Ex-GTA writer and Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser is making open-world game

Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser's new game development studio, Absurd Ventures, plans to create an open-world action-adventure game. The former Rockstar producer and writer left the company to found his new company, Absurd Ventures, which was aimed at developing several different forms of media.

They're now planning to make an open-world action-adventure game, although it's not known if this will be a direct rival to the GTA franchise or not. With that in mind, here's what you need to know about this upcoming game.

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Ex-GTA producer Dan Houser's new studio plans to create an open-world game

As reported by VGC (Video Games Chronicle), Dan Houser's new studio, Absurd Ventures, is planning to create an open-world action-adventure title. The transmedia company is currently recruiting for seven-game development roles, which include the following:

• Art Director
• Lead Designer
• Lead Gameplay Designer
• Senior Art Director
• Senior Producer
• Senior Technical Director
• Technical Director

Details about each of these roles can be found on their official website. The job description for lead gameplay designer gives us some hints about what the game might entail, as it reads:

"Become the primary vision holder and hands-on contributor for character, controls, and camera design in an open world action-adventure game. The person in this role will lead a team of multi-disciplinary specialists to deliver best-in-class combat and third person action across multiple game modes."

Dan Houser formally revealed Absurd Ventures, a Santa Monica, California-based production company, in June 2023. This is what he said regarding the company:

"We are building Absurd Ventures to create new universes and to tell great stories, wherever and however we can 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."

So far, Absurd Ventures has revealed two of these "new universes," which are American Caper, a graphic novel, and A Better Paradise, a 12-episode audio fiction series. It was also reported in November 2023 that Lazlow Jones and Michael Unsworth joined Houser's company. Both of them are former Rockstar developers who have contributed to the GTA games and Red Dead Redemption 2 quite extensively.

Dan Houser's involvement in the GTA franchise is quite well-known, as he has been the producer and writer in almost every Grand Theft Auto title. He's also been involved similarly for several other Rockstar Games titles like Bully, Max Payne 3, L.A. Noire, and RDR2. However, Houser shocked everyone when Take-Two announced his departure from the iconic games studio in 2020.

In related news, former president of Rockstar North, Leslie Benzies, created his own company called Build A Rocket Boy after leaving Rockstar in 2016. They're also planning an open-world game called Everywhere.