing how emergent storytelling functions in a digital sandbox. Houser promised that more concrete details regarding this project will emerge in the coming months.
2. The Dystopian Sci-Fi Project (A Better Paradise)
The second title shifts tones dramatically, moving from bright satire into dark, speculative fiction. Derived from Absurd Ventures’ transmedia universe A Better Paradise, the game tackles themes of technological hubris and artificial intelligence gone catastrophically wrong.
"And the other is a dystopian sci-fi about a video game development gone very wrong, and about a rogue AI that discovered sentience," Houser explained. “Pero unfortunately, it was made by two people that didn’t like each other, so it doesn’t like itself.”
This meta-narrative premise—an AI inheriting the bitter, dysfunctional relationship of its creators—infuses classic cyberpunk tropes with the signature cynical wit that defined Houser’s work on Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt. It bridges the gap between high-concept philosophical dread and character-driven dark comedy.
Supporting Context & Metrics: Navigating the Shadow of GTA VI
Houser’s return to the spotlight happens against a backdrop of historic industry anticipation. On November 19, Rockstar Games is slated to release Grand Theft Auto VI, published by parent company Take-Two Interactive and led by Dan’s brother and fellow co-founder, Sam Houser. The title has dominated gaming discourse for over a decade, heightened recently by massive promotional pushes, including a 27-minute extended look released by Netflix in August.
Yet, in a display of radical psychological compartmentalization, Houser actively avoids it all.
"I haven’t seen it yet. I will try and avoid it because I always try and avoid stuff that’s going to distract or disrupt me creatively," Houser stated.
This avoidance is not born of bitterness, but of professional discipline. Having spent decades crafting open-world frameworks, Houser notes that viewing competitors’ work—or even his former company’s masterpieces—pulls him out of a pure creator mindset and forces him into an analytical one.
"When I play [open-world games], I can almost deconstruct the strengths and weaknesses of the team in real time and it’s distracting," he elaborated. “I’m always thinking, ‘Well, their animation team is weak, but I think this game design is fantastic.’… I’m not a game designer, I’m a sort of creative director. So I’m trying to always find new things that haven’t been done before, or that I can steal from older media, quite frankly, or just inspire me.”
This philosophy of creative quarantine is a long-standing habit for Houser. He revealed that during the grueling production of Red Dead Redemption, he deliberately stopped watching Westerns. Similarly, he did not watch a single episode of HBO’s iconic mob drama The Sopranos until years after leaving Rockstar, when he binged the series during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It’s so good that it would have disrupted everything I did on ‘GTA,’ had I watched it at the time. So I really try and avoid things that I think are going to overly influence me."
Official Statements and Industry Philosophy
Addressing the inevitable comparisons between his past masterworks and his upcoming endeavors at Absurd Ventures, Houser maintains a remarkably grounded perspective. He acknowledges that the shadow of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption will inevitably loom over his new output, but he views it as a double-edged sword.
"In terms of will I always be compared to it? I don’t know," Houser mused. “Hopefully, on some level there could be no greater compliment. On another level, I hope some of the stuff we make is going to be successful in its own right. It’s no problem to have made good things, but of course, if you make good things, if the new stuff’s not as impactful, that’s going to be disappointing in some ways. But it’s still a privilege to make anything, otherwise you’re just always drowning in your own previous creative work.”
For Houser, the ultimate metric of success has shifted away from sales charts and cultural ubiquity, focusing instead on personal artistic integrity. Reflecting on the immense pressures of orchestrating past blockbusters, he noted that the only way to manage the anxiety was to anchor himself to the purity of the craft.
"Certainly, there was a lot of pressure making any ‘GTA’ game when I was on them," Houser recalled. “And the way I would control that pressure for me was to say, am I making something with as much integrity as I can muster and am I making something I’m proud of? And does it feel fresh, new? And if that’s the case, let the results fall where they may… So the work is the creative work, not what the market thinks of it.”
Future Outlook: What Lies Ahead for Absurd Ventures
As Absurd Ventures transitions from a multi-platform incubator into a fully operational interactive software developer, the stakes for Houser and his team are immense. The video game landscape has shifted dramatically since Houser last shipped a title in 2018. Ballooning development budgets, extended production timelines, and shifting consumer habits have made the AAA landscape more perilous than ever.
Yet, by building interconnected universes through books, podcasts, and comics before releasing the games, Absurd Ventures has constructed a unique risk-mitigation model. Fans are already emotionally invested in the lore of A Better Paradise and American Caper, meaning the eventual game launches will land not as cold starts, but as extensions of thriving multimedia worlds.
With more specific information on the open-world comedy title promised in the coming months, and the dystopian sci-fi project taking shape behind the scenes, Dan Houser is proving that life after Rockstar isn’t about replicating the past—it’s about burning the rulebook and starting over. Whether his bold new visions will capture the cultural zeitgeist the way Grand Theft Auto once did remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: the master storyteller is back, and he is playing entirely by his own rules.
