Rockstar Games Co-Founder Reveals First Two Projects at New Studio, Absurd Ventures

Rockstar Games co-founder's new studio has announced its first projects.

By Cade Onder

The first projects for Rockstar Games co-founder's new studio have been revealed. Rockstar Games is one of the biggest video game studios in the world and it has managed to do that while also keeping a ton of mystery around its studio. For years, its founders, Sam and Dan Houser, stayed out of the spotlight. They kept their heads down on their games, only doing the occasional print interview when a new game was releasing. Outside of that, you won't find too many images let alone videos of them on the internet. However, their names are all over the Rockstar games and many point to Dan Houser as one of the key creatives on Rockstar's best games as he was both a producer and writer on a lot of the studio's biggest games including Red Dead Redemption 2 and Grand Theft Auto V.

Unfortunately, Dan Houser left Rockstar Games, leaving Sam Houser to lead the company. Dan Houser has been quietly working on his own company known as Absurd Ventures. Houser took Michael Umsworth and Lazlow Jones, two of Rockstar's most prominent creative figures and writers with him on this new journey. However, the studio is not a video game developer, at least not solely. While they have job listings for video games, Absurd Ventures is a multi-media company, looking to launch new franchises in ways beyond gaming. The company announced its first two projects earlier today, a new graphic novel known as American Caper and a narrative-driven audio series known as A Better Paradise. You can read the descriptions for the two projects below. These two projects are expected to arrive in 2024.

"AMERICAN CAPER centers on two normal, badly-damaged American families in a world of corrupt business, inept politics and bungling crime. AMERICAN CAPER will debut as a graphic novel that is being illustrated by renowned comic book artist, Simon Bisley."

"A BETTER PARADISE is an existential suspense thriller, set in the near future. A 12-episode audio fiction series based on the A BETTER PARADISE universe is currently in production. Absurd Ventures is partnering with @QCODEmedia to co-produce the audio series."

As of right now, it's unclear if Absurd Ventures plans to expand on these IPs via gaming in the future or if some of these will exist in their respective mediums. Either way, it's a unique concept and should help push the boundaries of storytelling.

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