Rockstar Games Co-Founder Dan Houser Announces New Studio

Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser has announced his next endeavor, a brand new studio that will make video games and more. Rockstar Games is arguably one of the greatest video game studios in operation right now, but it has lost a lot of key talent since the release of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2. Grand Theft Auto producer Leslie Benzies was allegedly forced out of the studio, writer and actor Lazlow departed from the studio in recent years, and perhaps the biggest one, co-founder Dan Houser, made a sudden exit from the company in 2020. Dan Houser was more than just a typical executive as he was a writer on the Grand Theft Auto series and other Rockstar games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Max Payne 3, and more. Many feared that such a key person departing the studio would hurt things long term. 

Although we have yet to see what a GTA game looks like without Dan Houser, he has announced his next studio: Absurd Ventures. The studio isn't just another video game studio, though. Absurd Ventures will make video games, live action and animated movies, books, graphic novels, scripted podcasts, and more. It's a full blown multi-media company that will have a diverse variety of genres. It's unclear if Absurd Ventures will be making new IP that will be shared between mediums (i.e. a video game that they can then adapt into a film) or if they plan to keep things largely separate. Either way, it sounds pretty interesting. Dan Houser made the following statement (via Gematsu) about the news: "We are building Absurd Ventures to create new universes and to tell great stories, wherever and however we can."

Given Dan Houser has made a career off of making games that pull heavily from cinema and literature, it's no surprise he wanted to branch out from making exclusively video games. It's unclear when Absurd Ventures will release its first project, as the company has been in existence for at least a couple of years now and likely has at least one thing cooking up right now.

What do you think of Dan Houser's new studio? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.