Grand Theft Auto writer Dan Houser announces new media company
Rockstar Games co-founder and Grand Theft Auto creative director Dan Houser finally announced his new studio: Absurd Ventures. The news comes two years after Houser first registered the company in the U.K. and U.S., and while Houser didn’t announce Absurd Ventures’ first project yet, he did say the studio’s mission is creating a diverse range of stories for all media formats.
“We are building Absurd Ventures to create new universes and to tell great stories, wherever and however we can,” Houser said.
“Absurd Ventures is building narrative worlds, creating characters, and writing stories for a diverse variety of genres, without regard to medium, to be produced for live-action and animation; video games and other interactive content; books, graphic novels, and scripted podcasts,” the announcement press release reads.
Houser remained with Rockstar until 2019 and is credited as the creative director and lead writer for all of Rockstar’s games during his time there, including Bully, the open-world hit Grand Theft Auto V, and Red Dead Redemption 2. He and his brother Sam Houser also turned down the chance to make a Grand Theft Auto movie starring Eminem.
Houser previously said in an interview that his work on Red Dead 2 required 100-hour work weeks, prompting him to take extended periods of leave prior to his departure from the studio.
Yahoo’s finance data shows that Rockstar’s value dropped by $800 million after Houser announced his resignation. Sam Houser remains president of Rockstar.
