Rockstar founder Dan Houser appears to be setting up new game studio

Dan Houser, the Rockstar Games founder who left his studio after 20 years, appears to have set up a new game studio. ‘Absurd Ventures in Games’ is based in the United Kingdom and will make games according to the local Chamber of Commerce.

The French Rockstar Magazine was one of the first to discover the news. The company’s activity description would include ‘designing computer games’, along with three more variants. However, the UK address is not where the studio is located; according to Video Games Chronicle, that address is home to a company that provides “secretary services” for more than a thousand other companies at the same address. The new company also immediately acquired an American branch, located in Delaware. Houser is on record as the company’s producer, creative director and corporate director.

The word ‘ventures’ in the name of the company could mean that this is more of a company that invests in other game companies. That would be the case if house refers to ‘venture capital’ by ‘ventures’.

Dan Houser left Rockstar Games in March of 2020, but had been on “extended leave” since spring 2019. Dan Houser was deeply involved in his studio’s games. He had a major influence on games such as GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2. More than 150 million copies of those two games have now been delivered. Houser was involved in, among other things, writing the screenplay for Red Dead Redemption 2. He said in 2018 that the writing team, including himself, worked 100-hour weeks.

Dan Houser co-founded Rockstar Games in 1998 with his brother Sam and three others. The studio is known for Grand Theft Auto, although that franchise started with DMA Design, which was acquired by Rockstar parent company Take-Two. Other well-known Rockstar games are Bully, Max Payne, Manhunt and Midnight Club.